Green’s work appeared in numerous anthologies in the 70s, including Young Lust and Art Spiegelman’s Arcade, but his most important work was his semi-autobiographical comic Binky Brown Meets the Holy Virgin Mary, in which he detailed his struggles coming of age as a Catholic in the 1950s. It’s generally credited as the first autobiographical comic, and inspired later works, including the best-known autobiographical comic, the Pulitzer Prize-winner by his longtime friend, Art Spiegelman: Maus.
[Note: this article was edited as of 12:35 p.m. CT Monday, May 2, to correct our earlier report that Green and Spiegelman were roommates in the 70s. Per a note from Spiegelman, they never lived together despite reports in places (including the Justin Green Wikipedia page) that they did.-ed.]
