Tract-ception. Bwaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhh
Introduction ⇑ ⇓
Charlie is saved by reading a copy of tract #224, Uninvited in tract #247, Home Alone? Oftentimes, characters within Chick tracts are shown either reading or providing a Chick tract to another character, typically for the purposes of salvation. This often serves as an expedient way to present Chick's message to another character while also being a cheeky bit of self promotion. Sometimes Chick used this trope to plug another tract with a similar theme, or tracts he thought were good for generic evangelism. Sometimes a tract will even contain itself.
The following page catalogs all the instances we could find of Chick tracts containing other Chick tracts or adjacent media. Some of the data is gleaned from observations previously catalogued by Bob Fowler and Kurt Kuersteiner, but all have been fully checked and confirmed. Also included are a few occasions where Chick tracts are not seen but are implied to exist in-universe.
Tract Sightings ⇑ ⇓
Self referential sightings are indicated in red.
For more information regarding page/panel reference codes, please see the BUCINS page.
Tract Cover | Tract # | Tract Name | Tract Count | Page(s) | Comments |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
006A | Somebody Goofed | 1 | 006A.1972A.11 | Fictional tract titled "Ye Must Be Born Again" given by Christian man to kid. Cover loosely resembles This Was Your Life!, Torn up by demon disguised as a man. | |
006B | Oops! | 1 | 006B.2008.11 | Fictional tract titled "You Must Be Born Again" given by Christian man to kid. Cover loosely resembles This Was Your Life!, Torn up by demon disguised as a man. | |
008 | This Book Has Been Banned | 2 | 008.1969.04 | Christian frozen by icy stare handing out unspecified tract | |
008.1969.09 | Man throws away Non-Chick wall of text tract | ||||
008.1969.16 | Multiple people fight JJ for Chick tract, cover style suggests This Was Your Life! | ||||
008.1969.17 | Full-page display of This Was Your Life! | ||||
009 | Who, Me? | 6 | 009.1995.04 | Christian frozen by icy stare handing out unspecified tract | |
009.1995.08 | Man throws away a non-Chick tract containing only a wall of text | ||||
009.1995.14 | Multiple people fight JJ for Chick tract, cover style suggests This Was Your Life! | ||||
009.1995.15A&B | The front cover of This Was Your Life! is shown; A Love Story, The Long Trip, Somebody Goofed, Best Friend, and The Choice are shown | ||||
009.1995.18 | This Was Your Life! is shown hanging from a door knob and being inserted into an envelope | ||||
009.1995.23 | This Was Your Life! is displayed along with a Chick Publications catalog | ||||
010A | Somebody Loves Me | 0 | 010A.1973.16B | Generic, non-Chick tract titled "Somebody Loves You" | |
010B | Hard Times | 0 | 010B.2006.16B | Generic, non-Chick tract titled "Somebody Loves You" | |
016 | What's Your Score? | 10 | 016.1971.12 | This Was Your Life!, Holy Joe, Somebody Goofed, A Demon’s Nightmare, Somebody Loves Me, Big Daddy, The Beast, Escape, Bewitched, Creator or Liar? shown | |
016.1971.15 | Above named tracts hammer a man in armor | ||||
017 | Lost Continent, The | 1 | 017.1971.07 | This Was Your Life! shown in both English and Spanish (¡Esta Fue Tu Vida!) | |
022 | Assignment, The | 0 | 022.1972.08 | Tim Dobbs considers giving Charles Bishop "a little tract", but never actually does | |
023 | Breakthrough! | 1 | 023.1972.14 |
A missionary show the tract Wordless Gospel to a native | |
023.1972.20 | A missionary reads Wordless Gospel | ||||
024 | Don't Read That Book! | 1 | 024.1972.23B | Demon shows up at the end throwing a copy of the tract in a bin, suggesting the reader does the same | |
032 | Losing the Old Zippp | 17 | 032.1972.2B | Multiple tracts held up by a saved individual | |
032.1972.4B | Unknown tract being offered by a nervous man | ||||
032.1972.5A&B | Bundle of unknown tracts is displayed | ||||
032.1972.7A | This Was Your Life! is being stashed away in car's glove box | ||||
032.1972.8B | This Was Your Life! is removed again from the glove box | ||||
032.1972.11 | One Way is left on an escalator, a woman offers an unknown tract to a grocery store cashier | ||||
032.1972.14 | Native American girl reads an unknown tract | ||||
032.1972.15 | Woman struggles to remove Escape from her handbag | ||||
032.1972.16A | Student leaves a copy of A Demon's Nightmare on a teacher's desk | ||||
032.1972.20 | This Was Your Life!, Big Daddy, Somebody Loves Me, A Demon’s Nightmare, The Assignment, Creator or Liar?, Frame Up, Holy Joe, Somebody Goofed, The Fool, One Way!, The Passover Plot?, Bewitched, Escape, The Gay Blade, The Thing, and The Poor Revolutionist are shown | ||||
038 | Humbug! | 0 | 038.1995.17A | Scrooge reads a sheet of paper Bob Cratchit gives him containing the gospel message. The "tract" is just a sheet of paper with text on it because Chick tracts didn't exist in Victorian London. | |
044 | How To Get Rich (And Keep It) | 1 | 044.1978.19A | Tract contains itself, being brandished angrily by a reader who’s just learned that it’s a Christianity thing and not actual financial advice | |
048 | My Name? ...in the Vatican? | 1 | 048.1980.08 |
The Alberto full-sized comic is displayed | |
048.1980.09 | A Catholic priest angrily brandishes the Alberto comic | ||||
048.1980.12 | A group of Catholic priests smoke cigarettes and discuss the Alberto comic at a table | ||||
048.1980.14 | A female Catholic "plant" admonishes a Christian bookshop owner for stocking the Alberto comic | ||||
048.1980.15 | A Catholic priest and nun guilt a woman over her endorsement of the Alberto comic | ||||
050 | Kiss the Protestants Good-Bye | Multiple | 050.1981.16 |
Chick promo tract. Shows a spinner full of Chick tracts (no specific titles visible) | |
050.1981.19 | The Alberto full-sized comic is displayed | ||||
050.1981.23 | The Alberto full-sized comic is displayed, other comics in the Crusader comic series are name dropped | ||||
053 | Reverend Wonderful | 1 | 053.1982.13B | "Chaplain" Dann Slator gives Dr. Arthur Westhall a copy of The Contract, title is obscured by dialog balloons in later versions | |
055 | Letter, The | 1 | 055.1982.02 | Chaplain Dann tries to give Mildred a copy of Somebody Loves Me and gets yelled at | |
060 | Titanic | 0 | 060.1983.5A | Aunt Sophie writes Chester a letter as Chick tracts did not exist yet | |
063 | Ivan the Terrible | 1 | 063.1984.02 | The plot is kicked off by Ivan reading an unidentifiable Chick Tract | |
069 | Story Teller, The | 1 | 069.1985.22B | Ends by promoting The Prophet full-sized comic | |
073 | Angels? | 1 | 073.1986.20B | Tom reads The Contract and learns that "selling your soul" isn’t a thing | |
074 | Bull, The | 1 | 074.1986.11A | The eponymous Bull reads Somebody Loves Me and is emotionally moved by the story | |
078 | Last Missionary, The | 21 | 078.1987.14 | Displays copies of the Spanish Somebody Loves Me (Alguien Me Ama), the Chinese (你的一生) and Tagalog This Was Your Life! (Maaaring Ganito Ang Buhay Mo), the Italian Is There Another Christ? (Esiste Forse Un'altro Christo?) and the Chickewa The Word Became Flesh (Mawu Anasandulika Thupi) | |
078.1987.16B | African natives read a copy of This Was Your Life! | ||||
078.1987.18 | Alternate language versions of tract back cover designs are shown | ||||
078.1987.24 | Front covers of:
|
||||
079 | Who Are They Gonna Remember? | 079.1987.07 | Promo tract plugging custom back covers | ||
079.1987.11 | Man and woman read This Was Your Life! on sofa | ||||
079.1987.13 | Woman puts This Was Your Life! in a dresser | ||||
079.1987.16 | Couple at end of rope call church that gave them Firestarter | ||||
079.1987.18A&B | Two women hand Firestarter to woman on doorstep; Man gives another man an unspecified tract over fence | ||||
079.1987.19 | Page shows 6 different tracts | ||||
079.1987.21 | Page shows 5 tracts in suggested order | ||||
079.1987.22 | Man who was going to shoot himself has open tract on desk. | ||||
079.1987.23 | Custom backs of unspecified tracts shown | ||||
095 | Decieved, The | 0 | 095.1990.12A | Two muslims read a booklet with a blank white cover that tells them Christianity is true and Islam is false | |
099 | Earthman | 1 | 099.1990.03B | Tract contains itself, being angrily brandished by a teacher who’s mad that someone brought it into school | |
114 | He Never Told Us! | 2 | 114.1993.17 |
This Was Your Life! is handed to a young man in art reused from Somebody Goofed! | |
114.1993.21 | The Assignment is namedropped but not shown | ||||
114.1993.23A | A woman gives an older woman a copy of Firestarter, a copy of This Was Your Life! is seen being passed at a dinner table | ||||
118 | Tycoon, The | 1 | 118.1993.07A | A Christian man gives Yut Survamin a copy of This Was Your Life! | |
118.1993.08A | Yut gives the tract to another man to dispose of | ||||
121 | Trust Me! | 1 | 121.1994.18B |
Unnamed protagonist recieves a generic, non-Chick tract titled "Jesus Loves You" | |
121.1994.20A | The unnamed protagonist repents while reading the same tract | ||||
122 | Last Rites | 1 | 122.1994.18B | God reminds John Sullivan that a woman once gave him an unspecified anti-Catholic Chick tract | |
124 | Ransom | 1 | 124.1995.06A | Unidentifiable tract lies unread at pay phone | |
134 | Little Princess, The | 1 | 134.1998.08A |
The Smiths put a copy of Happy Halloween into Heidi’s Halloween haul | |
134.1998.10A | Heidi asks her father to summon the Smiths while showing him the tract | ||||
144 | War Zone | 4 | 144.2000.05A&B |
Kid drops multiple tracts, including This Was Your Life!, No Fear?, The Choice and this one, on the floor; Moose picks the fallen tracts from the floor | |
144.2000.12A | Moose show a page from an unknown tract depicting Sinner Slinging | ||||
144.2000.15A | Randy and Moose discuss God's Love Gift at a table covered in unidentifiable tracts | ||||
156 | Scam, The | 1 | 156.2002.06B | Horror novelist Stephen King is seen weeping in the foreground while reading a copy of This Was Your Life! | |
174 | You Are About to See... | 2 | 174.2003.03 |
Stack of tract is seen with In the Beginning on top | |
174.2003.07A | Someone is seen being handed a copy of Spanish In the Beginning (En El Principio) | ||||
174.2003.10B | An inmate has Assumed the Position and prays on the floor of his cell surrounded by four tracts including This Was Your Life! and others | ||||
174.2003.11B | A missionary passes out bundles of the LOTW Bible Tract Series to natives | ||||
174.2003.13A&B | A Brazilian man is seen reading a tract from the Bible Series bundle; he distributes the tracts to other people in his community | ||||
174.2003.14B | The Bible Tract bundle is displayed fanned out | ||||
174.2003.16A&B | Sin City is namedropped but not shown; the front cover of The Outcast is shown | ||||
174.2003.17B | God With Us is namedropped but not shown | ||||
174.2003.19A | Here He Comes! is is referenced by series number, but is neither named nor shown | ||||
181 | Devil's Night, The | 1 | 181.2004.21B | Susy and her grandfather insert Chick Tracts, including The Little Ghost, in Halloween bags | |
185 | Something in Common? | 1 | 185.2005.22A | Tract contains itself, as a warning that you’ll remember reading it while you burn in hell | |
192 | Congratulations! | 13 | 192.2006.02 192.2006.03 192.2006.04 192.2006.05 192.2006.09 192.2006.10 192.2006.13 192.2006.15 192.2006.16 192.2006.18 192.2006.19A 192.2006.20B 192.2006.21A |
Promo tract shipped with multipacks. Shows multiple tracts. Only distinct titles counted. | |
207 | First Bite | 0 | 207.2008.14A | Faith (the vampire's targeted victim) hands out candy and “little comics” on Halloweenwhich are clearly meant to be Chick Tracts but we never see which ones | |
222 | Stinky | 4 | 222.2010.12A&B | Woman hands out Chick Tracts including The Little Princess and Boo! to children trick or treating, which are eventually passed along to actual Satan. | |
222.2010.13B | Amy and Denny read the tracts beneath a street lamp | ||||
222.2010.19B | Satan is furious at the contents of tracts he's been given including The Little Ghost | ||||
225 | Still No Revival? | 1 | 225.2011.02 | Displays the front cover of Why No Revival?, to which this tract is a sequel | |
231 | Why Should I? | 1 | 231.2012.02A | Tract opens with boy arguing with preacher holding copy of This Was Your Life! | |
235 | Who's the Real Hater? | 1 | 235.2012.13 | Street preacher hands out unidentifiable Chick tract | |
247 | Home Alone? | 1 | 247.2014.19B | Charlie reads Uninvited, which converts him to Christianity and cures him of The Gay | |
254 | Rotten Rodney | 1 | 254.2015.13A | Prison chaplain gives Rodney’s cellmate Jackie Jones Chick tracts | |
259 | Kitty in the Window | 1 | 259.2016.06A |
Claire Wilson hands out tracts to strangers | |
259.2016.13A | Lizzy reads Who is He? after being given the tract by Claire | ||||
261 | Look Out! | 1 | 261.2016.22A | Tract contains itself, being read by a man about to be eaten by a lion | |
271 | Faithful | 1 | 271.2018.22A | Iman holds up a Chick tract to her assailants | |
272 | Friend or Foe? | 1 | 272.2018.09B | Man sneering at Chick tract filmed by angel | |
Comic Sightings ⇑ ⇓
For more information regarding page/panel reference codes, please see the BUCINS page.
*The exact publication date of The Great Holocaust I was not printed in the comic and is unknown, but is believe to have been originally released by Alberto Rivera's publishing company some time in the mid- to late-1980's
Tract Cover | Tract # | Tract Name | Tract Count | Page(s) | Comments |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
C19 | Unwanted - A True Story | 1 | C19.2010.02C&E | "Chaplain" Dann Slator distributes unidentified Spanish language tracts to local gang members; Luis tears up a tract with a green cover immediately after receiving it | |
C19.2010.30A-E | Dann watches a flipchart presentation delivered by Jack Chick. | ||||
C19.2010.31F | Later another evangelist shows Dann Chick tracts, which he goes on to use. | ||||
C19.2010.33E | Dann gives tracts to the Crusaders (Tim & Jim), who proceed to also distribute them to passers-by | ||||
AIC7 | The Great Holocaust I* | 1 | AIC7.19##.04B&C | John is seen finding and reading the Alberto full-sized comic left on a bus | |
AIC7.19##.05A&D | John continues to study the comic in his home; John send the comic to Clark Butterfield who also reads it | ||||
AIC7.19##.06A&D | Clark ponders the comic; he then discusses its contents with Alberto Rivera | ||||
Further Reading ⇑
- "Tracts w/in Tracts!" - A catalog of tracts featured in tracts.
(Jack Chick Museum of Fine Art) - The World of Chick? (2001) by Robert B. Fowler - Section 4-40 contains a partial list of tracts appearing within other tracts found as of publication.
(Last Gasp Publishing)