 In the 1960s Spiegelman read in comics fanzines about graphic artists such as Frans Masereel , who had made wordless novels in woodcut . The discussions in those fanzines about making the Great American Novel in comics later acted as inspiration for him . Justin Green 's comic book Binky Brown Meets the Holy Virgin Mary ( 1972 ) motivated Spiegelman to open up and include autobiographical elements in his comics . 
