Reg Hicks was born in Gillingham, Kent in England in 1905. His family migrated to Australia in 1911. He was a student of Melbourne’s National Gallery School and a member of the Victorian Artists’ Society, He worked as a freelance cartoonist for local magazines, before adapting the science-fiction serial, Out of the Silence, as a comic strip for Melbourne’s Argus newspaper between August and December 1934.

In 1935, Hicks exhibited three portraits with a group of nine artists at the Athenaeum Art Gallery in Melbourne, where he was described as 'a painter possessing sound if somewhat conventional qualities' (The Australasian, 31/8/1935). Some years later, he was described a 'gifted illustrator [who] has contributed many story strips to "The Argus" and "The Australasian," and is not unknown as a portrait painter' (The Australasian 14/9/1940).

Hicks produced two more comic strips for The Argus, Robinson Crusoe and The Deerslayer, before moving to The Age in 1936. There, he created a humorous comic titled Willy & Wally (5/12/1936 - 10/1937) and adventure series, Betty and Bob See the World (5/12/1936-?) and Jungle Drums, later renamed The Adventures of Larry Steele (~1938-12/1940). For weekly junior section of The Age, he also produced The King’s Treasure (10/1/1938-9/12/1938) and The Space Patrol (16/12/1938-12/1940).

After serving briefly with Naval Intelligence in 1940, Hicks joined Associated Newspapers, where he created the domestic strip Family Man for the daily Sun and strip Adventures of Tightrope Tim for the Sunday Sun (~1941-1949).

He created Kid Koala for the Sydney Sun, which was published in four comics (Associated Newspapers, Wollumbin and Fred Ritter).

Hicks left Associated Newspapers in 1958, but remained active as a freelance writer and illustrator. As 'REG' he created the comic feature Ron Christy for Horwitz, which featured in four issues of its own title and as a backup in several of Horwitz's war comics (1958-1962). He also illustrated a number of stories and one-page information features for Horwitz.

Hicks wrote stories for children’s annuals, such as Girls’ Own Book and contributed illustrations to the Flying Doctor book series.

He joined the Adelaide studio of ABC-TV as a graphic designer in 1963 and stayed until his retirement in 1977.