Dylan Horrocks, Hicksville p. 240, 1997
Dylan Horrocks (born 1966) got his start publishing small press comics in his native New Zealand. His work became better known partly through publication in the respected Australian anthology Fox Comics, which was published from 1985 to 1990 and featured a tight editorial focus on what I would call "lo-fi" comics. This lead to a solo comic, Pickle, in which his magnum opus, Hicksville, was published.
Hicksville revolves around a highly appealing idea--a secret history of an art form. In it, Hicksville, a small town in New Zealand, is the secret location of a library of all the great works of comic art that were never published. In Hicksville, Horrocks' suggests that market forces prevent artists from reaching their full potential (the town of Hicksville being a kind of utopia where that potential was secretly realized). This political/economic thesis is couched in a very moving story with elements of mystery and betrayal.
Since then, Horrocks has produced several very interesting comics serials as well as done some work for as a writer for DC Comics.
