Most people familiar with fundamentalist Christian cartoonist Jack Chick know him mainly for his comic-strip religious tracts and comic books, in which he depicted the evils of popular culture and the one true path to heaven, often with unintentionally humorous effect. But Chick Publications produces actual books as well, mostly to expound on his special brand of theology. Smokescreens is one of these books. Published in the Eighties, Smokescreens is Jack Chick's detailed manifesto regarding the Vatican's true role in Satan's "assault on Christ's bride, the church." Featuring a crude layout - complete with oddly-placed newspaper clippings and illustrations - that will be familiar to anyone into underground publications of the Eighties and Nineties, this over-sized pamphlet lays out Chick's conspiracy theory that centers around the Vatican and the Pope as directly involved in the Holocaust and the Roman Catholic Church as the "Whore" of revelation. Popular culture, Hollywood, TV evangelists, and even the Prime Minister of Canada are all in on the conspiracy, creating the titular smokescreens the threaten to blind us from the ultimate deception. Reading through this, you can see why Chick preferred to soften his message through comics, as the lunacy behind the message is even more glaring in print. Great stuff, worthy of any conspiracy library. ( )