The Contract!

Enough with the soul-winning, I say! Time for a tale of good old-fashioned soul-selling. I haven't enjoyed a good soul-selling story in... well, actually I haven't had the pleasure of a good one. Although Bedazzled with Brendan Fraser was OK.

But this, dear readers, is a soul-selling story from Jack T. Chick! If anyone can work the ol' selling-your-soul-to-the-Devil premise into something whack-a-doodle, he can!

Only he doesn't. Instead it's the same old story, with the soul-selling replacing the topical sin-of-the-week.

The story starts with a hailstorm that decimates the crops of farmer John Freeman and his crippled son, Boy (well, he doesn't get any other name in the tract). John tries to get another loan from the bank, but the nasty Elmer Boggs won't give it to him. John returns home, saying: "I'd sell my soul if I could keep this farm!" And then, as is the convention for this type of story (and because Chick has a limited number of pages to work with), up pops the Devil to make a deal.
He calls himself B. Fox (the 'B', we learn later, stands for Beelzebub!) and he dresses like the Penguin, but you can tell he's the Devil because of those evil arched eyebrows. B tells John there is treasure buried on his property, and he'll show John where it is if he'll agree to split the booty half and half. Oh, and B. Fox also wants John's soul when he dies. Bet you didn't see that one coming, did you? And even though John spoke of selling his soul only six panels ago, he fails to put two and two together and signs the contract in blood.

John Freeman and B. Fox follow the treasure map to the spot "15 paces west of this old tree stump!" If we could actually see that map he has, I bet it would have a big black 'X' to mark the spot! Fox leaves John to do all the digging (he really is evil!), and lo and behold they find the buried treasure. John and Fox head for the bank to cash in their clichee-gotten gains, and get mean old Elmer Boggs fired. "There's nothing like revenge!" Fox says, and we never hear from Boggs again.

Incidentally, we never see John's son Boy ever again, either. I guess John was forced to eat him.

Anyway, John visits his cousin Bob Goode (yes, his name is Goode, you may laugh), who figures out to whom John has sold his soul. "I'd never be so stupid!" Bob says. "You'll never get out of that contract! You're doomed to Hell!"

And if you think that Bob Goode tells John how to get Saved at this point, you'd be wrong! Turns out Bob doesn't know the whole Born-Again bit; he's just "a God-fearing man" who does "as much good as possible... and I avoid all forms of evil!" Must be a swell guy to have at parties.

Ten years later, John's an old man on his deathbed. In only ten years. Come on, Jack! The guy couldn't have been more than 40. That's really sloppy storytelling. John complains to his doctor about the contract he signed with Satan, and that's when the Salvation message kicks in. Wouldn't you know it, the doctor is a Believer, and he tells John how to get Saved. "Then there is a way out!" John says, and he quickly puts Jesus to work reneging on his contract with B. Fox. Then he visits cousin Bob Goode to "share some wonderful news" with him. Bob doesn't like it, and says as much. "You sound like a fanatic!" he says. "I'll make it my way!"
Needless to say, he does not. Three panels later a tree falls on him, and Bob Goode finds himself in Hell. "This is insane..." Bob says. "Why am I here?" Satan, still disguised as B. Fox for some reason, welcomes him. "This will be your new home, Bob Goode, ..... Forever!"

"Who all is in this place?" Bob asks, because the first thing you want to know when faced with eternal damnation is who your neighbours are going to be. B. Fox tells him he has just about everybody, including "lots of good living people like yourself!.... isn't that a surprise?" And the hits keep on coming - John Freeman made it to Heaven! "He slipped out of my hands..." B. Fox says. "It was close!"

So there you have the essential message that Jack Chick wants to convey. John Freeman sold his soul to the Devil, ate his son and got some old geezer fired, but he found Jesus so he gets to go to Heaven. Bob, on the other hand, wasn't Goode enough.

Like most of Jack's work, this one is pretty entertaining. The art is up to Chick's usual standard, and most of the images are very good. Will it convert people? I don't think I'd go that far. I doubt there are many who have actually sold their souls, and the rest of us need a little more proof than The Contract will offer. It's a nice variation on the standard Chick Tract, but in the end I can't help but feel Jack hasn't quite honoured his contract with his readers.

Likely to Convert - 1
Artwork - 8
Ability to Hold Interest - 7
Unintentional Hilarity - 5
Level of Disturbing or Offensive Content - 1