Secrets of the Drawn World: Inside the Mythic Town of “Hicksville”

Imagine a remote, sleepy coastal village tucked away in New Zealand where the postman, the local grocer, and the lighthouse keeper aren’t just casual readers—they are hardcore, world-class comic book scholars. In this town, the local library proudly houses rare treasures like Action Comics #1, the local café is named The Rarebit Fiend (after Winsor McCay’s classic strip), and everyone treats sequential art not as cheap pulp, but as a high form of poetry and philosophy.

Welcome to Hicksville—not a real dot on any standard map, but the legendary setting of Dylan Horrocks’ internationally acclaimed 1998 graphic novel. Widely regarded as a masterpiece of modern comics, Hicksville is part mystery, part cultural critique, and entirely a love letter to the medium of cartooning.

The Plot: A Journalist’s Quest

The story kicks off when a young Canadian comic book journalist named Leonard Batts arrives in Hicksville. He is on a mission to research the early life and origins of Dick Burger, a homegrown New Zealand boy who skyrocketed to global fame, becoming the most powerful and wealthy creator in the mainstream American comic book industry.

However, Leonard quickly hits a bizarre wall: while every single person in Hicksville knows everything there is to know about comics, they all harbor a deep, bitter hatred for Dick Burger. As Leonard digs deeper into Burger’s past, he unravels a dark and complex web of creative theft, corporate sell-outs, and the painful compromises artists make to survive in a commercial industry.

More Than Just a Town: The Themes of Hicksville

Horrocks uses the fictional village of Hicksville to explore heavy, fascinating ideas:

• Tūrangawaewae (A Place to Stand): Horrocks has often described the book as an exploration of the New Zealand concept of tūrangawaewae—having a spiritual home and a place where you truly belong. Hicksville serves as a safe haven where comic creators are free from commercial pressures and cultural snobbery.
• The Dark Side of the Industry: Through the lens of Dick Burger’s meteoric rise, the graphic novel exposes how mass-market entertainment can exploit creators, strip them of ownership over their own characters, and reward plagiarism over pure artistic vision.
• A Meta-Masterpiece: Hicksville is famously packed with stories-within-stories. Horrocks includes full comic strips created by various fictional characters within the book, blurring the lines between reality and fiction.

Why It Still Matters Today

Decades after its initial publication, Hicksville remains a touchstone for comic book fans and creators alike. It challenges readers to look past capes, cowls, and blockbuster hype to see the genuine human history, heartbreak, and magic woven into ink on paper.