A good friend recently pointed out a web site which has scans of Catholic comic books from the 1940s through the 1960s. On the one hand, they are fun and a great snapshot into mid twentieth- century Catholicism. On the other hand, it is remarkable how much serious content they bring with them. The images pictured here come from a 1948 issue on the Mass, which starts with Old Testament typologies, gives a short history of the development of the rites, and then establishes that the earthly liturgy takes place within the context of the joining of heaven and earth. Interestingly its language shows the effects of the liturgical research of the time on the nature of the Mass as corporate worship of the Mystical Body. Here, a priest saying Mass at the high altar with the pre-conciliar Missal, ad orientem, is said to be celebrating Mass “in the community or group form of praying” (click an image for larger view). “None of us is alone,” it says, “we are all one in Christ.” This simple comic book presents a proper view of liturgical community, one in which we form one Mystical Body of Christ, addressing our prayers to the Father, through the Son, who is sacramentally represented to us in the priest acting in persona Christi. That this notion of community became distorted after the Council no one can deny, but the proper roots were there, even for 10 year olds.
May 6, 2008 at 6:10 pm
true, but comics are supposed to be about fantasy, not Realities.
That’s why, for my money, the best comic book out there on Catholicism is Alberto.
May 6, 2008 at 8:15 pm
Great find. Maybe we should send it out to some bishops and cardinals.
May 7, 2008 at 12:30 am
I remember Treasure Chest as a boy, and I missed it when it disappeared. I spent my lunch hour going through the archives for adventures of Chuck White. As I recall, the saga continued as he went into adulthood, with his nephew and ward, also named Chuck White. So the story continued with the younger one. But no matter; it was great fun reading the adventures again.
May 7, 2008 at 3:16 am
To M. Swaim — your hate-filled link to Chick Publications and the vile lies about the Church they pretend is “Catholic” is the only fantasy here. That you would deposit their intellectual drivel amongst serious Christians, of any denomination, shows how bankrupt your soul has become. Both the theology and the methods behind anything coming from Chick has been discredited by countless theologians and their methods rejected by every Christian denomination seems to mean nothing to you. Only someone grievously wounded by a loss of faith could subscribe to such nonsense, so you have my prayers and my pity.
May 7, 2008 at 5:51 am
Easy michael s!
Look at M. Swain’s profile – he is a Catholic. The intent of his post was a somewhat tongue-in-cheek reference to what utterly ridiculous comic books those are. I first read Alberto comic books as an intern at Catholic Answers in the library, and almost died laughing at the ignorance.
I found my dad’s old Treasure Chest comics in his childhood room at my grandmother’s house… I was amazed that such things existed, and wish I still had them. They were treasures.
May 7, 2008 at 9:18 am
Yikes! My lines were not read between…
I’m a fundamentalist convert to Catholicism who has done academic work on the life and materials of Jack Chick and the currency he carries with modern evangelical anti-Catholicism. I, too, find Alberto far too hilarious to be incendiary, especially after they nabbed him on credit card fraud.
May 7, 2008 at 1:48 pm
I have a mildly autistic daughter who hates reading but likes comics. Something like this would be perfect for her for homeschool. I’d love to get my hands on some of them, they look great.
May 7, 2008 at 2:18 pm
To access an archive of nearly every issue of Treasure Chest from 1946 through 1963, go here…
http://www.aladin.wrlc.org/gsdl/collect/treasure/treasure.shtml
…and click on “search” to the left. You will find a top menu that allows you to search by titles, subjects, people, series, and issues. I recommend issues, but if you like a particular series, click on that and look through the alphabetical index.