Jack Chick

History

Chick was born in the Boyle Heights section of Los Angeles, California, and experienced several 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 was 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 (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 evengelical who attempts to convert them. 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 much of the problems in the world are as a result of 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?. Anti-Semitism is rarely overt in his material and he has also published other tracts, especially Support Your Local Jew which 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 more or less 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(s). 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 Jack 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 Miss 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, and 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 last two years he had a flu which turned into pneumonia. His blood sugar dropped to 20 (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 0867195126), 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 0764318926, which includes a candid meeting with the reclusive Mr. Chick).

External links

Official website

Chick Publications website

Pro-Chick websites

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 Noted author Gary Dale Cearley wrote a book refuting some of Jack Chick's and Alberto Rivera's more outrageous claims about the Vatican and Islam.
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.
Parody 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

- A movie written by Chick
Jack T. Chick Museum of Fine Art
Los Angeles Magazine article by Robert Ito
Images and Drawings of Jack Chick