The Unofficial Jack Chick Archive

How to describe the apocalyptic Jack Chick. . . . Think of Bil Keane, the bromide-radiating creator of those "Family Circus" cartoons, being possessed by the soul of a fire-and-brimstone-spewing Fundamentalist preacher who has already been possessed by the gory artistic spirit of an infinitely less talented Goya. Or maybe just transmigrate your virtual soul over to The Unofficial Jack Chick Archive. Chick, a none-too-subtle (and therefore endlessly entertaining) cartoonist-moralist-Christian propagandist, might not approve of this ironic salute to his works, compiled and footnoted by two self-described Christians who make it clear that they "don't agree with Jack Chick." But on some level he must be flattered by the care that curators Tony Bowden and "V-X" have taken in compiling Chick's memorable comic book-screeds and pamphlet-calumnies against all that is unholy and evil in this world of secular, Satan-loving lib'rals. Color covers and panels of his primitively drawn cartoons and comics accompany handy plot synopses and commentary by our curators. For instance, there's "Holy Joe," a typical Chick tale about a hard-working, devout Christian soldier in 'Nam persecuted by "Sarge" and his other Godless platoon-mates. As Bowden and V-X point out, this badly drawn and scripted moral fable contains many of the typical "Chick motifs": "Big fat ugly mean guy" beating up on good Christian; "naked ghost rising from corpse"; "God as giant light-bulb headed judge"; "bad person or devil laughing, "HAW HAW!" Of course, other popular Chick motifs include,"Catholic-bashing," a theme explored in illustrated tracts like "The Death Cookie" (the Eucharist) and "Are Roman Catholics Christians?" Chick doesn't shy away from racial stereotypes, either, as seen in his 1970s effort at Blacksploitation, "Soul Story." Bad Leroy Brown--in full pimp regalia, spouting lines like "You stupid jive turkey!"--meets his end ("BUDDA BUDDA BUDDA. . .KAVOOM!!!)--but not before wisely opting for a deathbed prayer. "Thank God, he just made it," his God-fearing date exlaims. "I'll see you in heaven, honey." The only gripe I have about this graphics-laden Web site is that it is (unlike Chick's rigid convictions) still a work in progress; too many of the pages are (like the Lord's work in this profane world) unfinished. (JW)

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