I’ve covered a lot of books here, but have yet to dive into something from the horror genre. With summer on the horizon, Ice Cream Man is certainly the perfect book for some springtime scares. The series is published by Image Comics, written by W. Maxwell Prince, featuring artwork from Martin Morazzo, and with colors by Chris O’Halloran. As of now Ice Cream Man has around 40 issues in print and is still ongoing. For this review, I’ll be focusing on the first twelve issues collected within the Sundae Edition.

Ice Cream Man is an interesting series as it starts out as somewhat of an anthology. Each of the first few issues involves new characters that usually meet some unfortunate ending at the hands of the mythical Ice Cream Man, who acts as a framing device as well as the primary antagonist. Sometimes the Ice Cream Man directly causes deaths. While in other stories he merely introduces the tragic story providing narration and commentary surrounding the core messages. Other side characters also make periodic appearances across storylines, such as police detective Jialeou Hwan giving the universe a sense of continuity.

However, after around issue 4 or so it’s clear that there is something more going on here. Storylines begin to twist around in an almost psychedelic fashion with various scenes stitched together in ways that don’t always make logical sense. This then culminates into a four-part miniseries titled “Hopscotch Mélange.” Here we learn more about the mythology surrounding the Ice Cream Man and his origins. There’s a lot to unpack within this series and that’s one of the biggest issues I had with it. Though the stories are constructed in a highly creative fashion, at times this makes it especially difficult to glean anything from certain plots.

The biggest weakness of an anthology series by far is the level of disparity between certain storylines. Some are constructed exceptionally well like the second issue which centers around two heroin addicts. Issue 6 “Strange Neapolitan” is also quite strong as it tells three separate stories simultaneously, mirroring the three flavors present in the ice cream. On the other hand, you have stories such as those present in issue eight, which don’t really hit the mark and come across more like disparate ramblings.

A few others have certain aspects that seem disconnected but when viewed individually are strong. The prime example here is “Ballad of a Falling Man.” The central plot of a man reflecting on his life while falling is quite interesting and poignant. However, the tale is then intertwined with another story where a woman runs from killer vultures. This plot thread feels quite random when viewed alongside the falling man; I feel as though it would have been stronger if both plots were simply separated into two issues.

Though Ice Cream Man is categorized mainly as a horror book, It’s not especially scary. I’d describe its style as more unnerving than outright horrific, and some stories completely forgo the label entirely in favor of dark comedy or science-fiction elements. It’s within these stories where the artwork of Martin Morazzo stands out. Though his human designs are nothing special, Morazzo crafts countless strange monstrosities and twisted humanoids that are truly brought to life by Chris O’Halloran’s coloring.

Prince’s wacky universe presented within Ice Cream Man reminds me a lot of Stephen King. The Ice Cream Man himself is quite analogous to Pennywise from It while the convergent multiverse crafted around him is similar to what King explores within his Dark Tower series. However, there’s enough here that manages to stand on its own and the overall writing is high quality. If you’re looking for something strange and a little sinister you’ll certainly want to check this out. However, for those looking for a clear-cut story, you might want to find another book.

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Ice Cream Man: Sundae Edition

44.99

7.5

Score

7.5/10

Pros

• Ice Cream as a framing device
• Creative scene construction
• Writing is generally high quality

Cons

• Plots are hit or miss
• Can be very confusing