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Tallahassee, FL 11/22/03:-- Many of people collect coins, baseball cards, and stamps, but few collectibles generate the controversy and outrage that Chick tracts do. Chick tracts are the little 3 x 5 inch Christian comic booklets that mysteriously surface at bus stations, bathrooms, and public waiting areas. Their inflammatory contents have led some governments to ban them. However, collectors love the confrontational comics and have recently honored them with a special holiday.
Jack Chick is the mysterious Founder and President of Chick Publications. He doesn't give interviews and journalists have been unable to obtain anything more than his high school photograph. But hundreds of millions are familiar with his work. He has written, drawn and self published over 1/2 BILLION tracts, making him the most published author alive today. Almost every American has seen a Chick tract at one point or another. Chick's most famous tract, This Was Your Life, tells the story of a sinner who dies and is carried to heaven by an angel to receive judgment. A large Faceless God reviews the dead man's life. The sinner's name isn't in "The Book of Life," so he is tossed into the Lake of Fire.
But there are other Chick tracts as well. At age 79, Chick has penned over 175 different titles. Many of them are filled with elaborate conspiracies that accuse non-Protestant organizations of being pawns of the devil. Typical targets of criticism include the Masons, the Mormons, role playing gamers, the music industry, homosexuals, Harry Potter, Islam, and above all, the Vatican. Many of the groups have protested Chick tracts, but none have succeeded in permanently silencing Chick or closing his company.
Chick also has his fans. Countless comic book collectors and religious supporters collect his tracts. They also buy, sell and trade them like baseball cards. The prices paid for retired tracts can be in stark contrast to the original 14? retail price. Recent eBay auctions for certain out of print titles exceeded $100... per tract!
There is also the Chick Tract Club, an independent organization made up of collectors of the religious propaganda. "We have members from all across the world," says Rich Lee, President of the organization. "Chick's tracts are everywhere on the planet in 100 different languages. The more remote a place is, the more likely it has lots of tracts. I have a friend in the Peace Corps who says Africa is awash in them."
According to the Club website (chickcomics.com) many collectors disagree with Chick's views, but enjoy the hell fire sermons as campy entertainment. "The conspiracies are hilarious," claims club Vice-President, Kurt Kuersteiner. "Satan is everywhere running everything. And Chick is so politically incorrect, watching people read his tracts can be really amusing. Some of them scratch their heads, while other rip up the tracts. I've also seen people pray. You never know what to expect."
The Club has recently declared November 22nd as International Chick Tract Day. The date was selected because of its importance to conspiracy theorists. "It's the anniversary of JFK's assassination," explains Kuersteiner, "and every conspiracy buff has a theory about it. Chick's theory is that the Jesuits did it."
Club members are urged to use outdated expressions on that day, and to guffaw "Haw-haw!" the same way characters in the tracts do. They are also encouraged to celebrate the occasion by passing a tract to someone least likely to be interested in it. "It's always the criminals and atheists who are converted in the tract stories," adds Lee, "so we have fun with that tradition. A typical target would be Marlyn Manson or the Dalai Lama. Haw-haw!"
So this November 22nd, don't be surprised if a stranger hands you little booklet filled with fundamentalist cartoons. It's not a conspiracy. It's just Chick tract day.
Mr. Kuersteiner is the author of the book, The Unofficial Jack Chick. (Due out spring 2004 from Schiffer Publications.) He is available for interviews about Chick, the current tract collecting craze, or International Chick Tract Day.
Contact: Kurt Kuersteiner, 3202 Enterprise Drive, Tallahassee FL 32312.
Phone 850-906-9199 (cell 850-694-9606).
Website: www.chickcomics.com. |
