Dylan Horrocks
{{Short description|New Zealand cartoonist}}
{{Infobox comics creator
| image =Dylan_Horrocks_NLNZ.jpg
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| birth_name =
| birth_date = {{birth year and age|1966}}
| birth_place = Auckland, New Zealand
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| nationality = New Zealander
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| cartoonist = y
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| notable works = Hicksville
Batgirl
| awards = "Talent Deserving of Wider Recognition" Eisner Award (2002)
| website = http://hicksvillecomics.com
}}
Dylan Horrocks (born 1966) is a New Zealand cartoonist best known for his graphic novel Hicksville and his scripts for the Batgirl comic book series.
His works are published by the University of Auckland student magazine Craccum, Australia's Fox Comics, the current affairs magazine New Zealand Listener from 1995 to 1997, the Canadian publishers Black Eye Comics and Drawn & Quarterly, and the American publishers Vertigo and Fantagraphics Books. He currently serialises new work online at Hicksville Comics.
Early life
In an interview with Comics Bulletin, Horrocks claimed that his first words were 'Donald Duck'.{{cite web |url=http://comicsbulletin.com/dylan-horrocks-first-name-magic/ |title=Dylan Horrocks: The First Name In Magic |website=Comics Bulletin |first1= Craig |last1=Lemon |date=May 22, 2011 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201019162556/http://comicsbulletin.com/dylan-horrocks-first-name-magic/ |archive-date= Oct 19, 2020 }}
Career
File:The.Pirate.Bay.Cartoon-small.png, drawn in a similar style to Pickle and 'Milo's Week'.]]
Horrocks has been involved in the New Zealand comic scene since the mid-1980s, when he co-founded Razor with Cornelius Stone and had his work published in the University of Auckland student magazine Craccum. Later in the decade he began to get international recognition, having work published by Australia's Fox Comics and the American Fantagraphics Books. He then moved to the United Kingdom where he self-published several minicomics and co-founded Le Roquet, a comics annual. Upon returning to New Zealand in the mid-1990s, Horrocks had a half-page strip called 'Milo's Week' in the current affairs magazine New Zealand Listener from 1995 to 1997. He also produced Pickle, published by Black Eye Comics, in which the "Hicksville" story originally appeared. Hicksville was published in book form in 1998, achieving considerable critical success. French, Spanish and Italian editions have since been published.
In the last decades Horrocks has written and drawn a wide range of projects including scripts for Vertigo's Hunter: The Age of Magic{{cite web |first=Arune |last=Singh |url=http://www.comicbookresources.com/?page=article&id=1371 |title=Wizard of Hicksville: Horrocks talks 'Hunter: Age of Magic' |publisher=Comic Book Resources |date=August 6, 2002 |access-date=October 23, 2009 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121010125659/http://www.comicbookresources.com/?page=article&id=1371 |archive-date= Oct 10, 2012 }} and the Batgirl series, and Atlas, published by Drawn & Quarterly. His graphic novel Sam Zabel and the Magic Pen, featuring one of the main characters from Hicksville, was published by Fantagraphics in 2014. He currently serialises new work online at Hicksville Comics.
=Activism=
{{Further|New Zealand Internet Blackout|Entertainment industry}}
In support of the 2009 New Zealand Internet Blackout Horrocks released a cartoon satirizing the position of corporations in the entertainment industry.{{cite web |url=http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/HL0902/S00357.htm |title=Scoop Coverage: Blackout Against Section 92A |date=20 February 2009 |access-date=23 February 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090222221055/http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/HL0902/S00357.htm |archive-date=22 February 2009 |url-status=live |website=Scoop News }}{{cite web |url-status=dead |last1=Horrocks |first1=Dylan |url=http://dylanhorrocks.vox.com/library/post/the-blackout-is-over---now-its-time-to-get-rid-of-s92.html |title=The blackout is over - now it's time to get rid of s92. |date=23 February 2009 |access-date=23 February 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090227021210/http://dylanhorrocks.vox.com/library/post/the-blackout-is-over---now-its-time-to-get-rid-of-s92.html |archive-date=27 February 2009 |publisher=Vox }} This comic was displayed on piracy's flagship torrent site The Pirate Bay for a few days before the Spectrial.
=Displays=
Horrocks's work has been displayed at the Auckland Art Gallery and Wellington's City Gallery.
=Awards and fellowship=
In 2002 Hicksville won an Eisner Award for Talent Deserving of Wider Recognition,[http://www.hahnlibrary.net/comics/awards/eisner02.php 2002 Will Eisner Comic Industry Awards], Comic Book Awards Almanac and the same year Atlas was nominated for the Harvey Award for Best Single Issue or Story in 2002.[http://www.hahnlibrary.net/comics/awards/harvey02.php 2002 Harvey Award Nominees and Winners], Comic Book Awards Almanac In 2006 he was appointed University of Auckland/Creative New Zealand Literary Fellow.[http://www.auckland.ac.nz/uoa/about/news/articles/2006/01/fellow.cfm Award-winning graphic novelist appointed Literary Fellow - The University of Auckland] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081017150454/http://www.auckland.ac.nz/uoa/about/news/articles/2006/01/fellow.cfm |date=2008-10-17 }}
In 2016 Horrocks was recognised as a Laureate by the Arts Foundation of New Zealand.{{cite web|title=2016 New Zealand Arts Awards Recipients Announced|url=http://www.thearts.co.nz/news/2016-new-zealand-arts-awards-recipients-announced|website=Arts Foundation of New Zealand|access-date=13 November 2016}}
References
{{Reflist|2}}
External links
- {{official website|http://hicksvillecomics.com}}
- [http://www.hicksville.co.nz Dylan Horrocks' old website]
- {{gcdb|type=credit|search=Dylan+Horrocks|title=Dylan Horrocks}}
- {{comicbookdb|type=creator|id=2865|title=Dylan Horrocks}}
{{Arts Foundation Laureate Award}}
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Horrocks, Dylan}}
Category:Alternative cartoonists
Category:Artists from Auckland
Category:Eisner Award winners for Talent Deserving of Wider Recognition
Category:New Zealand comics artists