The Unofficial Guide to the Art of Jack T. Chick: Chick Tracts, Crusader Comics, And Battle Cry Newspapers (Schiffer Books) (Paperback)

~ Kurt Kuersteiner (Author)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description

Combining a witty text with 580 dynamic images, this book plunges readers into the fascinating world of cartoonist Jack T. Chick. In over 40 years, Chick has produced over half a billion small religious pamphlets filled with comic book art and dire warnings against all in society the author deems unholy known as "Chick tracts," along with comic books and newspapers, all designed to "scare hell" out of his readers. The photos display common and rare images from Chick's 170 titles, including both eye-catching cover art and startling interior pages; a fair and balanced text explores the substance of Chick's zealous and/or inflamatory work, in which no group is spared a judgmental examination. A history of Jack T. Chick and his fire and brimstone tracts reveals other graphic artists who have worked with Chick and lists resources available to collectors of their work. Chick literature is reviewed and valued. This book is a must for comic book fans, everyone interested in graphic arts, and anyone who has been exposed to even a single Chick tract.

Product Details

• Paperback: 192 pages
• Publisher: Schiffer Publishing (August 30, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0764318926
• ISBN-13: 978-0764318924
• Product Dimensions: 10.9 x 8.5 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.6 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (11 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #699,407 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

17 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Lotsa meat on this Chick!, May 29, 2004

By	J. Goodman (San Francisco, CA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

If you are even the least bit interested in the religious tracts of Jack T. Chick, then this is the book for you. Lots of full color illustrations show you every publication from JTC, as well as parodies, knock-offs, early JTC work and lots of biographical and review data as well. If you are a student of Comic Book literature, then this book needs to be in your library. Yes, it's a price guide too, but it seems like all books of this sort have to be, just to get published today. In my opinion that's the least interesting part of the book...This is a great history and assessment of the supposedly most widely read author in the world...Do what you can and get your mitts on this great document...You'll be glad you did, and maybe you'll even avoid going to Hell!

18 of 22 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Haw-haw-haw!, May 10, 2004

By	ya fang wang (Wichita, KS) - See all my reviews

This is one book I picked up just to see where it was coming from. Chick Tracts are famous for evoking an ANGRY reaction in folks, and even those who enjoy them tend to hold them out at arm's length and condemn their content, insisting they are chucking "at" them rather than "with" them. But this author bypasses judging Chick's views and just goes straight to the humor of it all. And believe me, there's a lot to laugh at here. In fact, it has a disclaimer/warning in the front advising the more politically correct among us to skip it altogether.
The result is a fun romp through the demon-filled world of one of America's biggest conspiracy theorists: Jack Chick, a cartoonist who is said to be the most published author alive (though I wonder how one proves such a thing. Couldn't he just lie about how many he's printed? Then again, I guess that would send him down the grease pole to the lake of fire.)
I was surprised how much info was dug up on this otherwise obscure artist, but instead of spoiling the mystery of it all, it really made Chick's story all the more incredible. I mean, here's a guy who practically made a career out of pissing people off, yet the more his enemies tighten their grip on him, the more he slips through their fingers. It's nothing short of amazing.
My only gripe is that by including a price guide, it's going to be a lot harder for those of us who have put off finishing our collections to afford to do so. I even found several titles I never even heard of.
If you don't "get" check, you shouldn't get this book. But most find his tracts a guilty pleasure. They know they aren't supposed to like them because he's so uncool, but then again, part of being a rebel is rebelling against what soceity tells you shouldn't do... and that includes enjoying Chick tracts! So if you really want to explore one of America's wildest publishing phenomenons, check out Chick. He's one of a kind.

8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars So now these are considered collectibles!, August 21, 2007

By	Daisy Brambletoes (the Shire) - See all my reviews

I write down anything about Jack Chick with some trepedation because as a Christian I have never been quite sure how to take him. The most christian lady I ever knew described these booklets as "satanic", other Christians have described them as "a bit extreme at times", and still others have described them as "the right message, but brutal". No one has ever completely agreed with them, whether they are Christians or not. Non-Christians are usually amused or repulsed or even infuriated by them.

Yes, it is true - they show everything in black-and-white terms. Unbelievers are usually loud-mouthed brutes, guffawing, cursing, and snarling their way through life. Believers are angelic and innocent-faced. I suspect he is an ex-Catholic (I have known ex-Catholics as angry, or angrier at the Church as he is) since he seems to feel that every evil in the western world was committed by the Catholic Church, and that the King James Bible is the only valid translation apart from the original Hebrew, Aramaic and Koine Greek. he has a lot of opinions, some a little far-out, but some of them are brutally close to the Truth. But they are also very blunt, and sometimes bluntness is not a bad thing, especially in a world that is often too nuanced, too politically correct, and too concerned about giving offense. The Christian message is too important and too precious to not be delivered directly.

I first read some of these books in college, decades ago, back when I didn't even know what it meant to even be a Christian. No, these books did not lead to my conversion, but they did present some things I had never heard before, and they made me think about things which had never before crossed my mind.

Some of these books are a little crackpot, no doubt. They are a lot more about hellfire and brimstone than what many Christians are comfortable with, and yet in spite of the finger-pointing, I do not really see hatred in them. Any hatred Chick projects is towards Satan, and towards various institutions that he feels have lost their way, or those which never had it in the first place. I don't think he hates individual people at all, but he doesn't hesitate to show that people living apart from God are sinners.

Part of me is turned off by these books, yet another part of me enjoys them. You cannot dismiss or ignore them, and that may be their greatest strength. You cannot be unaffected by them.

And now you can collect them.