Writing: W. Maxwell Prince; Art: Martin Morazzo; Colors: Chris O’Halloran
The best weird original creepy inventive comic book you’re not reading! Ice Cream Man is a kind of Twilight Zone meets The Outer Limits comic book series. Each story works as a one-and-done short story. There are almost no recurring characters outside of the titular Ice Cream Man. The series tackles such subjects as love, family, murder, madness, sex, drugs, music, ghosts, superheroes, sickness, cults, game shows, word puzzles, reality, identity, and on and on.
In an interview with Comic Book Herald, writer W. Maxwell Prince talks about how we tell our children not to accept food or other things from strangers, yet the ice cream man is trusted and accepted. Do children still flock to the ice cream van/truck in summer? Who is the ice cream man? He could be anyone, for example a serial killer, an alien, an escaped prisoner, a spy, an assassin, or even a kindly old man.
While confessing to not being a big fan of superhero comics, Prince has read all of Grant Morrison’s comic book work. He says he reads Morrison’s All Star Superman twice a year. Not only is it a truly classic Superman series, but it also works so well as a one-shot anthology series. There’s one particular issue he highlights in the interview. In it, Lois is taken to Superman’s Fortress of Solitude and she starts to get paranoid that Superman has nefarious plans for her. She’s trapped there with him and he could pretty much do anything he wanted to her. Of course, we all know Clark is a good guy so she needn’t have worried. But the idea is there.
It’s clear that Prince is a huge fan of one-shot stories. It’s certainly a great way to explore a wide variety of topics and themes. I think this is one of the reasons Ice Cream Man receives so much praise and love from its readers. You have no idea what kind of story you’re going to get in each successive issue. This really builds up the anticipation and excitement for next month’s issue.
Before I finish, let me say something about the art. Martin Morazzo is the main artist on the book and he has a distinctive style. He uses a fairly simple line that isn’t overly detailed. He can depict the normal and everyday just as well as the fantastic and weird. It’s this contrast I like. You might be looking at a typical suburban neighborhood scene when something catches your eye in the picture. At first you hardly seem to notice it but when you see it, it suddenly stands out. The horror in the mundane, the ordinary. It might not be every readers’ cup of tea but I like it and I think it really suits the comic.
Recommended for fans of comic books, horror, short stories, Twin Peaks, The Twilight Zone, Creepshow, the weird and the bizarre. Issue #29 of Ice Cream Man came out today.
Thanks for reading!
-Wakizashi, *recovering from playing soccer with the first graders at lunch break*
Wakizashi's Reviews 
Sounds interesting. Nice concept for a comic. I’m reading a lot of comics lately, but I have a taste for non-fiction graphic novels. I’ll be posting more graphic novel reviews this year.
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It’s good because you can pick any issue at random and get a self-contained story. You don’t have to read every issue. But the stories can be a bit dark at times.
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Have you read Paying For It by Chester Brown? Really brilliant autobiographic non-fiction, the best GN I ever read. He also has one about Canadian history and one about his youth.
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Oh I never heard of that one. it sounds fascinating. Thanks! I’m diving deep into the comics and graphic novels this year, even though my TBR can’t handle it. I hope you’ll like Pyongyang.
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Luckily for your TBR graphic novels tend to read a bit quicker 🙂
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No, I don’t know it. A GN recommendation from Bormgans? Now that is a rare thing. It must be good!
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This sounds really good, will have to check this comic out!
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My only caveat is that a lot of these stories are dark. But they do contain humour and great ideas.
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Is this in any way related to the movie by the same name?
But I was looking at the pages you provided and I realized that the coloring truly enhanced the linework while bringing the avant-garde sense of paranoia right to the forefront. The tones blended it all together and I could tell I would be transported to another world.
Pretty good eh?
Thank you for not doing that to me 😀
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I don’t know about the movie. There was talk of a TV series being in development though.
Beautiful description of the use of colour by Chris O’Halloran. You’ve been studying, I see.
Btw, when I was posting this I thought of you. I was thinking Bookstooge will probably hate this comic! 😉
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Here’s the wiki to the movie I was thinking of:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ice_Cream_Man_(film)
I saw the Rifftrax version and there’s no way I’d watch the original.
Yep, brushing up on my BS on BS 😀 Before you know it, I’ll be a Master of BS, hahahaa.
That would not surprise me. I definitely have strong opinions and am rather loud about them sometimes 😉
By the by, how’s your youtube channel going? I know you got a big bump from reviewing the 4th Matrix movie early, but did that carry through at all?
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Oh no! It looks like a cheap slasher flick made long before this series started.
It’s the subjects and general tone of this series that I thought would NOT appeal to you. It’s dark, although there is an undercurrent of black humour.
I’m slowly progressing on YouTube. Halfway to the magic 1K subscribers. I’m still enjoying making videos and Livestreaming has led me to make some new friends. So that’s very cool! Thanks for asking! Now please tell 500 friends to subscribe and you will make my day! 😂😉
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That’s good to know the movie has nothing to do with the comic. It was an epically bad movie.
I trust you on that. I like black humor, but getting the dark and grim can be too much for me.
Ha! Good luck with that! You’d sooner get water from a stone than that 😀
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Gahan Wilson did both a cartoon and a short story on this theme. They both involve an ice cream man opening the wrong door on his truck and revealing the frozen bodies of children inside. The story is “Mr. Ice Cold” and it is included in his excellent collection “The Cleft and Other Odd Tales.”
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Thanks for the recommendation. Wilson is a name I’ve heard a lot but have yet to read. I didn’t know he passed away.
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Gahan Wilson was best known as a brilliant cartoonist but he also wrote some great stories. In addition to the collection I mentioned I would strongly recommend his novel “Everybody’s Favorite Duck”. To give you an idea of what it is about imagine Sherlock Holmes and Sam Spade facing off against Dr. Fu Manchu, Professor Moriarity and Fantomas with a climactic battle at Disney Land.
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Nice one. I didn’t know he also wrote stories. That synopsis sounds crazy fun!
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The art doesn’t really appeal to me, but I like the idea of Twilight Zone/Outer Limits graphic short stories. I think Lashaan reviewed this one and was less enthusiastic about it so I kind of let it go 😉 But your review encourages to give me a try!
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The stories can be a little bit hit and miss but they stand out from a lot of other titles. I think the distinctive art style really suits the comic.
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I really like the premise behind this, all one-shot stories with the ice cream man the only fixture of the series. It reminds me of the movie, Freaks, from 2019, which seemed like it could have been one of the issues of this series. It had a comic book feel to it and one that departed a bit from typical superheros. And of course it featured an ice cream man. 🙂
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It’s a great premise which really works in this series. I haven’t seen the 2019 Freaks, is it worth a watch?
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I wouldn’t call Freaks a blockbuster by any means, but I did really enjoy it. And if you watch it I think it’s best to go into it with as little info as possible, unless you really enjoy knowing more before you watch. 🙂
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