Chick Tracts

(Chick)
™ and © Chick

You may never have heard of Jack T. Chick, but chances are, you’ve seen his work: those mini-comic gospel tracts exhorting you—in the most manipulative and dramatic fashion—to repent and recognize Christ as your savior. Since the late 1950s, the evangelical Jack T. Chick has written and published millions of illustrated gospel tracts in nearly a hundred different languages. Every Chick tract presents a fundamentalist gospel message for readers, often condemning alternative lifestyles and non-Christians at the same time. Homosexuals and smug liberals tend to be common targets in tracts such as “The Gay Blade” “Somebody Goofed” and others. Scripture verses are liberally peppered throughout the stories, which always have an object lesson and usually a frightening one: repent or spend eternity in a lake of flame. Conveniently, the last page of every tract leads the reader with step-by-step instructions on how to get saved, and even includes a sample prayer.

While these are hardly exemplars of comic storytelling, it’s hard not to admire Chick’s prolific nature and longevity. Over the years, he’s published hudreds of different Chick Tracts, typically selling them in lots for distribution by evangelical organizations, churches, or interested individuals.

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