58 BIRTH OF A NATION
over centuries; but this argument sidestepped a signifi cant, often overlooked theme in
Binky Brown (Green 8).
Beyond the issues of coming to terms with sexuality and faith, Binky Brown also
addresses related issues of isolation and presciently tackles obsessive-compulsive dis-
order. Green came to accept his own OCD as part of both his work and his life, and
discussed it in the 1990 essay Th e Binky Brown Matter. Th ese factors come into play to
varying degrees in the later autobiographical works of numerous creators, notably How-
ard Cruse’s Stuck Rubber Baby and some of his shorter works, and in Alison Bechdel’s
Fun Home. Th e latter deals directly with both major themes of Binky Brown.
Binky Brown Meets the Holy Virgin Mary had two 55,000 copy print runs. A drawing
of Mary placed behind a text block on the bottom left corner of page 23 appears in
the fi rst printing, but does not appear in the subsequent printings in any form. Th e
character also appeared in other stories in Th e Sacred and the Profane , another collec-
tion of stories by Green. All Binky Brown stories were included in the 1995 anthology
Justin Green’s Binky Brown Sampler. All printings are under the Last Gasp imprint. An
exhibition of Green’s art, including Binky Brown material, was held in April 2009 at
Shake It Records in Cincinnati, Ohio.
See also: Religion in Comics
Selected Bibliography: Green, Justin. Justin Green’s Binky Brown Sampler. San Fran-
cisco: Last Gasp, 1995.
Diana Green
BIRTH OF A NATION. Published in 2004, this satirical graphic novel about a disenfran-
chised black community that secedes from the United States was written by Aaron
McGruder and Reginald Hudlin, and illustrated by Kyle Baker. While the narrative’s
setting is drawn from Hudlin’s own experiences growing up in East St. Louis, Illinois,
Birth of a Nation is also loosely based on the U.S. Presidential Election of 2000 in which
the victory of Texas governor George W. Bush against Vice President Al Gore was dis-
puted by ballot recounts, federal lawsuits, and charges of voter suppression. By further
alluding in its title to the controversial 1915 fi lm by D. W. Griffi th, which depicts black
freedom and citizenship as inherently deviant, the comic highlights the absurdities of
American racial politics at the turn of the 21st century.
Birth of a Nation begins on Election Day when the optimistic mayor of East
St. Louis, Fred Fredericks, discovers that he is among the 1,023 black men and women
erroneously purged from voter rolls as felons, despite having committed no crime.
While the Supreme Court eventually concedes that Fredericks and his constituents
were wrongly denied the right to vote, the court rules against a new election, thereby
allowing President-Elect James Caldwell (who seems to have won largely because of
the voting irregularities in East St. Louis) to be sworn into offi ce. Fredericks is driven
by this injustice—as well as by his frustration with the crime, pollution, and “Th ird
