Incomplete Works

This collection of short comics, spanning from Horrocks’s (Hicksville; Sam Zabel and the Magic Pen) early days as a cartoonist in the mid-1980s to the present, tells the story of the artist’s development, while also showcasing the enduring threads of his intellectual interests and emotional landscapes. Horrocks struggles with what it means to be a cartoonist both as a professional and as a New Zealander. He repeatedly draws rugged natural landscapes full of open space and beautifully clouded skies. It’s this fascination with space, at the physical, social, and personal levels, that weaves throughout his storytelling and stylistic evolution. Horrocks effectively punctuates his more personal stories with biographies of eccentric, innovative, and unlikely cartoonists such as Captain Cook and Barry Linton, shedding some light on his own artistic influences. The chronological organization creates abrupt transitions between stories, particularly the unfinished and underdeveloped ones. This book is probably best for readers already familiar with Horrocks’s graphic novels, but not as an introduction to his work. Agent: Nicholas Grivel (Oct.)