Jack Chick died this weekend.
Never heard of him?
He was a man who managed to offend everyone
from Catholics to Freemasons to Dungeons and
Dragons players.
And he did it all with comic books.
Maybe you haven’t heard of Jack Chick, but
you’ve probably seen his work before.
Often handed out on street corners, subways
and buses; they’re cheaply printed fire-and-brimstone
comics that criticize the immorality of rock
music, role-playing games, Halloween… and
even the religious beliefs of Catholics, Jews,
Muslims and Mormons.
Called “Chick Tracts,” over 500 million
copies of these pamphlets have been printed
in more than 100 languages, making Chick the
world’s most published living author…
until now.
According to the Los Angeles Times, Chick
died on October 23, 2016 at the age of 92.
Chick Tracts are basically morality plays
in comic book format, combining traditional
evangelism with… conspiracy theories.
Stories like “Dark Dungeons” contributed
greatly to the “Satanic Panic” of the
1980s, claiming that Dungeons & Dragons led
to witchcraft and suicide.
Chick produced the comics out of his Rancho
Cucamonga based company “Chick Publications”
for over five decades.
Most followed a simple story formula: someone
sins, but when they face damnation and the
pits of Hell they look for a possible redemption
in Christianity.
These kind of religious reform pamphlets were
done in the tradition of writers like Jonathan
Swift and Thomas Paine going back to the 1640s.
Chick said the idea to use comics -- which
he referred to as his “Secret Weapon”
-- came from a missionary radio broadcaster,
who told him that Chinese spies had observed
American children’s obsession with horror
comics.
This lead to Beijing’s government printing
millions in cartoon propaganda to win their
public over to communism.
A shy man who feared public speaking, Chick
hoped to use comics in the same manner, but
to defeat the Devil instead of bolstering
the Proletariat.
Despite his enthusiasm for receiving hate
mail, Chick himself acknowledged that many
people wished him harm.
So he avoided the public, ran his business
out of a PO Box, barely did interviews and
never allowed himself to be photographed.
His comics’ popularity with missionaries,
collectors and clergy led to him founding
his own company in 1970.
In a 2003 article for “Los Angeles Magazine,”
Robert Ito reported that Chick’s company
made almost $3 million in sales that year
to churches and youth groups.
Chick once said he wanted his books to “scare
the hell out of you.”
In a posting on the Chick Tracts Facebook
page, the company promised to continue with
Chick’s “method, vision and purpose.”
Looking for more on religion, rhetoric and
rancor?
Don’t forget to visit now.howstuffworks.com
each and every day.
