Hicksville

Last week, I read The Armed Garden, which was an example of myths and fables in sequential form. This week I wasn’t sure what to read so I went with a book that everyone says you are supposed to read: HICKSVILLE, written and illustrated by Dylan Horrocks, published by Drawn and Quarterly.

Have you ever wondered what comic book artists did in their free time? Did you ever imagine that they all went away to some south seas island where they could focus on creating the comic books they wanted to create? Or maybe you just wished that your local library stocked a copy of Action Comics #1 that you could actually sign out? Well, that’s the setting of Hicksville.

Leonard Batts is a writer for a magazine dedicated to comic books. He is writing a story about the Dick Burger, the man who 20 years earlier had revitalized the comic book industry. He travels to Hicksville, a tiny New Zealand town, to research Burger’s early life and discovers that everyone there hates him. And so he starts to unravel the mystery about how a town that celebrates everything comics can hate the man who has done the most for the medium.

Hicksville is what I call a pedigreed book. It was named a Book of the Year by The Comics Journal and received nominations for two Ignatz’s and a Harvey Award. It’s one of those books that all the critics loved and makes the casual run away screaming. But, unlike some of the art books that critics always say you should read, this one is good. In fact, it’s great! Because, above everything else, Hicksville is a love letter to comic books.

Horrocks has created a book that digs deep into the soul of comic books. It touches upon what it’s like inside the industry, including comic book reporters, old creators just working for a pay check, and those who create comics because they love them. He weaves all these elements into a story in which there is a Stan Lee, a Dick Dillan and countless other creator analogs that add depth to the story. The mystery isn’t really complicated because this isn’t about the mystery; this is about people who really love comics.

After writing such a fantastic story it is no surprise that he was hired by DC comics. Horrocks worked at DC on such titles as Books of Magic, and then Batgirl from 2001-04 but then disappeared. Writers get eaten up by publishers all the time but they don’t always talk about it. In this case, Horrocks addresses that very issue in his introduction. He talks about getting everything he ever wanted and then realizing that he was unable to write the stories that he wanted. He talks about burnout and writers block and leaving the industry behind. It’s the perfect lead-in to the story and only makes it all the more enjoyable, not to mention making Horrocks all the more likable.

Horrocks art is pure indie creator delight. It’s slightly simplistic and blocky but that just masks the true skill underneath. Horrocks also varies his style as the story switches between the comics and the main story.

If you love comics then Hicksville is a book that you have to read. It captures the essence of comic books and presents a world that all professional comic book readers have only dreamed about. It’s absolutely as good as ‘they’ say. If you are looking for something different, then this is the book for you.

- David Lee