Thursday, May 13, 2004

I’m Going To Jackson - Jack T. Chick

You have seen a Jack T. Chick book. Your eyes might have glanced at one resting on a bus stop bench. Out of the corner of your eye, you saw a stack on the floor of a record store. Somebody might have left one on your chair at work. These are small religious tracts in comic book form.

Now if this was a 79 year old guy standing on the corner passing out Xerox copies of his work it might be easy to ignore him. Since 1961, Jack T. Chick has over 500 million copies of his comic books in circulation around the world. Jack also has his own web site. You can find examples of his work that are sold to churches and other religious establishments - http://www.chick.com Let’s just say Jack is not hurting for cash or donations but he is not opposed to receiving either to continue his work.

The story changes but the plot is the same. Depending on how you answer the last question in the tract will indicate if you are you headed up north or working you way down south.

This is not politically correct stuff. He insults a lot of people and for a tract that is supposed to be a guide to the Prince of Peace there is a whole lot of hating going on inside those comic books.

Jack inspires passion among readers and collectors of his work. Even the ones he would classify as atheists and heathens. In Jack’s world, that does not take much effort. If you do not believe exactly as he does then you are doomed. If you are a member of the Catholic, Islam, Jehovah’s Witness or Jewish faith that puts you on the express train of the unworthy.

There are a number of parody and tributes sites that does a good job explaining why Jack does what he does. One place is the Jack T. Chick Museum of Fine Art at http://members.aol.com/monsterwax/chick.html. You can view examples of his work, link to parody sites, network with other Chick-lets, view a catalog of his work and fill in the back story on this guy. See, Jack keeps a low, low profile.

He does not talk to the press or have his picture taken. Nothing but his books and side projects speak for him. However, miracles do happen.

Jimmy Akin actually met with the elusive Mr. Chick at a movie premier. In his blog, Jimmy talks about meeting the nice old man with mean old tract business. http://members.cox.net/jimmyakin/x-meet-jack-chick.htm

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