WAke Up, L'il Susy (is here). Chick's newest for your pleasure!

[gobear]

Jack Chick has released yet another example of his literature for the halfwitted in Lil' Susy, which, oddly enough, doesn't bash Catholics, gays, Muslims or Jews.

I have to admit that when I read the line, "When the baby was born, God was inside the little boy," my first thought was, "So, Michael Jackson IS God!"

In addition, check out the righthand panel of page 11--is that kid channeling Carrie White after the prom or what?

And was the only one who thought that Jack was going for full-on underage lesbian porn anime at the end?

"Sisters, Cathy, and I love you!"
"And I love you, Susy. I've never been so happy!"

Enjoy!

[Creative_Munster]

This guy is hilarious. I hope Cartoon Network offers him the chance to write a series for them soon.

[carrot]

Holy shit. Did Chick go on antidepressants or something?

[ivylass]

Well, at least it's not as hateful as some of his other tracts.

Still, plenty of

[buttonjockey308]

So let me get this straight, so to speak, Susy's got two daddies?

[Neurotik]

Those are some scary looking girls when they get angry. When Susy tells Cathy that her father sinned, it looks like she's ready to exact God's vengeance here on earth.

Good stuff.

[Lord Ashtar]

A couple of times those two girls looked really evil.

[Eve]

Wait'll Cathy gets home and her Momma finds out her little friend turned her into a Fundie—then there'll be some crying!

My favorite line: "What is sin, Suzy? I don't understand!" Then the porno music comes up . . .

[Kantalooppi]

Do tell. Chick tracts are, of course, drawn by different artists, but I don't think I've seen this guy drawing the tracts before. He seems to have some trouble drawing facial expressions. Especially with the non-ponytailed hirl in the panels 7 and 11 - what the hell is going on? Demon possession?

The theme, where the poor sinner who gets saved has never heard of Jesus or, indeed, anything related to religion ("What is sin?"), hears the words of Jesus Chick and is insta-converted. I wish I had that power. Um, I wouldn't misuse it, of course. Nooo.

Also, I love the way Jack's explained every fourth word or so in the short Bible quote at the end of the track. "The world" means "everybody?"

So let me get this straight, so to speak, Susy's got two daddies?

No no no. Suzy's daddy died, remember?

[Tripler]

Originally posted by Lord Ashtar
A couple of times those two girls looked really evil.

Dude, sixth 'page' of the booklet, in the left frame, I swear that one girl looks like one of the Chipmunks.

And I just noticed something--neither of the girls has any teeth. Weird to the "n"th degree. . .

Tripler
Like, totally weird. . .

[Zsofia]

Hey now. I mean, I don't want my kids anywhere near it, and the art is seriously scary, but you gotta admit that for Jack Chick this thing is really quite sweet and sensitive. I kept trying to be offended, but I had to give up.

[Mr. Blue Sky]

So that's what happened to those little girls from the Margaret Keane paintings.

[Lute Skywatcher]

Is it me or do the two girls look a little too close in that last panel? Closer than what Chick would intend, I mean.

[iampunha]

Originally posted by Zsofia
Hey now. I mean, I don't want my kids anywhere near it, and the art is seriously scary, but you gotta admit that for Jack Chick this thing is really quite sweet and sensitive. I kept trying to be offended, but I had to give up.

Please step over here to the right, miss, to fully renounce your status as doper. We'll need your username, your Fighting Ignorance badge, putzrifle and the secret "What is the third -gry word?" card.

[Homebrew]

Sooooo who here has been divorced and remarried? It's a certain poster's *cough* his4ever *cough* turn for Chickian condemnation.

[Jackmannii]

Man, those little girls have got some dilated pupils.

A crank habit would explain that, plus the mood swings and the need to repent.

[Tripler]

Originally posted by Jackmannii
A crank habit would explain that, plus the mood swings and the need to repent.

I wouldn't hold that against him. I've had days like that after a fifth of (insert liquor here) on a Friday night.

Tripler
Sometimes my penance included the toilet bowl. Sometimes.

[cbtcad]

Those girls are indeed most frighting when angry, but their faces did cause me to laugh at a chick tract for the first time. Usualy I just feel ill.

[Guinastasia]

Originally posted by Zsofia
Hey now. I mean, I don't want my kids anywhere near it, and the art is seriously scary, but you gotta admit that for Jack Chick this thing is really quite sweet and sensitive. I kept trying to be offended, but I had to give up.

Yeah, pretty much. A little sappy, but it was kinda cute. Poor kids, no parents. But they're not out there throwing eggs at my house, so I'm happy.

Homebrew, that one is no longer among us, or at least, she no longer posts here.

[iampunha]

Originally posted by Homebrew
Sooooo who here has been divorced and remarried? It's a certain poster's *cough* his4ever *cough* turn for Chickian condemnation.

I'll take "Posts that are likely to feed her persecution complex" for $200, Alex.

[Diogenes the Cynic]

I have to give the tract a D minus. With the exception of the one girl getting all demonic about how the other girl's dad "messed up, big time" with God, there really isn't anything that insane. It's still insufferable glurge, to be sure, but there's no gay bashing, no "RCC = the "Whore of Babylon." No Muslim baiting, no wildly uninformed creationism, nothing about Satan's influence on pop culture.

Very disappointing, I must say, and I so look forward to these things. Hopefully it's just a slump and the next tract will be a good old fashioned zealot-fest.

We need Bob back.










*Did anyone else get a creepy feeling about "Grandpa," even though he wasn't in the tract? There's something about a guy would brainwash an innocent kid to such a degree.

[Diogenes the Cynic]

Guin:

H4E is still here, she just changed her user name to Lynn73. She's been posting a lot in GD religion threads. She's been slightly more restrained but she hasn't changed much.

At least she's stopped posting links to anti-LDS/RCC websites.

[Lute Skywatcher]

Originally posted by gobear
And was the only one who thought that Jack was going for full-on underage lesbian porn anime at the end?

"Sisters, Cathy, and I love you!"
"And I love you, Susy. I've never been so happy!"

Ah, so it wasn't just me.

Should've paid more attention to the OP.

[Nanoda]

I missed the "Haw haw haw", but pretty good art. The pigtail girl seems to have come off the side of something in the doll isle at ToysRUs though.

Originally posted by Tripler
Dude, sixth 'page' of the booklet, in the left frame, I swear that one girl looks like one of the Chipmunks.

I was thinking Chucky myself.

[Cervaise]

from the tract
"Jesus did something no one had ever done before... He came alive!"

Jesus is Frampton?

[Truth Seeker]

Count me in with those who think this just isn't down to his usual standards. This is obviously a new artist. I even give him or her points for the interesting choice of perspective in panel 9, though inexplicably, he or she has made a pig's breakfast of the shadows.

Overall, fairly unremarkable as religious tracts go. Chick didn't get to be the Ed Wood of religious cartooning with material like this. I've seen more risible/objectionable stuff in The Family Circus. Though, come to think of it, that might not be saying much.

P.S. I miss the dog.

[Rilchiam]

Originally posted by gobear
And was the only one who thought that Jack was going for full-on underage lesbian porn anime at the end?

"Sisters, Cathy, and I love you!"
"And I love you, Susy. I've never been so happy!"

Hell, look at panel 36! "What?...Tell me...tell me...!"

[Jonathan Chance]

Yeah, actually this is a straightforward witnessing tract for ol' Jack. I'm surprised. I wouldn't be offended if someone handed this to me at the grocery store.

Could the guy be gaining some marketing skills as he matures?

[Guinastasia]

Originally posted by Diogenes the Cynic
Guin:

H4E is still here, she just changed her user name to Lynn73. She's been posting a lot in GD religion threads. She's been slightly more restrained but she hasn't changed much.

At least she's stopped posting links to anti-LDS/RCC websites.

Eh, I'm aware of that, but I haven't really seen her that much. I think she's been duly chastised. Or at least, she knows to leave well enough alone.

Little girls usually like being "sisters" with their friends. I know I did when I was little.

[butter pie]

It looks almost like the eyes were trying to be anime-like without looking like actual anime girls. Maybe ol Jack thinks all anime is tentacle porn or something.

[Mehitabel]

I so wanted to see the errant father cast into Hell with a HAW HAW HAW!! It's so incomplete without that.

Not too bad for Chick, but gotta love the total, embryo-like ignorance of religion that the converts all exhibit. It's like Jim Kirk and a new alien beauty--"James Kirk, what means this word 'kiss'"?
People in these tracts are all like, "Je-zus? Never heard of 'im!"

[Tripler]

Originally posted by Cervaise
Jesus is Frampton?

No, but Clapton is God.

Tripler
I'm gonna have anime-related nightmares tonight. Hold me.

[A wizard song for thee]

I just like that, according to the tract, the Romans pulled off Christ's beard. Somehow, my brain read that as them having pulled off his Beard, and effectively outing him. A Gay Chick Tract Christ would be funny.

[sugaree]

I found something to be offended by! When Cathy asks Susy, "Are your folks divorced like mine?", Susy answers, "No, [Susy's mom] loved me!" Because of course no divorced parents love their kids! If parents love their kids, they stay married, right?

In some panels, the flower on Susy's t-shirt looks like a pot leaf.

[LogicinMotion]

Excuse me? Just one question...

How many children does God want exactly? I mean how many is enough>?

I hear we're all Gods children, then apparently we're not, and now I hear God gets inside kids, only that kid is not God but he's in there? What the hell is he doing? Taking a vacation?

Anyone else confused yet?

The bestest, fabbest part to this? Is this little quote:

You'll become Gods child! Jesus becomes your lord and saviour...and angels will watch over you

Well, this is quite a family affair now isn't it? So Jesus is this dude that God infects, but he's not God, he's the son of God although God never sired him, well ok he sort of did because he wanted a son and so he took this woman and told her she was pregnant and so she was, not that God was in the mood to ask mind you, he just said: Hey you, you're pregnant right? And she says yeah, ok. So then she's pregnant. THEN, God says that kid is mine, but it's me too, because I put myself into making him, so it's me, but not me, and so we're all ok with that.

So then this kid prays to God and loves him and so God gets into her, and then Jesus who is also God but not God, becomes her lord, and angels all get in on the action with little Susy, because she's a game little chick, and if you've not gotten into little Susy, you're missing out on something?

And this is all ok? *shakes head* now I know why I have cats.

Logic.

[gex gex]

I wouldn't pit my scanty religious knowledge against that of an ultimate Bible type like Chick, but:

"Jesus did something no one had ever done before... He came alive!"

Didn't Lazarus do that? And before Jesus?

[E-Sabbath]

Does this make Peter Frampton the second coming?

[eli_the_fanatic]

Mehitabel wrote

Not too bad for Chick, but gotta love the total, embryo-like ignorance of religion that the converts all exhibit. It's like Jim Kirk and a new alien beauty--"James Kirk, what means this word 'kiss'"?
People in these tracts are all like, "Je-zus? Never heard of 'im!"

What, nobody told you?

[Superdude]

Hey, eli, you know, the beginning of that tract reminded me of my father's funeral. Before the service, we were meeting with the minister, and he commented that he was going to be reading Dad's favorite bible verse. I'd known my father 27 years; I'd NEVER known him to have anything to do with religion. The priest said he was reading John 3:16. I can only rationalize that by figuring that Dad only knew that one from sporting events.

And we were told that they were going to play Dad's favorite hymn. Of which NONE of his three children knew that he even HAD one. They played "Amazing Grace." Again, I think it was just the only one Dad knew.

[missing_link]

I was kinda surprised too, I mean I fully expected one of the girls to go to hell in the end.
I was just waiting for the panel where one of the girl says something like "But how can God be my daddy" and promptly goes to burninate in heck.
But noo, not even the Jesus without a face.
Bah, God owes me five minutes now.

[Rilchiam]

Originally posted by sugaree
I found something to be offended by! When Cathy asks Susy, "Are your folks divorced like mine?", Susy answers, "No, [Susy's mom] loved me!" Because of course no divorced parents love their kids! If parents love their kids, they stay married, right?

No, you read the sentences in the wrong order. It is misleading, because in that panel Cathy's talk-balloon is on the left. But Susy's is above Cathy's, indicating that she speaks first. In the previous panel, Cathy had asked, "Did your mom leave home?" That's what Susy is responding to when she says, "No, she loved me." Then Cathy asks if Susy's parents are divorced, and Susy replies that her mom died when she was born.

What I like, though, are Cathy's mood swings.

Cathy: You got a new father?

Susy: Oh, yes...I'm SO happy...and he loves me and watches over me.

Cathy: THAT'S NOT FAIR!!

Susy: But Cathy, he can be your daddy too!

Cathy: Oh Susy...that would make me sooooooooooo happy!

[Already in Use]

"But Cathy, he can be [i]your[i] daddy too.

"Who art thy Daddy? WHO ART THY DADDY, BEEYATCH? Verily, I say unto thee!"

[Already in Use]

Truly, the LORD hath humbled the proud and confounded the wicked by confounding their coding, sevenfold, thousand upon thousand, to the third and fourth generations. Amen.

[Already in Use]

Grr, and I meant to type "struck down the wicked!" Curses, Dr. Jesus! Foiled again!

[sugaree]

Originally posted by Rilchiam
No, you read the sentences in the wrong order.

D'oh! I actually read them right and quoted them wrong. But my complaint stands. Parent move out of the family home? Parent doesn't love you, kid!

Originally posted by Rilchiam
Cathy: You got a new father?

Susy: Oh, yes...I'm SO happy...and he loves me and watches over me.

Cathy: THAT'S NOT FAIR!!

Susy: But Cathy, he can be your daddy too!

Cathy: Oh Susy...that would make me sooooooooooo happy!

Chick tracts would be so improved if they really used the smiley technique.

[Zsofia]

D'oh! I actually read them right and quoted them wrong. But my complaint stands. Parent move out of the family home? Parent doesn't love you, kid!

[disclaimer] I'm not at all defending anything Jack Chick says, ever has said, or will say in the future. [/disclaimer]

But while I thought the idea that God says Daddy sinned by getting remarried kinda sucked, I figured the "Daddy didn't love me" thing was just her perception of the divorce, and showed how muc she was looking for some other father figure in her life.

And was therefore ripe to be plucked by any cult that came by.

[SirRay]

Originally posted by Tripler
And I just noticed something--neither of the girls has any teeth. Weird to the "n"th degree. . .

I just want to be a pain in the butt and point out the blonde girl Cathy bares her teeth like a pit bull in p16, right panel.
Also note that Cathy appears to be straight outta Whosville (next to Compton) in p6, right panel

[FriarTed]

I got the idea that Daddy got divorced TO get remarried with another woman- and also that since he doesn't have anything to do with his daughter, that's fair cause for her to think he doesn't love her.

JTC can be a butthead but there's not buttheadery on these points.

[sugaree]

The tract is designed to witness to children-- and specifically to witness to children of divorced parents. Whether or not it is supposed to cater to children who have indeed and actually been abandoned by a parent, or children who are hurting from their parents' recent divorce and feel abandoned by one or both parents is irrelevant. Those little digs re parental love=living in the same house could reinforce some bitter and unhealthy feelings. I feel that the real meaning behind the "She loved me" remark, subtle as it is, is to urge children of divorce to accept Chick's God--no matter what their parents teach them. After all, why should you accept Mom or Dad's belief system when Mom or Dad moved out and doesn't love you? Why reconcile your feelings toward the divorce or the new stepparent when you could just be a child of God?

Literature aimed at children, no matter what its purpose, should not undermine the family unless there's a damn good (plot-based) reason.

[sugaree]

I love it. I'm scouring a Chick tract for subtext. Have any English Literature students done a Master's thesis on Chick tracts?