Pop Matters reviews Comic Art Propaganda: A Graphic History, by Fredrik Stromberg.
From the story...
In the beginning there were comics. They were without message or meaning, and the Spirit of God moved across the pages. And God said, “Let there be Chick”, and He saw that Chick was good and commanded him to spread the Word to the people. So Chick made the comics and spread them across the Earth, in truck stops and rest areas and libraries and parks. And God saw that it was effective. God knows a good thing when he sees it.
Who am I to question God? But are Chick tracts, those little black and white comics that tell readers all the different ways they might go to hell, really a good thing? Is it appropriate to condense complex theological ideas into a few literal-minded panels and leave them in truck stop bathrooms for road-weary travelers to read? Of course, because like all propaganda, Chick tracts aren’t about facts, they’re about a message.
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