Talking ‘Hockey Girl Loves Drama Boy’ With Faith Erin Hicks

No one is more surprised than Alix when she punches the captain of her hockey team. Knowing it can’t happen again, though, Alix turns to Ezra for help in Faith Erin Hicks’ Hockey Girl Loves Drama Boy. Whereas Alix loves hockey, Ezra loves acting. He’s also very good at keeping his cool when bullies lash out. For more reasons to add this graphic novel to your bookshelf, check out this interview with Hicks below:

Rachel Bellwoar: True to the title, Alix loves hockey and Ezra loves drama club. Did you ever consider any other passions for them?

Faith Erin Hicks: No, I always knew Alix would be a Hockey Girl, and I wanted her love interest to be someone on the opposite end of the interests spectrum, so Ezra became Drama Boy. I guess he could’ve been Art Boy or, I dunno, Pottery Boy, some other arts based interest, but theatre made the most sense for his personality.

Bellwoar: How important was hair as an identifying factor when Alix and her teammates are on the ice in their helmets and uniforms?

Hicks: Alix’s bullying team captain, Lindsay, is the character who has the most distinct hair (a long braid that sticks out of her helmet), as it was important to tell her from Alix on the ice. For a visual medium like comics, it makes the storytelling much clearer when you can have something on a character where the reader immediately goes, “oh, that’s this person.” Hopefully the hockey scenes were easy to follow, it was my first time drawing that sport.

Bellwoar: Ezra and his friends initially have trouble deciding what play they want to put on next. How did you decide on Little Shop of Horrors?

Hicks: I knew I wanted Alix to help out with Ezra’s play, make some kind of gesture, so I asked my brother, a former drama kid, what plays had large props that were important to them. He suggested a few, and I’d actually seen Little Shop, both the movie and the play.

Bellwoar: While Alix has every reason to be frustrated with how the adults respond to her losing control, she never makes any excuses for her behavior. How important do you think it is to show young people having to fend with authority figures who might not always be in the right?

Hicks: Speaking as an adult, I know I’m not right all the time. I’ve had plenty of experiences of realizing someone much younger than me was in the right when discussing something. And as a former kid, I also had plenty of experiences where an adult used their position of authority over me to act in a way I later realized was wrong. In the book, Alix screwed up, but her coach also screwed up in not realizing Alix was being bullied, and then continued to screw up by prioritizing a winning season over fixing the toxic environment her players were experiencing. I think it was important to show, in the context of the book, that adults aren’t always right.

Bellwoar: What made you choose blue as the only accent color in this book and was it difficult deciding which shade of blue?

Hicks: A good part of this book takes place on the hockey rink, so I wanted a “cool” colour to emphasize the ice. Also, I just like blue! I’d originally thought of using a more blue-green colour, but it ended up looking too much like toothpaste, so I switched to a more straightforward blue.

Bellwoar: Friend groups can feel so set in stone high school. What do you think readers can learn from how receptive Ezra is to Alix asking for help, even though they barely know each other?

Hicks: I honestly hope to learn a bit from Ezra myself! I’m often shy around new people (although I do like people, I’m kind of an introverted extrovert. Is that a thing?), and I’m always trying to be more open to someone who shows interest in me, even if I might potentially get stressed out in a new social situation. Ezra responds with real kindness and emotional intelligence when Alix reaches out, and discovers someone he really likes as a result.

Bellwoar: Alix’s reaction to seeing Ezra handle his bully without getting angry really shows the impact a person’s actions can have on a stranger. Do you think people are sometimes too quick to dismiss the power of their words and actions?

Hicks: Yes, absolutely. I hate the saying, “sticks and stones will break my bones, but words will never hurt me,” because it dismisses how much words can hurt. I often remember when someone is verbally cruel to me, and when I am dismissive or cruel to someone who didn’t deserve that kind of response. Words can be incredibly powerful weapons, as both Alix and Ezra know very well.

Bellwoar: What was it like getting to show how Ezra’s best friend, Olive, is feeling about Alix and Ezra growing close and was it difficult telling her story mostly silently in the background?

Hicks: Aw, poor Olive. I really felt for her. I always feel for the person who’s in the background, realizing that the person they like doesn’t feel the same way about them. Olive’s part of the story was tricky to write, because I’m very sympathetic towards her, but also Alix and Ezra are the romantic part of the book, so the reader needs to root for them, not for Ezra to realize he likes Olive instead. I like that she stayed friends with Ezra in the end, and was tentatively becoming friendly with Alix. Things aren’t perfect, but the three of them are working on making things feel okay at least.

Bellwoar: Thanks for agreeing to this interview, Faith!

Hockey Girl Loves Drama Boy is available now from First Second.