Carpathian kiwi

>> The world according to Dylan Horrocks' comic book Atlas

by RUPERT BOTTENBERG

Hands up if you've been to New Zealand. Okay, now, hands up if you've read Hicksville, the marvellous graphic novel by NZ's Dylan Horrocks.

That's what I thought--not a lot of you. While I can't fly you out to the South Pacific, I can point you to Horrocks' new title Atlas, published by Montreal's own prestigious Drawn & Quarterly conglomerate. While an extension of Hicksville's plot, it also stands on its own.

"Hopefully, one doesn't need to read Hicksville at all," says Horrocks, currently in this hemisphere for a signing tour. "Those who have will see characters they know, but Atlas is really quite a separate story, focusing on the life of the cartoonist Emil Kópen, who's only introduced briefly in Hicksville."

"Overall, the main story is going to be Kópen's life, from 1914 to the present. He's growing up in a fictitious central European country called Cornucopia, with some pretty hair-raising social and political history. After the war, Cornucopia becomes the world's only communist monarchy, so Kópen gets caught up in the politics of that, as well as continuing to produce his comics. He also spends time in New York in the '30s and '40s, becoming one of the cartoonists active in the very beginning of comic books. That's the heart of the story, but around that is the story of a writer trying to get that story from Kópen, and that's where the present-day politics of Cornucopia and globalization come to the foreground."

An exciting premise, more so for those who share Horrocks' deep and informed obsession with comics as an edifying artform, especially when they come from outside the dominant sphere of the States, France and Japan--even if the geographic source doesn't really exist.

"I grew up on Tintin books, one of which was King Ottokar's Sceptre, set in a fictitious country called Sylvania, very much a Balkan country. I think that was a big subconscious influence on me when I came up with Cornucopia. I'm also always a little wary of over-fictionalizing an already-existing place, a real place with real people.

"New Zealand is a little like that to people in the Northern hemisphere--a fantasy country. Yet to New Zealanders, we're not some strange, exotic, fantastic country that people can reinvent for themselves. We're a real place, and I'm sure people in the Balkans feel the same way--every time someone does what I'm doing."

Horrocks may be guilty of propagating one NZ fantasy. Going by Hicksville, set in "the other Down Under," New Zealand is crawling with intelligent, well-read comics buffs. Fantasy--or fact?

"The comics scene in New Zealand is actually surprisingly large for such a small population, and very active, full of very talented and creatively ambitious people. In fact, Comix 2000 [a massive international collection from French publishers l'Association] was good way of assessing the scale of New Zealand's comics scene. In it there's five New Zealand contributors, one of whom is the only contributor from England--that is, England's only contributor was a New Zealand ex-patriate, Roger Langridge."

Okay, so you people enjoy Atlas. It's great read. As for me, I'm going home to pack.

Signing session at Fichtre, 436 Bienville, tonight, Thursday, August 2, 7pm, free