A frame from the Chick tract "Doom Town" Jack Thomas Chick (born April 13, 1924) of Chick Publications is the creator of comic-style tracts and larger comic books for the purpose of Christian evangelism in a fundamentalist theology. Jack Chick is an Independent Baptist and a dispensationalist.
History
Chick was born in Boyle Heights, California, USA, 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.
After his marriage, he began working at the AstroScience Corporation in El Monte, California, and began an evangelical hobby, self-publishing his first tract, "Why No Revival?". Chick founded his own company (originally based in his kitchen) soon afterward.
In 2000, he started the Bible series [1] (http://www.chick.com/catalog/bibleseries.asp) of his tracts. One of his most famous creations is a Fundamentalist Christian man named Bobby Williams, who appeared in the Bible Series. Between the 1970s and 1980s, he published 20 comics [2] (http://www.chick.com/catalog/comiclist.asp). The first 17 comics are known as the Crusader Comics and star a white man named Timothy Emerson Clark and an African-American man named James Carter. These two men are fundamentalist, born-again Christians. They travel around winning converts and rescuing Christians that have gone astray. The two men also fight Satanists and other servants of the Devil. The last six comics of the Crusader Comics star Dr. Alberto Rivera as the main character. In each of the six comics, Dr. Alberto Rivera's character claims that the Vatican is behind many of evil acts throughout history such as World War I and World War II. In the first comic Rivera claims that he was a Catholic priest and he tells how he left the Catholic Church. In the second comic "Double Cross," Rivera tells how he went to London and rescued his sister from a nunnery. In that comic, he also claims that the Vatican is trying to kill him. In "The Godfathers," Rivera claims that the Catholic Church founded Communism and Nazism and tried to destroy the Jews. In "The Force," Rivera's character claims that the Catholic Church is using Occult power to destroy the souls of Her followers. In "The Four Hoursemen", Rivera claims that the Vatican persecuted Christians and is using organisations to do its work. In "The Prophet," Rivera claims that the Catholic Church helped start Islam to destroy the Jews so that the Vatican could move its headquarters to Jerusalem. Jack Chick has been heavily criticised for his views.
Chick lives a more or less reclusive life; he last granted an interview in 1975. In the 1970s, he also hired a much-lauded African-American artist named Fred Carter to help him with his work, and Carter has drawn many of Chick's tracts. His wife Lola died in 1998 and he has since remarried. He collaborated with Carter on the recently-finished film, The Light of the World, presenting the Bible in pictures.
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 (http://members.cox.net/jimmyakin/x-archives-040313.htm) has a drawing of him and a high school photograph. He has currently started the Children's Series of the tracts. Lessons in these tracts have included Chick's view that evolution is false, and that homosexuality and celebrating Halloween are immoral. 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 apologist Jimmy Akin met Jack Chick, and exchanged a brief dialogue with him. It was from this meeting that Jimmy Akin produced his sketch. Jimmy Akin reported that Jack Chick seemed polite and charming, though Chick did refer to them as "Being in the war," mentioned that the Vatican had "All my stuff," and questioned Akin as to whether he was a Jesuit spy.
The interview can be found here (http://members.cox.net/jimmyakin/x-meet-jack-chick.htm).
External links
Official Website
Anti-Chick Websites
Relatively Neutral Websites
Pro-Chick
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