Hicksville [Paperback]

Dylan Horrocks (Author), Seth (Introduction)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 1, 2002

World-famous cartoonist Dick Burger has earned millions and become the most powerful man in the comics industry. However, behind his rapid rise to success, there lies a dark and terrible secret, as biographer Leonard Batts discovers when he visits Burger's hometown in remote New Zealand. One of the best graphic novels of the past decade.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"Hicksville encompasses a dozen different styles; happily, Horrocks proves equally adept at finely etched antipodean landscapes, superhero battles, and gag cartoons." --Details

"Dylan Horrocks is clever, funny, and very, very good at making comic books. His characters grab you and haunt you and even make you worry for them. Buy this guy's comics. He knows what he's doing." --Frank Miller

From the Publisher

Dylan Horrocks` Harvey and Ignatz Award-nominated graphic novel Hicksville was published in 1998 by Black Eye Books. Hicksvile was also named a `Book of the Year` by the Comics Journal and was nominated by three of its critics as one of the Top 100 Comics of the Century. Horrocks’ has contributed cartoons and comic strips to the New Zealand Herald, the New Zealand Political Review, Watchdog and other publications in that country as wel as magazines in New Zealand, Australia, England, USA, France and Canada. He is currently working on a new series for Drawn & Quarterly called Atlas, a graphic novel for Top Shelf and various other short stories.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 260 pages
• Publisher: Drawn and Quarterly; First Edition edition (April 1, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 189659719X
• ISBN-13: 978-1896597195
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6.1 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 15.4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #355,228 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #60 in Books > Comics & Graphic Novels > Publishers > Drawn and Quarterly

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A treat at an unhurried pace., June 9, 2004

By 

Dennis Baum (Oakland, CA USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Hicksville (Paperback)

I consider myself a graphic novel snob. And I just don't have the time or energy for poorly executed work. Lone Wolf & Cub, Usagi Yojimbo, Maus, Watchmen, the Swamp Thing books, Top 10, Nausicaa, Transmetropolitan, these are the collections you'll find displayed proudly in my living room. Not only is Hicksville in that collection, but it's quickly catching up to Watchmen as the story I've most often loaned out to non-comics readers.

Hicksville is self contained, consistent, and human. I never got into the whole DC/Marvel thing, but Horrocks' enthusiasm for comics history draws you in. And while he plays with that history, he weaves in compelling stories about people which are subtle and adult. Yes "adult", but not in any gratuitous way. Here, it is in the way that we have all experienced life as we get older. Relationships are confusing and sad. Wounds take time to heal. Quests for answers don't always (ever?) work out as we had hoped.

At first I was worried the art was too simple and sketchy. I quickly realized that I had underestimated his style. The frames have a smooth, even flow that carry you with an unhurried pace through the story. As the various threads begin to weave together, the drawings take on much of the burden of storytelling. And frames which don't need any words, don't have any.

You might go back to the beginning the first time you get half way through so you can savor the art and the story before all is revealed. Don't feel bad, his unassuming style (both in drawing and in storytelling) just lowered your guard.

I believe this is a great work.

7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Funny, melancholy, moving -- beautiful., October 13, 1998

By 

Sebbo "cardinal_sebbo" (Somerville, MA USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Hicksville (Paperback)

As an enthusiast of the comics medium, I'm very excited about this book. Hicksville shows a maturity and grace that has finally gotten beyond the pulp conventions of comics' first fifty or so years, and the anxiously antinomian hipness of the last twenty. Horrocks has deep affection for all those periods, but the voice he uses is entirely his own. In Hicksville, we have a true graphic novel, delving into character and atmosphere, rather than relentless, explosive action. Horrocks' cartoony, accessable art style never seems forced or draws attention to itself. Unlike other similarly-ambitious comics artists of his generation, such as Seth or Adrian Tomine, Horrocks never comes across as arty or forced. The plot -- with its concern with the history, art, and business of comics -- may be initally offputting for the non-comics-literate reader, but anyone who perseveres (and uses the glossary in the back) will find Horrocks' enthusiasm infectious rather than offputting.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars An enjoyable history of the genre for a general reader, March 12, 2010

By 

Robert C. Ross (New Jersey) - See all my reviews
(TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Hicksville (Paperback)

As a general reader, and certainly not as an expert in the genre, I'm always a bit hesitant to review a graphic novel; there are devoted fans of the genre, and it is very easy to over- or under-praise any particular entry. With that in mind, my review should be read as one written by a reader who is naive in the form, but who knows what he likes and dislikes about any particular book and who is, incidentally, willing to learn about the standards of the form.

For starters, the illustrated issue of Hicksville now on Amazon is not the issue you will receive; "As Amazon warns, this view is of the Paperback edition (2002) from Drawn and Quarterly. The Paperback edition (2010) from Drawn and Quarterly that you originally viewed is the one you'll receive if you click the Add to Cart button at left." There are three major differences: first, the cover and end papers are changed and much more attractive; second, the stock and colors are strengthened and enhanced; and third, the introduction has been re-written.

Dylan Horrock's plot is interesting, and refers to many of the icons in the genre -- to this reader, in an interesting manner, which led me to Google a number of references and to check Horrock's website, Hicksville Comics, to understand some of the complexities. The story, in brief:

Dick Burger is a great comic book creator and insufferable jerk, one who retained copyright of his work, made a fortune complete with a private jet, hot tub included, and a mansion in LA. Leonard Bates is a would be biographer who travels to Burger's childhood home; no one in town will discuss the man. But, everyone in town is a great expert in comic books, with a library containing the greatest collection of comic books in the world; the library contains several copies of Action #1 freely available to anyone. (Google came in handy here, and not for the only time as I enjoyed this fine novel.)

I also read much of the material on Horrock's website, including a fascinating essay on how to study graphic novels as an art form. He writes: "In the past twenty years or so, there's been a growing body of theory, research and criticism focussed on comics. One remarkable contribution to that discussion is Understanding Comics: The Invisible Art, first published in 1993. A 216-page comic about comics, McCloud's book explores the history, language and formal structure of the medium. Since it appeared, there have been numerous responses by academics, critics and cartoonists. But for me, the most interesting to date has been The horrible truth about comics by James Kochalka."

Horrock analyzes Kochalka's book in some detail, and his overall conclusion is that to do justice to the genre, one must come up with an analytical structure somewhat different than the usual fiction elements of "plot, characterisation, narrative structure, the use of language, and so on. When a piece of writing seems thin in these areas, it's easy to dismiss it as 'weak.'"

I really enjoyed reading through and studying this book, using Horrock, Kochalka and McCloud as guides. A review in "The Comics Journal" called the first version "a sweetly told love letter to the comics medium." It is a love letter that probably won't make me a fan, but will deepen my enjoyment of other entries in the genre.

Robert C. Ross 2010