A Collector's Dream...?

Everybody knows about "Chick tracts" - those shrill evangelical mini-comics that one occasionally finds in hidden in public places as a means of stealth ministry. I don't think they're as popular now as they once were (I've noticed that I encounter a greater number of Ray Comfort's million dollar bills these days than anything else related to proselytizing.), but they're still out there. I suspect that a troubling number of folks take them seriously, but I think that, as a classic example of Poe's Law, the things are a hoot. A few years ago I even decided I was going to start collecting them for fun and profit, but unfortunately I just haven't run into that many. To make matters worse, I never found any of the really good ones!* You can imagine my disappointment. What ever was I to do?

Well, a solution has finally been offered for all of us down-on-our-luck Chick tract collectors. You can now buy the (nearly) complete set online for the low, low price of $14.95. That's really not much of a deal, since the things cost about 15 cents individually and by my count you're only getting 97 comics and the retail catalogue, but it does save you the time of going through and manually adding one of each comic to your shopping cart. The set also apparently comes with a handy-dandy collector's box.

I imagine it's weird for some of my readers to see me actively hawking religious nutjobbery on here, but honestly these things are hilarious. They're also a window into the minds of many of our fundie friends and neighbors and they bring up some interesting questions. For example, do some fundies really think all atheists are inexplicably hairy guys with bad skin who will actually recoil from a KJV Bible like a vampire being threatened with garlic? Seriously, if you've never had any experience with Chick tracts, check'em out. They're freakin' epic. Just don't go in expecting any nuance or theological sophistication.

PZ, is that you? In Jack Chick's world, this is how atheists look and act.

*The last one I encountered was a copy of "No Fear?", an anti-suicide tract. I found it in, of all places, the restroom at a Panera Bread restaurant. I guess someone stuck it in there for the benefit of the disconsolate masses who were unable to swap out their baguette for a bagel.