 A photo of camera-shy Chick (left) Jack Thomas Chick (1924–2016) was anAmerican cartoonist and the owner, manager, and editor of Chick Publications. Chick's publishing house is responsible for hundreds of abominable, illustratedevangelicalgospel tracts known as Chick tracts, tiny comic books printed on cheap paper that are ubiquitous in subway stations, rest stop bathrooms, inside the dresser drawers of hotel rooms, and littered around other public places nationwide. As a general rule, Chick tracts read like the ramblings of ananti-Semitic,anti-Catholic,homophobic, etc. fire-and-brimstoneconspiracy theorist that makesPat Robertson look sane and mellowed-out in comparison. The tracts create an "us vs. them" mentality where those who accept the message are part of the righteous few and the rest are sinners in league withthe Devil. The cartoons are horrifying tochildren and teach them that they are always one worldly decision away from eternal damnation. Chick tracts also warn against making the "wrong" friends, following the "wrong" teachers, and reading the "wrong" books, etc., lest children fall for a trick by the Devil in disguise. All this serves to isolateChristian fundamentalists, "saved" from the rest of society. |
