CHICK TRACT PARODIES
A collection of eight Chick Tract parodies mimicking the style of the controversial religious cartoon tracts published by Chick Publications. Chick Tracts are small staple-bound pamphlets (5” x 3”) aimed at children, covering a long list of practices and beliefs viewed as enemies of true Christianity. They include Islam, abortion, drugs, evolution, homosexuality, rock music, the Roman Catholic Church, Judaism, Mormonism, and Freemasonry — but also Dungeons & Dragons, Harry Potter, Halloween, and updated translations of the Bible. Today, more than 900 million tracts have been sold in more than 100 languages.
Ironically, Chick Tracts have become a cult hit with comics collectors, who hunt down rare or discontinued titles. This has also spawned a series of parodies that utilize similar comic-style artwork and the classic 5” x 3” size. The small collection offered here consists of the following eight parody tracts:
HEAD SHOP OR DEAD SHOP? An eight-page tract by P.J. O'Rourke with art by Jeff Cox that was an insert in the December 1974 issue of National Lampoon. This is thought to be the first Chick tract parody. The story begins with Tommy, an upright lad who is approached by his three friends to visit a head shop. Tommy is appalled at the black-light posters, underground comix, tarot cards, and love beads. He leaves and notices police raiding the store. He pleads with the cops, but soon realizes they are angels tasked with throwing the shop owner and Tommy's chums into The Lake of Fire.
DEVIL DOLL. 20-page tract by Daniel Clowes that originally appeared in the comic Eightball #1, published in October 1989 by Fantagraphics Books in Seattle, Washington. The story of Pat who is lured into a life of satanic worship and drugs but saved after her friend slips a religious tract by Goose Gander into her pocket, showing her the evil of her ways.
THE STRANGER. An 8-page tract published by the Seattle-based alternative newspaper (now news website) The Stranger. No stranger to parody and satire, The Stranger was founded in 1991 by a company called Loaded for Bear, whose publisher is Tim Keck, co-founder of the well-known humor publication The Onion. The story of Billy Christian whose Indie rock career is ruined when he meets a representative from the weekly newspaper The Stranger, partakes in drugs, alcohol, and sex and finds his sins plastered on the front page.
HAW! HAW! HAW! 12-page tract published in 1995 by Slack Publications and The Church of SubGenius, a parody religion that satirizes better-known belief systems. The story of Bobby who ponders becoming a fast-food restaurant manager until he attends a Slackfest organized by the Church of SubGenius.
HEATHENS IDOLIZE SCHOOL PRAYER. 16-page tract published by Seattle-based Pathfinder Press in 1996. Beowulf, representing the elders of the United Church of Barbarians, Orthodox Pagans, and Druid Scientists, visits the board of education offices to support a school prayer initiative and has suggestions for each day of the week. “Thursday (or Thor’s Day), the children should make great groaning noises for a minute or two. It’s the day of Thor, god of Thunder!”
THE DEVIL MADE ME DO IT! An 8-page tract published by Fredericksburg, Texas-based Sick Publications in 2002. The tract contains six “poems for immature adults.” Each poem is sexual in nature.
MY PUSSY DEMANDS ATTENTION. 16-page tract published by Satan on Fire Publishing in Hell, Michigan (circa 2013), a purported “collective dedicated to educating the public about and eradicating deviant false transgender behavior.” The unknown publisher claims this pamphlet “exposes the shenanigans and chicanery of Bert McCracken, lead singer of Utah ‘screamo’ outfit The Used, engineered by the patriarchal music industry to lure impressionable teens into this gender-denying behavior.” The booklet includes black and white photographs and analysis of lyrics “to help you and those around you see through the lies.”
SATANIC PANIC. A small press parody comic book tract featuring Baphometta, a goat girl who keeps getting blamed for the evil that men do. Printed in London in 2021, the story is a quick jaunt into Baphometta’s world - an annoying day in school, faced with idiocy, double standards, etc. Item #74214
Price: $375.00