One last thing… My inner instincts are already telling me there is something to be wary of as far as treatment of certain subject matters is concerned, but we shall press forward… After all, why would you be here on this site, if we turned and just left before we got started with our incisions, cuts and all manner of critiquing and analysis? It would be a waste of your time if that is what we did, so we shall not tarry further.

While the art style Al Hartley lays down isn't quite as up to snuff as some of Fred Carter's more dynamic panels, or even some of the more ambitious Kingstone Comic entries, he certainly put many of the latter-day Chick pieces quite to shame and makes both Dann Slator and Mary Mitchell come off as the Ritalin-addled third graders they so often were. Even with his “Archie” tendencies occasionally breaking through and the odd, unfortunate derp faces being put on display, his sense of composition and mastery over layout still makes the comic fairly pleasant to read.

This particular title caught my attention a couple of years ago, and so I am very glad we're finally getting a chance to take a look at it. Without further adieu, we present to you The Cross and the Switchblade.

While the book is focused on the establishment of his “ministry” for troubled youths in Brooklyn, it can probably be argued that its central thesis is really that drug addiction can be cured by Pentecostal charismatic nonsense like speaking in tongues. Unfortunately, the comic doesn’t focus on that so much, because that itself deserves some dissection.

And as for his “ministry” that is the focus of the comic and the book and film before it, it should also be noted that it’s a prime example of the “Troubled Teen Industry” known for, among other things, staging kidnappings and subjecting teens to horrific abuse as “treatment.” So keep that in mind.

And Nicky… Why threaten him with your knife (it sort of looks like a switchblade, but I am giving the benefit of the doubt and waiting for a clearer depiction) in hand if you seemingly have no intention of following through on your threat? Even if you did intend to follow through, you could have kept your blade hidden and still threatened him as you did (by grabbing his shirt) before using it. As I delve into much later in the dissection, they really have a poor understanding of the ways you use what I am guessing is going to be “Italian Stiletto” switchblades.

Yeah, if that isn't a bar low enough to trip over…

As for Wilkerson… you realise your plan to go and teach those specific teenagers your Protestant Evangelical mindset that all they have to do is simply accept Jesus and their sins are washed away on the spot is going to in fact, damn them to Hell (which is frankly deserved for their actions, but I digress)? The thing is… given their sins of MURDER, having it be simply handwaved by Sola Fide principles is utterly disrespectful to the family of Michael Farmer. Having a mourning family hear that the killer of their child accepted Jesus without any show of genuine repentance (and associated actions of repentance, as one should) is going to be little comfort in their grief and may lead to them seeking retribution.

Last, but not least… Al Hartley. I know you are somewhat limited by the size of the page for your comic book, but if you are going to use a real-life incident in your comic book, then pay the victims their due respect (even if one of them did not die) and use a truthful, accurate headline.

And lest we forget, Fundamentalist beliefs and anti-vaccination sentiments frequently come packaged together. Does everyone remember how they acted during the height of the Coronavirus pandemic? This type of aversion to scientific advancements have led to the recent resurgence of once eliminated diseases like measles in the United States. If these attitudes persist, how long until polio makes a comeback as well?

But I digress. A more relevant point to make here, perhaps, is while of course the fundamentalists are going to play up things like the victim’s polio, I do not think the press coverage of this case is entirely blameless here. They’ve always been willing to frame stories in emotionally charged ways if it’ll sell papers.

“...ended in jail”? You mean “ended up in jail”? English is your first language, right? Hire a proofreader, Hartley!

But, of course, Hartley is depicting a fundamentalist fever-dream here rather than Times Square as it appeared in the 1950s or the 1970s. If one looks at some actual photographs from the 70's, they will find a lot more visual stimuli than just the ‘adult’ stuff.

As for the media and their depiction, it is one hundred percent truthful. The media is never above distortions of truth, fabrications, sensationalism, hit/puff pieces in their work. Something to remember and keep in mind, dear reader.

Seriously, dipshit. Contact the Department of Corrections. Prisoners are generally entitled to have visitors as long as they aren't under some sort of disciplinary restrictions. You want to talk to the judge? Pick up the Yellow Pages and call his clerk. Busting directly into the courtroom right in the middle of a trial and yelling like a loon isn't going to be very effective at getting you what you're after, even if that type of behavior generally works for you in your podunk church.

So let us ask… why does the switchblade (in particular, the ‘Italian stiletto’) have such a reputation, especially since US companies like Schrade had been making switchblades with utilitarian blade styles from the early 1900’s up until 1958? Because at the time in the 1950’s, there was a lot of sensationalising surrounding switchblades (especially the ‘stiletto’ style imported ones), via magazines with sensationalistic articles like the articles written by Jack Harrison Pollack (who was a freelance writer and ghost writer for Senator Harry S. Truman) in Women’s Home Companion, as well as films such as Rebel Without A Cause, 12 Angry Men and West Side Story showing them as part of youth delinquency and gang violence.

This, along with other reasons such as ethnic prejudice and sexual anxiety (by Senator Frederick G. Payne of Maine and Representative Sidney R. Yates of Illinois respectively), led politicians (in particular, James J. Delaney) to take the steps to have the blades banned. The Switchblade Knife Act was passed in 1958, despite their knowledge that the ban would do very little to mitigate any such increase in violent crime, since violent criminals would likely simply switch to alternative weapons. The ban, in essence, was enacted for empty symbolism (instead of true reform) and that politically, it was safer to ban switchblades than to actually punish juvenile delinquency. Why am I not surprised that it was an empty gesture and focused more on politics than actually addressing the issue at hand that plague a society?

Okay, okay… let's not go there.

Christians absolutely loooooove preying on people who are experiencing some sort of grief, loss, or hardship. When your defenses are down due to having just lost a loved one, or financial devastation, or crippling substance abuse you are far less likely to employ your critical thinking skills and will be far more likely to buy into their emotionally charged (but intellectually deficient) arguments. The entire backbone of the “12 Step” approach is an excellent example of how this works.

Nothing is impossible for God!... except defeating the iron chariots, but we don’t talk about that.

But I also understand that this seems heavily embellished and twisted to put a specific point being made by Wilkerson and endorsed by the people at Spire Comics. After all, with how this is written, the implication is that they were born into the world and immediately were taking drugs, rather than being drawn to it as they head to adulthood by something like peer pressure or as part of maladaptive coping mechanisms due to things like mental disorders or trauma. While modern society does have its share of failings, access to support for mental health is generally better than it was in the time of the comic (1950s), when mental health was heavily stigmatised and lobotomies were commonplace for people with psychiatric disorders.

Why exactly does that fink preacher bug you, Nicky? He wasn't saying anything all that far outside of the mainstream Christian fare, and it's still extremely obvious that he's just talking out of his ass to boot. You're not really going to take this guy seriously, are you?

On-topic… Why would the gangs listen to Wilkerson? Is it because Wilkerson has some sort of subconscious ‘enthralling’ ability that makes people just immediately trust what he says, like what is happening to that individual there in the middle right panel? It would explain what happened with the group of people on Pages 8 and 9.

Fez don't need what you're selling!

Also, “Thank you, Maria!”? Thanks for what? Or is David talking to the woman with the phone, who’s also named Maria? This is seriously confusing.

What makes her think David is trying to break up her gang? Why does Maria think her “throat” is somewhere underneath that steel-reinforced wonder bra she must be wearing? Does David need to thank her even though he had to wrestle that three-foot bread knife out of her sweaty fist?

…no, seriously. Does Al Hartley think human breasts work that way?

Also, heroin makes you mellow, drowsy, and slows your breathing. She may be withdrawing from heroin right at the moment, but she's far too jacked up to be actively high on it.

Please pardon the French here, as I wish to vent some frustrations, though Wilkerson and Spire are not worth me using any maledictions on…

Espèce d'ordure! Minimiser l'expérience de ceux qui ont probablement vécu un épisode psychotique induit par la drogue, les poussant souvent au suicide, et pour quoi faire? Imposer vos idées aux autres à travers cette bande dessinée? Mes critiques étaient polies jusqu'ici, mais je ne me tairai plus aussi facilement à l'avenir.

*sighs heavily, as I regain control and the lights return to normal* Thank you, reader, for allowing me to express my frustrations. Hopefully, my use of a different language when I am, to put it politely, under the influence of negative emotions will serve as a measure to have me not resort to maledictions, and hopefully, it will not turn up too much in any dissections where I am a participant.

Now, given the fact that you seem to pretty much be a complete deadbeat that may end up tipping the scales out of your favor, though. She'd miss you from the next room, and you drove your ass all the way to New York for crying out loud.

…that's what she said.

Nicky’s actually got a good point there, it’s easy to praise and believe in God when you live in luxury, as opposed to living in the slums.

Is he wearing blue socks in that last panel? He color coordinated his socks to his suit?!?

That said… I am reminded of my earlier words about how this would also be the expected outcome considering you have changed nothing from the last time you did this rally event idea of yours. So I will not repeat them.

Though I sort of understand some of the reluctance to admit he had converted. After all, he converted to Christianity at the hands of a man who disparages psychosis and threats of suicide to push a narrative and shove his belief down their throat. And even if the source book depicts it differently… the version here would have been storyboarded by Spire Comics and presumably approved by Wilkerson himself or the publishers of the source book. Thus all are complicit and held accountable.

What I'm trying to say is fuck off… mmm'kay?

Why can’t it just reach the kids itself? Is it lazy? Increasingly I can’t say I am a big fan of this “God” character.

While I cannot pick on Nicky here too much, since it is entirely possible he never had a decent education in school, much less about sexual reproduction and where children come from, what I can critique is the unintentional irony in the dialogue, especially that second last panel. After all, could your thoughts on Pages 6 and 17, where you ask God for assistance not be considered “prayer”? And after you do, as shown in the very next panel on both pages, do you not get the equivalent of your “candy” from your “slot machine"?

*scowls* Your hypocrisy reveals itself by your own actions and words; do not presume that I can be so easily lectured to by the likes of you and your kind, Wilkerson. I have lived through events the likes of which you and your kind of "Christians" (The American Protestant Evangelicals) have never actually experienced unless you travel to certain countries outside of the US, as designated and identified by your own government each year. Notice how none of those places identified are called “United States of America”?

I simply could not wait until morning to phone and tell you all about it. I want to share every single, glorious detail with you. Did you know that I needed an episiotomy, David? Sixteen stitches. They basically spatchcocked me like a chicken. I practically had a cloaca for thirty-six humiliating, excruciating minutes. I shit myself three… seperate… times… David! I begged for drugs, and the doctor told me that getting anesthesia would mean that I wasn't a real mother! TWENTY-NINE CHRIST FORSAKEN HOURS OF LABOR, DAVID!!! THEY TOLD ME THAT I MIGHT INVOLUNTARILY PISS MYSELF WHEN I COUGH NOW, DAVID!!!

So, you want to know if it's a girl or a boy… David?

Also… that is some awfully convenient timing. As soon as he is done praying, that is when his wife decides to call? Let me guess, she also knew to call that exact place where Wilkerson just happened to be because Nicky praying was the equivalent of a GPS-enabled cell-phone.

Also, ten pounds?! That poor woman. I feel worse for her the further we get through this thing.

Also I gotta admit that Nicky and I share the same sleeping position.

*gasps* Is it possible that there is perhaps some embellishment, some altering of certain details, likely to push some sort of agenda? But surely not, because a person who claims to be a follower of God would never lie and distort the truth, and it is not like God/The Apostles (on God's behalf) would ever give out warnings about ‘false prophets’ in the Bible.

That said, I do remember seeing a few entities in my dreams that would be considered to have ‘eye-teeth’... that is, maws of teeth that you could feel were staring at you. In fiction, this would be the 'Too Many Mouths' trope and common to what I believe people would often call some sort of eldritch abomination/nightmare horror.

Starting from the top right and going clockwise...

1. I assume you are being metaphorical here, that the individual is to turn their lives to God, rather than having God literally take over and do all the actions. If you do happen to mean more in the literal sense, then that would mean that you are preaching what sounds like spirit possession, rather than a person willing to devote themselves to emulating Christ of their own autonomy, freedom of will and voluntary choice. Plus, any ‘good works’ would mean more than if God just took over and made you do ‘good works’ without your voluntary choice to do said good works.


2. Resorting to duplicitous behaviour… pitiful, especially for a man of God. Your question is a leading question: if he answers “Yes”, you say something like “You’ve admitted there is more to life, and the way you see more of life is via God”, and if he answers “No”, then you basically go to “Well I know there is more to life. Want to know how I know? Because of God.”.


3. Utterly shameful, especially given your belief about lying, deception and so on that you resort to yet another leading question: answering “Yes” leads to him telling you about how you just have to believe in God and he will show you this perfect plan. Answer “No” and it is all about how you are missing out on this “perfect plan”, which only God can show you.


4. So do you love your fellow human and do good things because God tells you to and you expect a reward, or because it is the correct thing to do, irrespective of God telling you to? You seem to be hinting at a fides formata (“faith formed by charity”) approach, so at least you are presenting that you do not push the pure Sola fide route, unlike Jack Chick.


5. Based on your rationale that love is “what you do”, there are numerous heinous things that can be done under the guise of 'love', including uxoricide/maritricide. To quote from the abstract for the book In The Name of Love: Romantic ideology and its victims:

   “Love is generally considered a moral, altruistic, and well-intentioned emotion; however, this idealized notion of love is far from realistic. People have committed the most horrific crimes in the name of the altruistic ideals of religion and love. Even if popular media depicts that love is all we need, recent statistics in the United States show a remarkable number of the victims of love. [...] It is estimated that over 30% of all female murder victims in the US die at the hands of a former or present spouse or boyfriend. Killing the one you love is not an example of ‘loving too much’ but of how love can go wrong when totalitarianism and extremism, rather than compromise and accommodation, are the guiding principles. The murderous dictator who proclaims that he ‘loves his people too much’ fits neatly into this category.”

   Along with one of the most common statements made by people like you (those who believe in evangelical Protestantism, like you and Jack Chick) that is little more than John 3:16 (or some either such paraphrase of it), and the punishment by God for hearing of Jesus even once in your life and not believing on the spot means that should you die before converting, you deserve to suffer for eternity in Hell… Does that not seem like an example of how love can go wrong if guided by extremism and totalitarianism, and how maybe God, as depicted by you and your kind, is little more than a dictator that 'loves His people too much'?

Does it really mean anything if Nicky basically orders all of his fellow gang members to march up there and accept God's love gift? Don't they need to choose that for themselves and actually be sincere about it? Or is this all about just going through the motions here?

“He wants to be involved in every part of your life! Let Him have His way, Nicky!” Ever heard of privacy and freewill? Yeah screw that, God’s gonna be watching you 24/7 and will be deciding your every single move. Say goodbye to shrimps and mixed fabrics, Nicky.

Speaking of churches and denominations… last I checked, Times Square had one of the most expensive rates for land/building purchases in the world, especially in 1989 when you were renting Hellinger Theatre for your church for $1 million per year for 5 years, followed by your acquisition of the same theater by 1991, reportedly for around $15-17 million. Feel free to do the conversion to today’s inflation index, but suffice to say… for your prattling about how love is “what you do”, you must have been raking in a lot of money from a supposed community of people (like the homeless, youth in gangs, etc) who are not exactly well off with lots of money. I wonder how comfortable you and your brother Donald Wilkerson were living…

As is depicted here in this scene, we have Random Thug #1773 deploying said stiletto switchblade (which already negates one major advantage of this weapon) and showing his intentions (if the intended target was someone more vulnerable to intimidation, then I kind of see the method working). What you have in essence is a weapon where the blade profile favours thrusts and stabs, able to be held in a single hand and then deployed just before contact is made to stab someone easily and quickly… and instead he deploys it trying to do some sort of non-ambush attack. Now perhaps, since we cannot see what exactly the attack he uses is, you can say that he pulled it out and tried to stab Nicky with it (rather than, say, trying to slash with a weapon where the blade profile is not the best for that purpose and that is if the edges were sharpened). But this then goes into the next question: you know Nicky is a former gang leader, who while being in a gang would have likely had multiple encounters involving knife fights. So why do you pull out your blade and try to fight him upfront? You have an automatic, locking knife that you were concealing and instead of trying to just ambush and stab him with it, you declare your intent like you are trying to give him a chance or be noble/honourable suddenly. I get that it is to show off how Nicky is a changed person and whatnot, but it does not make it any less stupid, especially since it is basically the "Evil Gloating" trope, and you do not act and look like a knight/member of nobility to me.

Another example where the “cross” is mightier than the switchblade is a sword. Even during the Crusades, most European swords by design in that era are ‘cruciform’ (in the shape of a cross) due to the presence of a crossguard, and indeed, for those fighting at the time who prayed to God (such as the Knights Templar), it was a substitute that was used if they were lacking a cross to pray with (such as on a rosary for the Crusaders due to their Catholic belief).

And yes, I am aware that they are referring to religion (specifically Christianity by the “cross”) being mightier than a weapon (the “switchblade”). To which I would ask a very pointed question, and since Spire/Wilkerson are both US persons/entities… if you want to talk about the “cross” being mightier than a “switchblade”, then why do you have the Second Amendment, when people love to talk about how the US is also a “Christian nation”, despite the fact that legally, it is not? If the US was truly founded as a "Christian nation”, why are you placing faith in material weapons to keep your population safe? What of the words that Jesus said in Matthew 26:52?

The real question I have, though, is: who the hell is Nicky talking to in the final panel? And why is everyone staring and grinning? It’s unsettling.

Et ainsi avec cette dernière page de bande dessinée, ça se termine. Je me préparerai à porter un coup de miséricorde dans la prochaine conclusion. Vous méritez au moins une telle gentillesse.

Don't start reading the book at the beginning, jump to the parts we tell you to. We all know what happens if you read the whole Bible cover to cover, after all.

Still, I suppose that someone who supposedly allegedly had such a profound influence on the likes of my Conspiracy Theorist Waifu John Todd,  deserves to be held in the same regard and given the same considerations as an ex-member of the Hitler youth and someone who frequently referred to the intellectually disabled they were trying to help using terms such as “feeble-minded” and “subnormal”. It seems that when you observe the totality of the Fundamentalist Grift-o-sphere you can't help but observe the inevitable bi-modal distribution of it all. On one end, you've got your guys who try to use the gospel to help people and make the world a better place for everybody, and on the other you've got your absolute toilet-stains who are so full of bigotry, hate and fear that they seem to corrode everything they come into contact with. David Wilkerson somehow managed to land right in the middle and so in another 50 years or so I think that this comic (and its associated film) will end up being the only means by which this guy is remembered at all.

Thanks for tuning in, everybody. We'll catch you in the next one.

What I am building to is that whether you believe that Wilkerson’s autobiography is truthful or not, factual or embellished, the premise of humility and modesty as core to Christian belief is very much absent here, almost as a direct violation of Matthew 6:1-4. Is it not the case that Wilkerson, in writing and publishing the source novel, has done exactly the opposite of those verses? He chose to explain his plans to others, in the hopes that they would praise him for his efforts, chose to sound a metaphorical trumpet by writing an autobiography talking about how he went and helped those poor youth and how he managed to convert Nicky Cruz, leader of the Mau Mau gang at the time. Or in essence, he was “seeking the glory of men” and “told his left hand what alms the right hand gave”... and became just like every other evangelist Christian preacher out there, including Jack Chick. Seeking funds to fuel their greed and falsehoods, to further push their twisted views onto the naive, the innocent and those who do not question. Whatever good could have been accomplished by what he had done was severely reduced due to his actions, with or without religion getting involved.

One hopes though that unlike Wilkerson and other evangelist Protestants who operate on similar, if not worse modus operandi (Chick Publications come to mind), that any good deeds that you do decide to do, dearest readers, are done because you want to do actions to help others and be kind... and of your own volition. Religious or not, the decision to do good deeds, to show kindness to others and not boast about them is something that can be done, even if only to make the world just that tiny bit brighter for those that you aid, and it removes a large part of the significance and power behind said actions and gestures if you are doing them because of the proverbial knife at your throat.

Until the next time that we are brought together, whether in dissection or not… May fortune and fate smile upon you, may the roads of your life be smooth and straight, with no troubles to impede you... and may your dreams be peaceful and joyous, free from nightmares and whatever manner of creature seeks to assail you during them. *curtseys, before turning and leaving*