Hicksville Review by Jimbo, 05/03 An interesting challenge was offered to me the other day, a friend of mine Jeremy Bishop, asked me to read to something I would never think to read. My current titles consist or The Ultimates, Wolverine, New X-men and Uncanny X-men. As you can see, all Marvel titles. So after a quick flick through the Indy books we stummbled upon 'Hicksville' by home grown New Zealand talent Dylan Horricks. I quickly flicked through black and white pages without reading a word, my first impression was the artwork was to 'modern auckland cafe style' and the story was going to confuse me to no end. This all changed as soon as I started reading. Automatically, after three or four panels, the artwork began to suit the story. It wasn't flashy or even coloured but I could tell what was happening at an easy pace. The main story is about a guy from 'Comics World Magazine' who is trying to get a background story on the worlds most successful modern day comics creator, Dick Burger. The American journalist waids his way from Auckland down to a small town with many interesting charaters called Hicksville. When the American finally arrives in Hicksville after getting lost, refused a car ride and being chased by and angry farmer and his dog Fang, he begins his investigation. As soon as the journalist mentions the name "Dick Burger" you realise Hicksville is a place with secrets to tell, and I was in suspence to find out what, the entire way through. Horricks does and excellent job of not drilling the 'We have a big secret' and only brings it up when absolutley neseccerry. I found myself temped to skip panels and even whole pages to get to the secret but I managed to resist. One thing I particually enjoyed about 'Hicksville' was how whenever someone was reading a comic book in the story, you got to read the book aswell. One of the most entertaining chapters of 'Hicksville' is when another small time artist and old friend of Dick Burger shows the American a mini comic he did about how he lost his last job. In the comic you get to read along with the character, the writers characters 'Moxie and Toxie' appear next to him to give him advice or mostly make fun of him. In-Joke New Zealand humour, a clever story, hilarious cameos by the likes of Stan Lee and even making fun of Todd Mc Farlane are what I think are the key attractions to 'Hicksville'. But it all depends on how you look it at it, with 'Hicksville' it is easy to look at it from any conceivable angle. Although totally outside of my usual Mark Millar, Brian Bendis and Garth Ennis square by the end of Hicksville I found I'd enjoyed it as much as any of my regular books. So now, I challange you to read something outside your square and even if you make all the assumptions in the world, chances are by the end of the first two pages you'll be ready to read the rest.