A religious pamphlet drawn and published by Jack Chick. Chick Tracts usually contain a stern cautionary tale played out in comic panels. The moral tends to be 'Beg Jesus for forgiveness right now, because that's the only thing that can save you'. Depending on when in his life Chick drew up the tract, the quality of the artwork is anywhere from amusingly sloppy to good, but not quite right in a disturbing way.
When I was a kid, Chick Tracts used to have little affadavits at the end of the pamphlet from people who had presumably been saved by Tracts. Today, these testimonials no longer appear, probably because they were funnier than they were convincing ("I used to be an upstanding citizen in my community, but I was also practicing Witchcraft....").
There are Chick Tracts to cover pretty much the full spectrum of things that Fundamentalists disapprove of:
- Evolution
- Catholicism
- Role-Playing Games
- Atheism
- Evangelism
- Rock music (even Christian Rock)
- Islam
- Buddhism
Oddly enough, Zionist conspiracies are left out, but not Banks and Globalism. Chick also has a great deal of unfavorable things to say about Christians who think that good works alone will get them into Heaven. Several of his stories have a twist ending, in which the scumbag who accepts Jesus at the last second goes to Heaven, but the samaritan who did good deeds all his life is damned.
Chick Tracts are distributed for free, and can be found wherever you find gullible people who have depressing lives: Cheap hotels, bus stations, bathrooms in seedy bars, etc.. They can also be found online at www.chick.com.
Of course, a few websites have found it hard to resist making parodies of the Tracts. Because Chick is litigious when it comes to seeing his work mocked, these are usually not up and active for long.