Dylan Horrocks

Dylan Horrocks
Based in	Tāmaki Makaurau
Occupation	Cartoonist, writer & illustrator
Medium	Traditional and digital comics and illustration
Known for	Hicksville
Social Media
Instagram	@dylan.horrocks
Twitter	@dylanhorrocks
Website	hickvillecomics.com hicksville.co.nz (Old website)

Dylan Horrocks is a cartoonist, writer and illustrator from Tāmaki Makaurau.

His first published comics were in Jabberwocky magazine when he was fifteen. In 1983 he had a story published in Strips.

In 1985, while studying for a BA in English, Horrocks co-founded Razor with Cornelius Stone and contributed a weekly strip, 'Tisco George' to the Auckland student newspaper Craccum. By 1987 his strips were being published in the Australian Fox Comics, notably the five-part serial Sex.

In 1989 he moved to England and began publishing a minicomic Pickle, which was relaunched in 1992 by Canadian publisher Tragedy Strikes Press (and later continued by Black Eye). He also self-published several mini-comics and co-founded Le Roquet, a comics annual.

The main story from Pickle was later revised, completed, and published as a trade paperback Hicksville (Black Eye, 1998) achieving considerable critical success. French, Spanish and Italian editions have since been published.

In the last decade Horrocks has written and drawn a wide range of projects including scripts for Vertigo's Hunter: The Age of Magic and Batgirl, and Atlas, published by Drawn and Quarterly.

Horrocks' work has been displayed at the Auckland Art Gallery and Wellington's City Gallery. In 2002 Hicksville won an Eisner Award for Talent Deserving of Wider Recognition, and the same year Atlas (his latest comic is set in the fascinating Baltic country of Cornucopia) was nominated for the Harvey Award for Best Single Issue or Story in 2002. In 2006 he was appointed University of Auckland/Creative New Zealand Literary Fellow, meaning he had an office at the English Dept for a year, along with a stipend allowing him to work full-time on Atlas etc for 12 months.

. In an interview with Comics Bulletin, Horrocks claimed that his first words were 'Donald Duck'.

Comics

Atlas (Drawn and Quarterly, 2001-2006)

• Atlas No. 1 (Drawn and Quarterly, 2001)
• Atlas No. 2 (Drawn and Quarterly, 2005)
• Atlas No. 3 (Drawn and Quarterly, 2006)

Other comics

• Razor (With Cornelius Stone, Mid-1980s)
• Le Roquet (Unknown, Late-1980s/Early-1990s
• Milo's Week (New Zealand Listener, 1995-1997)
• Pickle (10 issues, Black Eye Comics, 1993-1996)
• Hicksville (Pickle, 1993-1996) (Black Eye Comics, 1998) (Drawn & Quarterly, 2001 & 2010) (Victoria University Press, 2010)
• "Aroha" (Officer Pup Vol. 1, September 2001)
• "Tony Gibson: Obituary" & "Aroha" (With Simon Adams; Officer Pup Vol. 2, July 2002)
• [Unknown] (DUD: The Dunedin Comic Revue #1, 2010)
• [Unknown] (Darkest Day - Comics for Christchurch, 9th of April 2011)
• [Unknown] (DUD: The Dunedin Comic Revue #2, 2011)
• Sam Zabel and the Magic Pen (Te Herenga Waka University Press, November 2014) (Fantagraphics, December 2015)
• Incomplete Works (1986-2012, Collected Edition 2014)
• Dear Hinewai (Faction Presents "High Water", 19th of August 2015)

Comics Bibliography from Hicksville CV

• Legends of the Dark Knight (2004) - scripts for issues 180, 181, 184 of the monthly title from DC Comics (USA), issues 39-57, edited by Michael Wright.   Pencils by Adrian Sibar (#39-44) and Rick Leonardi (#45-).
• Batgirl (2003 - 2004) - scripts for monthly ongoing title from DC Comics (USA), issues 39-57, edited by Michael Wright.   Pencils by Adrian Sibar (#39-44) and Rick Leonardi (#45-).
• Dear Superman (2004) - script for a 5-page strip starring the Flash (art by Farel Dalrymple) for Bizarro World, published 2005 by DC Comics (USA), edited by Joey Cavalieri.
• Hunter: the Age of Magic (2001 - 2003) - scripts for monthly ongoing title from Vertigo (USA), issues 1-25, edited by Heidi MacDonald.  Art by Richard Case (and Chris McLoughlin), with inks by Steve Bird and David Roach.
• The Names of Magic (2000 - 2001) - scripts for 5-issue monthly miniseries (art by Richard Case) forthcoming from Vertigo (USA), edited by Heidi MacDonald.   
• The Clubhouse of Solitude (2000) - script for a 7-page strip starring Supergirl and Mary Marvel (art by Jessica Abel) for Bizarro Comics, published 2001 by DC Comics (USA), edited by Joey Cavalieri.
• Red Hot (2001) - script (and layouts and colouring) for a health-promotion comic about Hepatitis C.   Drawn by Timothy Kidd and published by Hepatitis C Support Services (NZ).
• Dull Care (2005) - 4-page strip for Little Nemo, 1905-2005: Un siècle de rêves, published by Les Impressions Nouvelles (Belgium).
• Supergirl (2004) - 10-page strip starring Supergirl (written by Maggie Estep) for Bizarro World, published 2005 by DC Comics (USA), edited by Joey Cavalieri.
• 10-7 (2001) - 2-page strip for a benefit book for the victims of the 9-11 terrorist attacks, published by Dark Horse.
• Atlas (2001) - ongoing series (2 issues so far), published by Drawn & Quarterly (Canada). 
• Better Luck Next Century (2001) - a collection of political cartoons, published as part of their Small Batch Series by Top Shelf (USA).
• Three Tijuana Bibles (2000) - three 4-page strips for Dirty Stories 2 (Fantagraphics/Eros, USA), edited by Eric Reynolds.
• The Egg Napper (2000) - 7-page strip starring Hawkman (written by James Kochalka) for Bizarro Comics, published 2001 by DC Comics (USA), edited by Joey Cavalieri.
• Western Wind (2000) - 6-page strip for Dark Horse Maverick 2000 (Dark Horse, USA), edited by Diana Schutz.
• Aroha (1999, 2002...) - ongoing serial in Officer Pup (NZ anthology).  1st episode written and drawn by me; 2nd episode written by me, drawn by Simon Adams.
• There are no words in my mouth (1999) - 15-page strip for Comics 2000 (L’Association, France), a huge book collecting comics from around the world to mark the millennium.
• If I Were a Pop Star... (1999) - one-page colour comic-strip for Pulse magazine (USA).
• Hicksville (1998) - a 250-page graphic novel, published by Black Eye Books (Canada), in which an American comics historian comes to New Zealand to research a book about a cartoonist born on the East Cape. Hicksville was also published in French by L’Association (2001), in Italian by Black Velvet (2003) and in Spanish by Ediciones Balboa (2003).
• Li’l Ainjil (1998) - 6-page strip in the SPX 98 (Small Press Expo) souvenir book (USA).
• Spin (1998) - 16-page colour comic book on dealing with emotional stress published by the Ministry of Youth Affairs (NZ) as part of their National Youth Suicide Prevention Strategy. The comic was written and drawn by me, in consultation with the Mental Health Foundation, the Centre for Youth Health and a range of health professionals and young people. The strip was initially serialised in Tearaway Magazine. 50,000 copies of the finished comic were then distributed free through schools and other outlets.
• Pickle (10 issues since 1993) - a comic book showcasing my work, published by Black Eye (Canada). A mixture of short strips and serialised stories, including Cafe Underground (a story set in Auckland in 1986) and Hicksville (see above). Issues range from 24 to 40 pages in length.
• Dirty Comics (1997) - 6-page strip in Dirty Stories, a book-length anthology published by Fantagraphics Books, USA, edited by Eric Reynolds.  I am currently working on a graphic novel based on this story for Top Shelf.
• Milo's Week (1995-1997) - weekly colour half-page comic-strip in the NZ Listener. Ten strips were also reprinted in Ian Wishart's Vintage Winebox Guide (Howling at the Moon, 1996).
• Keith Scott - Man of a Thousand Voices (1997) - colour comic-strip ‘interview’ with Australian voice-artist Keith Scott in NZ Herald.
• Beyond Belief (1997) - 2-page strip in the NZ Listener describing two competing welfare conferences in Auckland: Beyond Poverty and Beyond Dependency.
• No Fear (1996) - comic-strip 'interview' with Brazilian musician Egberto Gismonti in NZ Herald.
• Tabula Rasa (1994) - one-page comic-strip about Estonian composer Arvo Part, in Classical Pulse magazine (USA).
• Tisco & the Heart of the Nation (1992) - 5-page strip published in Scratch magazine (NZ).
• Le Soleil Noir/The Black Sun (1992) - 6-page strip published in French in Reciproquement (winner of the Alph'Art award for best French fanzine) and in English in Sputnik (Black Eye, Canada).
• Opposite Equinoxes (1991) - 32-page mini-comic, self-published in England.
• The Last Fox Story (1990) - 104-page mini-comic, self-published in England.
• Incomplete Works (1989) - 5-page strip published in The Dead Muse (Fantagraphics Books, USA)
• Sex (1987-1989) - 30-page, five-part serial, published in Fox Comics (Australia).
• Tisco George (1985) - weekly comic-strip published in Craccum (Auckland University student newspaper).