Ice Cream Man #8 Review

Writer: W. Maxwell Prince
Artist: Martin Morazzo
Colorist: Chris O’Halloran
Letterer: Good Old Neon
Publisher: Image Comics

Before the Ice Cream Man series goes on a break, W. Maxwell Prince sends us out with the grim and bizarre issue that we have come to expect from Ice Cream Man. This is a great note to end it’s first run on because it has a little bit of everything that has made this series so beloved. I took my time with this issue for two reasons: 1. I didn’t want it to end and 2. It is definitely a little unsettling.

In previous issues, the story would follow the one or two people as they experienced some strange events. This issue takes a slightly different approach as it follows two paramedics while continually giving us quick glimpses into their surroundings.

This entire issue is very unique even for Ice Cream Man standards by being the most chaotic issue of the series yet. It jumps around to different people and different situations so frequently that reading it made me feel like I was dreaming. W. Maxwell Prince has written several Ice Cream Man issues that are surreal but this eighth issue receives the imaginative trophy.

Of course, this dreamlike issue would not be as effective without Martin Morazzo’s artwork and Chris O’Hallaran’s colors. Their execution works so well because they don’t illustrate and color the characters and the scenes with some strange haze or something. The imagery is so powerful because they have created some absolutely brutal and disturbing visuals that both shock and captivate and those visuals have a very strong sense of realism to them.

The Ice Cream Man character himself remains fascinating to me because I’m still so unsure of what or who he is. Is he a real person with strange magical powers? Is he a ghost or a demon? Is he a metaphor for something that everyone in this series has experienced like depression or grief? Is he all of these things at different times? These questions plague me every time I finish reading an issue of this series. However, as inquisitive as I am, I still don’t want any answers to these questions. The mystery is what makes this horror comic book series so terrifying to me and I want it to continue to scare me.

As sad as it is that we are going to have to wait a few months for another issue of Ice Cream Man, I am grateful that we are being left with a powerful and frightening issue to get us through it. The creators of this series have beautifully used this issue to leave us in a state of shock during it’s break. If you have enjoyed anything about this series up until this point, you’ll love this issue and it’s violent delivery of distressing content