34 FT389areusuall ythe stuff of nightmares.Take the
tract ‘The Beast’,forexample, which shows
twoweepingparents and their obedient
child.They’r ebeingtouchedby aberinged
and robe-shrouded handreaching from out
of the frame.Thefamil yhave 666 scrawled
onto theirforeheads: the Markoft he Beast.
Imagine findingthaton your doorstep. Many
didn’thave to imagine.Theyjust did.
Of course,manypeople who stumble
uponChickTractswill th row them straight
in the bin, disgustedby comics decrying
“Satan’s shadowy worldofhomosexuality”
(seeTheGayBlade). Others hold on to them,
fascinatedby their bizarre, kitschsensibility.
Yetfor decades, considerable number shave
pickedupthese littleblack shoc kers and
‘found the Lord’; and theyare eager tothank
ChickTractsfor opening theireyes to “the
truth”.
Ispoke to David Danielswho took over
the runningoft he companyafter Chick
died. He toldmetheyhave cabinets full of
testimoniesfrompeople who state not only
thattheyweresavedbyChick’ swork, but
whichparticular tract didthe trick.Their
website featuresmanyconversion stories,
suchast hat of the pastor who says: “Iwas
savedinjailin1 984after readingaChick
tract!” Or the 15-year-old Hispanicreader:
“A lot ofpeople have joined ourchurch
and been born againbythe tracts.”Or
the soldier: “One constant throughoutmy
lifeist hosepesky littl eChick tractsthat
Iseemed tofindnomatte rwhereint he
worldIwent. Even whenIwasstationedin
Japan,theretheywere. By His grace Iam
found at last.Thankyoufor beingthereall
my life. ”Danielseven told me ofapastors’conference wherethe audiencewere asked
howmanypeopl eweresavedbythe tract
This WasYourLife.Athird of handswent up.
Accordingto ChickPublications:“These
peoplewere spar ed aChristless,agonisi ng
eternity, because ofa iven, orwell-placedChickTract.”
Perhaps so many convert because it’s
too scarynotto.After all,Chic keagerly
reminds hisreaderstheycoulddie “thisvery
night”(prob ably in ahorriblecarcrash or
due toademonic STD).Suchgrimdeaths
are, however,onlythe start.Thetracts’ true
horrorcomes post-mortem,with hand-drawn
panels offoolishunbelievers plunging
headlong into the lake of everlasting fire.
If on ly they’ dtaken theirChickTracts
seriously! Suchurgency (coupled witha
sense ofdivine guidance producedby the
waythesetracts somehow‘found them’) have
shocked andinspiredwhatDaniels calls
“thousandsupon thousands”ofpeople into
repentance.Andift heydon’tknowhow to
becomebornagain ,then ChickTractsmake
it easy. Aprinte dsinner’ sprayersitsonevery
backpage, along withablank spaceforthe
address ofalocal church.
ChickTractsdon’tjust resonatewith
‘sinners’, either.Christians love them too,
since they’rethe idealmethod ofevangelism
formanymodern churchgoers. Chickstarted
his ministryinapost-war America which
wasincreasinglywilling tochallenge the
authorityoft he Church. If yousharedyour
faith,people mightno longer nod in quiet
agreement,astheyhad in the past; and they
might tryand tearyour ar gument apart,
instead.With ChickTracts, thefaithfu ldidn’t
have to preachonstree tcorners, oreven
get into aconversation withafello wbus
passenger.Theycould just slip astranger
acomic and get the heckout of there,
unnoticedand unchallenged.Chickwas
openabout beingashy personhimself, so
thishit-and-runmethodwasveryappealin ,ABOVE:Grampsand Freddy arecast into thebottomlevel ofHell inSomeLikeit Hot–but readerscan escapetheir fate,ast he tract’s final panel shows.
BELOW:The Godfatherscomicrevealed thefullextentof what Chic ksaw as the Catholic Church’s evil,from thecreation of Communismtothe Ku Klux Klan.CatholicshadcreatedbothCommunism andthe Ku Klux KlanHTTPS:/
/CHICK.COM/PRODUCTS/TRACT?STK=43
HTTPS://WWW.CHICK.COM/PRODUCTS/ITEM?STK=0114