56 BINKY BROWN MEETS THE HOLY VIRGIN MARY
It was writer and artist David Mack, one of Bendis’s colleagues from Caliber Comics,
who helped get Bendis his fi rst break at Marvel in 2000 by showing editor-in-chief Joe
Quesada some of Bendis’s writing. Quesada and then-Marvel President Bill Jemas sub-
sequently decided to give Bendis the writing chores on Ultimate Spider-Man (2000–),
the fl agship title of the Ultimate Marvel Universe, an alternative continuity consisting
of 21st-century re-imaginings of classic Marvel characters. Th e title—and the Ultimate
Universe in general—proved wildly successful, and Bendis’s work on Ultimate Spider-
Man and other Ultimate titles such as Ultimate Marvel Team-Up (2001–2), Ultimate
X-Men (2003–4), Ultimate Fantastic Four (2003–4), and Ultimate Origins (2008) has
established him as the primary architect for this alternative continuity.
With his comics being some of the best-selling books published by Marvel, Bendis
has also had the opportunity to write other Marvel titles, most notably Daredevil
(2001–6) and Alias (2001–4), both of which show the gritty hallmarks of Bendis’s
love of fi lm noir. Since 2004 he has also been the regular writer on several Avengers
books and has even taken the helm on several company-wide crossover events, such as
the “Avengers Disassembled” storyline (2004), House of M (2005), and Secret Invasion
(2008).
While his writing for comics has garnered him critical acclaim, including fi ve pres-
tigious Eisner Awards , Bendis has also written for fi lm and television. He was the
co-executive producer and series pilot writer for MTV’s Spider-Man: Th e New Animated
Series (2003), and his script for the fi lm adaptation of his Jinx series is in development
at Universal Pictures. Despite having opportunities to write in other mediums, Ben-
dis claims to prefer writing for comics instead because of the creative control given to
writers.
Selected Bibliography: “Bendis Bio.” Jinxworld: Th e Offi cial Site for Brian Michael
Bendis. July 10, 2009. Available at, http://www.jinxworld.com/bio.html.
Craig Crowder
BINKY BROWN MEETS THE HOLY VIRGIN MARY. Th is 1972 underground comic, writ-
ten and drawn by Justin Green, is one of the fi rst works to address deeply intimate issues
in the comic book format. Th ough Green remains quite prolifi c, with work appearing
in over 100 undergrounds and trade publications, Binky Brown is widely held as Green’s
most signifi cant work. Expanding on the underground traditions of violation of social
taboo, this self-contained narrative confronts issues of adolescent sexual confusion and
guilt, using the teachings of the Catholic Church as a vehicle. In so doing, Binky Brown
uses the perspective of a pubescent boy to take the Church to task for the more rigid and
contradictory aspects of doctrine concerning sexual mores. Th e book is widely regarded
as one of the fi rst successful, and most profound, attempts at memoir in comics, with
the central character of Binky as an acknowledged substitute for Green.
Th e story concerns the mishaps and perspectives of the title character, initially
torn between love of his Jewish father and fear of Catholic dogma, later wracked
