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Jack Thomas Chick (born April 13, 1924) of Chick Publications is an American comic book artist and publisher.
Chick is known for his controversial comic-style tracts (informally known as Chick Tracts) and larger comic books for the purpose of Christian evangelism from a fundamentalist point of view. Chick is an Independent Baptist, a premillennial dispensationalist, follower of the King James Only Movement, and an opponent of Roman Catholicism.
Note: Much of the biographical and other information given here is simply that published on the Chick Publications website. There appear to be few or no independent interviews ever conducted with the man and no photographs taken of him. Chick Publications is, as the name suggests, primarily a publishing company specializing in Christian-oriented literature. Jack Chick's current level of input to the day-to-day running of the company is not publicly known.
History
Chick was born in the Boyle Heights section of Los Angeles, California, and experienced health problems as a child. The family later moved to Alhambra where Chick was active in the high school drama club. After his graduation he continued his education in this area at the Pasadena Playhouse School of Theater on a two-year scholarship.
During World War II Chick enlisted in the U.S. Army and served in the Pacific theater.
After the war he returned to the Pasadena Playhouse and met his wife while working on a production there.
His wife, the former Lola Lynn, came from a family that held highly fundamental Christian beliefs, and Chick's current religious beliefs can probably be traced to their influence. It was Lola's mother who converted Chick to Christianity. Chick also counts Rev. Charles E. Fuller as a major influence. In the 1950s, previous to Chick's publication of comic tracts, the producers of the Christian radio drama series Unshackled! put out comic book versions of some episodes. Chick is said to have drawn much influence from these. Chick said in an interview that he got the idea to draw cartoon tracts from the Communist Party of China, which handed out cartoon tracts explaining its philosophy to peasants.
After marrying, he began working at the AstroScience Corporation in El Monte, California, and began an evangelistic hobby, self-publishing his first tract, "Why No Revival?". Chick founded his own company (originally based in his kitchen) soon afterward.
Publications
Chick published 24 comics between 1970 and 1989. The first 17 form the Crusader Comics, starring two fundamentalist, born again Christians. The duo travel the world rescuing stray Christians, fighting Satanists, and winning converts. The final six Crusader comics focus on Alberto Rivera and present his claims about the Catholic Church in comic-book format.
At the same time Chick produced small cartoon pamphlets, often known as Chick tracts, designed to be easy to distribute and understand.
Chick created the Bible series , featuring a fundamentalist Christian, Robert "Bob" Williams. The character would attempt, though not always successfully, to lead people down what he perceived to be the right path. The Bible Series covers many of Chick's core beliefs on topics such as evolution, witchcraft, and the Catholic Church.
Chick has received criticism for his views. His anti-Catholicism was not immediately evident in his earliest cartoons, and seems to have evolved during the mid to late 1970s as he became closely associated with Alberto Rivera. Several earlier comics were re-edited in the 1970s to reflect Chick's changing views on the Vatican. In one example, in The Beast, a portrayal of the Antichrist as a man wearing a business suit was changed to a representation of the Pope.
Chick's tracts follow an established pattern whereby an individual, either a non-Christian or a lapsed Christian, comes into contact with an evangelical who attempts to convert him. Typically the tract ends with a repentant sinner going to heaven, or an unrepentant sinner in hell. Chick frequently cites Bible verses to support his tracts and often quotes them directly. Every tract ends with a message about salvation and prayer, as well as recommendation as to what the new convert should do next.
Chick's cartoons depict conspiracy theories featuring Satan, the Catholic Church, Communists, Muslims, rock musicians, scientists, and politicians, as well as other groups and subjects behind popular entertainment, (role playing) gaming, and other perceived ills of modern culture. Chick believes many of the world's problems are caused by the Catholic Church. In the tract Holocaust, he claims that the Holocaust was part of a plot by the Roman Catholic Church, and that the Nazi party was run by the Vatican. Chick believes that 16th century Satanism is not only real but an active force trying to corrupt children as it helps bring in the New World Order.
Some of his tracts have been regarded as anti-Semitic, especially Where's Rabbi Waxman?. The alleged anti-Semitism is rarely overt in his material. He has also published other tracts, especially Support Your Local Jew and "Love the Jewish People" http://www.chick.com/reading/tracts/1000/1000_01.asp that have been regarded as pro-Jewish; however, he falsely claims that both Lenin and Stalin were "of Jewish extraction" and that the House of Rothschild controls the Illuminati.. Much of his material, which seems to denounce anti-Semitism, claims that the blame for historic persecution of Jews rests on the Catholic Church.
Personal
Chick lives a reclusive life; he last granted an interview in 1975. His reclusiveness created speculation for a time that he never even existed except as a nom-de-plume for an unnamed author or authors. Several audio cassettes of his preaching distributed to his subscribers purport to contain his voice. His wife Lola died in 1998 and he has since remarried.
In the 1970s, Chick also hired much-lauded African-American artist Fred Carter to help him with his work, and Carter has drawn many of Chick's tracts. Carter originally worked anonymously for Chick, creating much speculation among Chick's fans as to the identity of his "good artist." Chick revealed Carter's involvement in a 1980 issue of his newsletter Battle Cry. He collaborated again with Carter on the recently-finished film, The Light of the World, presenting the Bible in oil paintings by Carter.
Jack Chick currently publishes his own newspaper called Battle Cry. Little is known about Chick and there is no present portrait of him available, although Jimmy Akin's Blog has a drawing of him and a high school photograph. He has currently started the Children's Series of the tracts, which stars a girl named Li'l Susy and also features her battling against a teacher named Ms. Henn, who represents schools as a corrupting force against God. Lessons in these tracts have included Chick's view that evolution is false and that homosexual acts and celebrating Halloween are immoral. They are presented in a more simplified format with the intent of being read to children. For more publications see Chick Publications.
Recently, at the screening of Jack Chick's new film, Light of the World (which premiered in Ontario, California) Catholic Answers reporter Jimmy Akin met Jack Chick, and exchanged a brief dialogue with him. It was from this meeting that Akin produced his sketch (seen above). Akin reported that Jack Chick seemed polite and charming, though Chick did refer to himself as being "in the war" with Akin. He casually mentioned that the Vatican had "all my stuff," that the Pope personally viewed his work, and questioned Akin as to whether he was a Jesuit spy.
Akin's summary of the interview can be found here.
One author, Gary Dale Cearley, published a book entitled "Thou Shalt Not Bear False Witness: The Truth About the Vatican and the Birth of Islam" refuting Jack Chick's comic book about the testimony of Alberto Rivera. Rivera claimed in Chick Publications comic book tract "The Prophet" that the Roman Catholic Church had a hand in "creating Islam" in order to get rid of rival Christian groups. Cearley's book refutes Rivera's story point by point, giving historical references for each argument.
In the September/October 2005 Issue of "Battle Cry" Chick states that within the previous two years he had a flu which turned into pneumonia. His blood sugar dropped to 20 mg/dl (Chick is apparently diabetic); his wife called 9-1-1, and while help was en route Chick had a heart attack. A day or so later he had a triple bypass.
See Chick Publications and claims by Chick Publications for information about Jack Chick and his views, and Chick Publications tracts for examples of some of his better known work. Three objective books have been published about Chick Tracts. They are The World Of Chick? by Robert B. Fowler (ISBN 0-86719-512-6), The Imp #2 by Dan Raeburn, and The Unofficial Guide to The Art of Jack T. Chick: Chick Tracts, Crusader Comics, and Battle Cry Newspapers by Kurt Kuersteiner (ISBN 0-7643-1892-6, which includes a candid meeting with the reclusive Mr. Chick).
External links
Official website
Pro-Chick websites
- ChickComics.com - A largest on-line archive of information on the tracts, the comics, and the illustrated books by Jack Chick. Opinions from all corners are included, but most information is contributed by fans of the comic artist.
- Jack Chick - A testimonial describing one person's salvation by Jack Chick's cartoon tracts
- World Christian Tract Ministry a ministry that supports distribution of Jack Chick's tracts
- Born Again Christian Info - Positive summaries of the cartoon tracts
Anti-Chick websites
- Catholic Response to Jack Chick
- Gary Dale Cearley, an author who wrote a book discrediting Chick's Vatican Islam Conspiracy
- Trick Tracts: The Truth Behind Those Little Comics
- Pocky Box - Chick Tract Trashing -- A Look into the Infamous Chick Tract
- Another expose on Jack Chick and anti-Catholic sayings in his tracts.
- Parodies of Chick Tracts
- Rotten.com article on Chick
- Pagan Protection Center: Kerr Cuhulain on Jack Chick
- EnterTheJabberwock's humorous dissection of Jack Chick's tracts.
- Comiconsipiracy by Andrew Hultkrans
- PvP's Scott Kurtz responding to Jack Chick
- The Jack Chick Universe -- Serious discussion with lighthearted reviews.
Others
- The Light of the World at IMDb - A movie written by Chick
- Chick Publications
- Los Angeles Magazine article by Robert Ito
- Images and Drawings of Jack Chick