The Universal Language of Freemasonry - ArchiMeD - Johannes ...

Chapter 9 - Masonic and Anti-Masonic Literature 799
In the following, we are going to deal with two anti-Masonic comics. The
first one was created by the comic book evangelist Jack T. Chick. Called the
"Walt Disney of fundamentalism," Jack T. Chick is responsible for the
circulation of the "Chick Tracts," mini-comics about four inches long and two
inches high, usually consisting of 24 pages and featuring two panels per page.
They are designed to instill guilt and fear in the reader, and always contain a
salvation story. The last page instructs the reader to convert in order to go to
heaven, otherwise he will burn in hell. Chick's popularity in the soul-winning
market is unbroken:
Although he spews fire 'n' brimstone with the best of them, Jack Chick
stands alone in the rhetorical ghetto of frothing fundamentalists. His
innovative method of spreading the Gospel through comics, his
spiraling conspiracy theories, and his recurrent cast of characters make
him the Walt Disney of fundamentalism. Like Disneyworld in reverse,
Chick's universe is one of hermetic paranoia - the tendrils of Satan's
influence on humanity reach from the highest seats of power to the most
mundane suburban activities, describing a tightly knit web of evil
design percolating just below the surface of everything. 1962
"Behind this empire of Christian comics is a man of J.D. Salinger-caliber
anonymity" 1963 – the personal data about Jack T. Chick are scary, since he has
never published a biography; thus, some presume that his initials stand for Jesus
Christ and that his name is a pseudonym, while others are convinced that he is a
real person still living in California, having been producing tracts for about forty
years now. He seems to have been a less successful comic book artist in the 50's
who had his break-through when he began to create his comics for a special
Christian audience, advancing from a kitchen-table productivity to a multimillion
dollar publishing empire. His target group are all kinds of "misled"
persons denying his kind of anti-sectarian, born again, New Testament literalism
Christianity. Hereby, Chick takes advantage of the general new-fangled
apocalyptic fears of the population, employing up-to-date topics like AIDS,
drugs, etc. He is famous for his anti-Catholic, anti-Semitic, and anti-Islamic
tendencies, his adversaries, the "damned," are, for example, homosexuals or
Freemasons; he denounces rock music as a tool of the devil, and he reveals
witchcraft behind the most trivial activities like Halloween parties.
His fan group is described such: "His mail-order congregation consists of
what he calls "true Bible-believing Christians", to whom he preaches DIY
salvation and soul-winning." 1964 The popularity of the Chick tracts is also proven
by a small industry of "spoof comics" imitating his style in order to ridicule his
evangelical drive. Such can be viewed for example in the internet at Jack T.
1962 Cited from www.revolting.com
1963 Cited from www.metroactive.com, "Unearthing famed Christian artist Jack T. Chick" by Richard
von Busack. From the April 2-8, 1998 issue of Metro. © Metro Publishing Inc.
1964 Cited from www.revolting.com