Museum of Weird and Demented Religious Tracts: Weird Tract Number 100: "Hippie, Come Home!" by Vic Lockman (Rusthoi Publications)

Troy Davis writes:

I previous wrote about Vic Lockman, who is one of the most prolific comic book writers and artists. Like Jack Chick and Al Hartley, Lockman did both secular and religious comic books. Lockman was so prolific that, unlike Chick and Hartley, he continued to churn out Disney comics after he decided to make books with a sectarian bent.

Hippie, Come Home! (1968) is 24-page mini-comic. It is one of my favorite religious tracts for a lot of reasons including Lockman's stylized art, the hilariously stilted dialogue, and Lockman's ham-handed approach to the '60s counterculture. The story begins with teenager Rick, a square sporting a flat-top and varsity sweater, declaring his independence from his smothering parents. He meets up with side-burned Two-Stroke and his fetching girlfriend Korla. They all take off on Rick's bike (which is stolen) to meet Rick's friend Hanoi[!]. When they get there, Hanoi is a slovenly bearded creep with a third-eye tattoo on his forehead. Hanoi shows Rick a joint and asks, "How about a weed?"(keep in mind, Lockman was about 40 when he wrote this). Hanoi also offers LSD; Rick is rightly alarmed at the sight of a poor schlubby guy having a really bad trip.

Rick starts having second thoughts about his rebellion and starts preaching about the need for societal rules. Hanoi, who is now shooting up, rebuffs the "square" right as the cops arrive to deal with the bike Two-Stroke stole. Hanoi is furious that Two-Stroke parked a "hot cycle" at his place and stabs him. The fuzz arrest Hanoi and Two-Stroke is taken to the hospital. In the hospital, Two-Stroke and Korla mend their ways and accept Jeebus. Righteous stuff.

NOTES ON VIC LOCKMAN: This article looks at the role of long-forgotten publisher Ralph Rusthoi on the tract-publishing of Lockman and Jack Chick . . . In the 1970s, Lockman and Walter Lang take on ancient astronaut theorist Erich Von Däniken in the tract "Was God an Astronaut?" . . . Lockman goes into Bircher mode with the tract "Who's Calling The Shots?" . . . Lockman and Walter Lang team up on an anti-evolution tract "Have You Been Brainwashed by Ape-Men?"

The Museum of Weird and Demented Religious Tracts is a project of Les Zazous Postmodern Art Galley of Bellaire, Ohio. Read the Welcome Statement of The Museum here.

For more on the gallery, check out the web site here and the gallery's Twitter handle is @ZazousLes. The Twitter handle for the museum is @WeirdTracts

The index of tracts for the museum's website is here.

Contributions of weird tracts to the museum can be made by mail: send your weird tracts to Les Zazous Postmodern Art Gallery 3475 Guernsey Street, Bellaire, Ohio 43906.