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Hicksville

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description Hicksville Overview

Hicksville is a metafictional graphic novel by New Zealand cartoonist Dylan Horrocks, published by Drawn & Quarterly. The story centers on a fictional New Zealand town where residents possess extraordinary knowledge of comics history and creation. A journalist investigating a famous cartoonist uncovers a community built around comics as both art form and cultural mythology. The graphic novel uses its narrative to examine the politics, craft, and significance of the comics medium itself, reflecting on how storytelling shapes communities and identities.

help Hicksville FAQ

What is Hicksville's connection to the fictional cartoonist Dick Burger?

Journalist Leonard Batts travels to Hicksville to investigate Dick Burger, a globally successful cartoonist who came from the isolated New Zealand town. He discovers that the residents know a very different version of Burger's history from the public success story.

Why does everyone in Hicksville know so much about comics?

Dylan Horrocks imagines the town as a hidden comics culture where residents treasure obscure, lost, and unrealized works from around the world. That conceit lets the book explore what comics history might look like outside the commercial canon.

Is Hicksville based on a real town in New Zealand?

Hicksville itself is fictional, although its landscape and cultural perspective are strongly tied to New Zealand. The remote setting gives Horrocks room to contrast local artistic community with international fame and publishing.

How is Hicksville different from a conventional mystery comic?

Leonard's investigation supplies a mystery, but the book is also a metafiction about comics, authorship, cultural memory, and creative betrayal. Drawn & Quarterly published the best-known edition of this work by New Zealand cartoonist Dylan Horrocks.

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