Jack Chick
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.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 which 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.
Chick is highly controversial. Many of his tracts are strongly critical of homosexuals, Catholics, Muslims, Mormons, Freemasons and other groups. He quotes people who have since been discredited. Among his claims are that the Roman Catholic Church is anti-Christian and in league with Satan, Islam is a godless pagan lunar cult, and rock music was started by witches in Satan's service.
Chick lives a more or less reclusive life; he last granted an interview in 1975. His wife Lola passed away in 1998 and he has remarried. He is reported to be currently working on a film version of the Bible and also continues to produce tracts at the rate of about two a month.