CHRISTIAN COMIC ARTS SOCIETY :: A NETWORK OF CHRISTIAN FELLOWSHIP FOR COMICS FANS, PROS, AND AMATEURS

I was recently commenting on a fellow artist's webcomic, a black/white manga-style short story; and I got kind of excited as I realized how much it resembled a Chick Tract from the 70's and 80's.

Chick Tracts were designed to be printed cheaply as pocket-sized stories, two pictures on a tiny page, total pages about 22-30. Their size and style made them awesomely easy and cheap to distribute to friends, or out on the street, and they were really effective.    Here is a good example, https://www.chick.com/products/tract?stk=1176 . They're still using this same structure, but public consumption has changed and they're not having nearly the impact.

I think the next great opportunity for tract-based evangelism will use cell-phones, on software-platforms like Instagram, Snapchat or Twitter for example. The tiny screens mean the viewer will see one frame of your story at a time and, given our short attention spans, quickly navigate through a story by flicking their finger across the screen.  A great example of a successful Instagram-based comic is Pet-foolery: https://www.instagram.com/pet_foolery/  . Pet-Foolery's artwork is really good but not very ornate, the scenery is basic to non-existant in many of the frames.    I think basic black ink short comics could be adapted to a Social media format pretty easily and could be really successful at reaching people.

PS. This talented artist says his 'scribble comic' is a work in progress, but I'm sure he wouldn't mind if you wandered over to http://www.asaintjoanofmyown.com/the_edge_of_the_flock  and checked out Edge of the Flock .

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  • After all these years, one of my memories that stands out was going to a little sandwich shop on Kauai. The owners were devout Christians, and at the front counter they had little racks of Chick Tracts. I took one to have a little lunch time reading, it was really good!

    I'm fascinated by your thoughts about cell phones and the new consumer reader habits of the current age. Though I don't even own a cell phone, last month my two sisters and my brother and their children came home to visit, and cell-phones and I-pads were everywhere! Going where the readers are to spread the Good News, that's the way! 

    God bless you Brien, you've certainly blessed me and this site:)

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