History of the Character
Dante Hicks was created by Kevin Smith for the film Clerks. Since then the character has appeared in movies, cartoons and comic books. Dante is a clerk who works at the quick stop with his best friend Randal Graves who mainly works at the video store next door.
Dante is an overly responsible young man who makes everything his problem and makes poor decisions and then whines about how things are unfair. His friend Randal is the ultimate slacker and could care less about doing things he in not interested in and is quit content to do absolutely nothing and is happy with his station in life.
With the character of Dante having his first appearance in a Films this page will be listed differently than other pages with the Films first. followed by the cartoon then the comics. There were six films in the Jersey Chronicles and Dante was in three of them. They are listed below. One more side note is the actor Brian O’Halloran only played Dante in three of the six films he was in every film as other characters.
Films
Clerks
Dante was the star of clerks along with Randal and Dante and was played by Brian O’Halloran. The film takes place in one day of the two characters and Dante struggles with life and how to live life for the minute and to it’s fullest instead of not being able to make solid decisions. At the end of the film Randal inspires him to live life more completely.
In a cut scene from the film Dante is shot and apparently killed in an armed robbery at the end of the film. Sending the message life is short, live it to the fullest while you have breath in your lungs. Fortunately or unfortunately as it may be seen Dante was not killed in the film or even shot and many wore great movies, cartoons and comics were made with this character.
Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back
In the film Jay and Silent Bob Strike back Dante has a cameo role. It is revealed in the film that in all these past years Dante and Randal have not changed much and are still working at the same place.
Clerks II
In Clerks II Dante and Randal have moved on in their lives but have really gone nowhere. Instead of Clerks at the Quick Stop and RST Video they are clerks at a fast food Mobie Restaurant. Dante is also stuck between two woman. Emma the one he is engaged to and Becky a girl who works with him and Randal. What Dante and Randal discover is that they were happiest when they were working at the Quick Stop and RST Video. They then make plans to buy the old stores.
Cartoon
There were six episodes made of the television show Clerks before is was canceled. The show carried over four characters from the movies, Dante, Randal, Silent Bob and Jay. The character of Caitlin Bree was also in the show however she had no speaking role. The cartoon was much more comical than the original film being a little more silly, much like popular shows such at the Simpsons and Family Guy. The show also had some distinct differences like Jay and Silent Bob selling fireworks instead of marijuana and Randal delighted in tormenting Dante a lot more than he did in the film.
Comic Books
Dante has appeared in a few comic books over the years. One book was the sold as the Lost Scene from the original film Clerks. It takes place at the funeral home where Julie Dwyer was laid out for the viewing. A neat aspect of the comic was Alyssa Jones being in it. Alyssa had always been part of the Jersey Chronicles but she never had a scene with Dante of Randal.
In the comic Alyssa is at the funeral as well and she has no like for Randal at all. She even gives Dante a hard time about even bringing Randal to the funeral. The comic was so well done that a small nine minute cartoon was made from it in the same style as the television show.
There are new adventures in the comics that were just continuations of the film as well. In one such comic Randal and Dante attempt to make a bunch of money selling Star Wars action figures. Randal is more delighted in tormenting Steve-Dave Pulasti and Walt Grover two huge and slightly annoying fanboys who run their own comic store. It is a war of the clerks.