If you’ve ever been so bold as to use the bathroom at a state fair, chances are, you’ve probably come across a small stack of “Chick Tracts” lying there on the sink.
Jack Chick was a prolific American cartoonist who adopted a Christian fundamentalist worldview after serving in World War II. Chick spent several years in the Asian theater, traveling across New Guinea, the Philippines and Japan. He cited the experience as the inspiration for his missionary zeal, and later, the reason why he insisted his comics be printed in as many foreign languages as possible.
Chick’s work took on the form of the traditional comic book— between 1974 and 1985, he published “The Crusaders” series, 23 issues about a former Green Beret and a reformed drug dealer who teamed up to combat Satan’s evil works…
…but Chick was best known for his evangelical pamphlets: small, pocket-size comics known as “Chick Tracts.” These booklets, numbering over 150 and counting, take on evil in all its forms. Chick pulled no punches in his preaching, calling attention to the imminent End Times, as well as the dangers of the occult, Freemasons, Islam, Mormons, and of course, the Catholic Church.
Wait… what?
Yeah… about that. Chick described himself as an “Independent Baptist”, and he staunchly adhered to the literal text of the King James Bible. After Chick Publications was officially launched in 1970, Chick used comics as the medium for unapologetically preaching his… (ahem) “unique” Christian worldview. As a result, no topic was off-limits. Abortion, evolution, suicide, global warming, even geopolitics— yeah, there’s a Chick Tract for that.
There’s no denying the fact that Chick’s religious views were extreme, to say the least. But the popularity and sustainability of Chick Publications is undeniable, even as their products were pulled from some Christian bookstores for being too controversial. The company claims to have sold over 750 million of its gospel tracts, which have been published in over 100 languages worldwide. For the sake of comparison, that number puts Chick far ahead of his two next closest competitors, heathen occult authors J.K. Rowling (450 million books sold) and Stephen King (a paltry 350 million).
Despite the ubiquity of his works, however, Jack Chick never became a public figure himself. He preferred to speak directly to his flock through a regular column in the company’s newsletter, Battle Cry. Such reclusiveness— combined with a private funeral following his 2016 death— has led a few comic scholars to speculate that Jack Chick may have secretly been a group of cartoonists working under a pseudonym. And I have to admit, that’s a plausible theory— especially when you consider that some budding young artists might not have wanted to risk their career by accepting freelance work from such a a controversial publishing house.
But even people who espouse this view would have to admit that Jack Chick— whether he was one man, or a team of several— was a truly unique American cartoonist.
