LISA (Cover picture no longer available)
Feelthy-feelthy pictures and how they nearly lead to Henry’s downfall.
I really don’t like this story at all, for the same reason I object to a lot of other Chick Tracts: it pushes the same stupid notion that you can be as big a turd as you like in your life, as long as you kneel down and ask Jesus for forgiveness before you die. I personally can’t see it being as simple as that, but that doesn’t mean other people won’t. The fact that you wind up going to Hell after all doesn’t really help the people whose lives you’ve messed up. And it’s hard to see how you could describe this tract as being: "fun to read"!
SYNOPSIS: Henry is currently down on his luck. He’s lost his job and his wife has to work in a sleazy bar to support the family. Bored, he goes out for a drink and finds a Video store where he rents a VCR and a pile of tapes.
In the space of a single panel Henry apparently makes the transition from watching ordinary rental movies to watching porn. Of course his appetite for porn immediately gets out of control (as it always does - everybody knows that!) A few weeks later his neighbour drops in unexpectedly and stays to watch the movies as well, incidentally informing Henry that he knows all about what Henry has been getting up to with Henry’s daughter Lisa, and he wants in on it, or he’ll spill the beans.
Two months later Henry’s doctor calls him into his office to inform him that Lisa has Herpes and that he also knows how she got it. Henry’s life now seems hopeless but fortunately the good doctor is a keen reader of Chick comics, and in just a few minutes he sets Henry onto the path to salvation. (All his problems were entirely due to watching that damned porn, you understand!)
Henry runs home to his wife to tell her the good news and she instantly sees the light and a scant ten minutes later the magic salvation wand has been waved and all is perfect with the world. She admits that this was really all her fault because she was abused by her "*!%^ uncle" as a child and that was why she "turned away" from Henry, so making him a sitting duck for the heady temptations of the porn store and his young daughter. Of course! This sort of thing happens all the time!
The last panel shows a picture of little Lisa holding her teddy (she looks about four!) with the comforting word balloon over head: "We’ve got wonderful news, Lisa. Your Daddy and I will never hurt you again". Great.
Of course the facts that Lisa has to grow up with incurable genital herpes; that she will have almost certainly been traumatized by the actions of her father and his neighbour; that Henry and his wife will probably also have contracted herpes, and that both Henry and his neighbour (and possibly his wife) will be facing lengthy jail terms, don’t seem to be issues in the Chick universe!
ARTWORK: Once again, a cut above Chick’s usual works, and the artist has done his/her best with the boring "talking head" script. Again, mostly machine-lettered.
MEMORABLE POINTS: Nothing to speak of. I wonder what "*!%^ uncle" means:-)
WEAK POINTS
I think depicting Lisa as the appealing little moppet we see on the last panel is pretty sick, and, like a frightening number of final panels in other Chick comics, totally unnecessary. Most people would be thoroughly revolted by the thought of anybody using a child like her for sexual gratification - but what is the point of doing that here?
This was the link to the Chick Site, but it no longer works, and Lisa isn't listed anywhere now.
Download Lisa from Chick Publications
