I didn't know about this series until last week, and I decided to read it on a whim. I am convinced it was one of the best comic book decisions I have made. This issue is incredibly entertaining and is the perfect start to what is sure to be a fantastic series as it continues. I am dying for more already and I'm sure you will be too. Read Full Review

This comic is delightfully dark and pleasantly morbid, and reminded me a bit of the classic horror movie, Creepshow. Oh, I can only hope this ends up as a cult classic horror flick, taste well! If you haven't read it already be sure to pick it and the next issue up! Read Full Review

This one is gonna stay on my radar for a while, and I hope other horror fans " even the ones who don't usually read comics " will feel the same way. Read Full Review

The Ice Cream Man series is one of those masterpieces that comes along once in a while and you just want to join the ride. If you are a fan of horror, for this instance in comics, then this is a high recommendation. You want to know more about “Rick” and just what he is and what he wants in this town the more the story goes on. The creative team does a stellar job of getting and holding your attention. Above all, I am so glad I came in after trades were available because my patience would not have lasted waiting for each delicious bite. In conclusion, read this comic. Read Full Review

ICE CREAM MAN really managed to grab my attention. I didn't know what to expect from this comic, but I got something wonderfully creepy and clever. In a very crowded comic marketplace, ICE CREAM MAN has a lot that can make it stand out. Read Full Review

Ice Cream Man #1 is a refreshing return to the horror anthology. The writing, pencils, and colors all complement each other in wonderfully creepy ways to create something that feels truly special. Definitely pick this one up if you're looking to add some uniqueness to your collection. Read Full Review

If you like monsters, creepy crawlies, and cop, then Ice Cream Man is the "genre-defying comic book series" you should have. These elements just blend together chocolate and peanut butter ice cream. Read Full Review

Ice Cream Man is going to be a series of one-shot stories. This first issue features a complete tale, but there are elements that are only touched upon that I hope to see explored in further issues. It really got under my skin. This is a book that will stick with you for some time. At the bare minimum, it will have you thinking twice about buying ice cream from a stranger on the street. Read Full Review

Ice Cream Man #1 teases a delightfully dreadful series to come from creators Prince, Morazzo, and O'Halloran. This book takes the creepiness of the ice cream truck's siren song and matures it into a thematically strong and intriguing story. It's filled with satisfying moments that illicit grimaces and even laughs. More than that, it sets itself apart from the crowd of other books by embracing the titular character. Read Full Review

Overall, I enjoyed this introductory issue of Ice Cream Man. The writing is both entertaining and engaging, and this coupled with the art makes for an enjoyable horror story. I'm looking forward to when the next issue comes out, to see what kind of stories will be spun for us. Read Full Review

The most enduring stories of the horror do not rely on violence and gore, but instead manage to incite genuine dread and suspense that carries on once the story is over. True classics such asHalloween, The Omen,andThe Exorcistdo not simply shock audiences. They play mind games so that when the final credits role, the horror lingers. This comic follows that horror ideology. Ice Cream Man #1 delivers a suspenseful page-turner that is as chilling as the titular dairy treat. Read Full Review

The writing was excellent and that art is a perfect match for the story. Read Full Review

Truly disturbing horror hiding under a sweet, sugary coating, "Ice Cream Man" is a visceral creep-fest. Read Full Review

ICE CREAM MAN #1 is a trippy, twisted, and surreal ride into suburban horror, and it's just damn fun to read. Read Full Review

When I read the preview of this issue, I wasn't expecting much. If anything, I thought it would end up trying a bit too hard to be weird, which is a huge turn off for me as a reader. Instead, what I found was the first book from Image that I've enjoyed in a long while. Over the last two years there's been a familiar theme to all their titles, but nothing that's grabbed me and excited me as a reader. Most of it's been average, which is okay because if you're honest with yourself, most comics are average just like most TV shows. Ice Cream Man has left an impression. I'm not going to say it's the best book so far of the year or anything outrageous, but if it manages to deliver a few more issues like this one, we could be on to something. I'll be looking forward to the next issue for sure. Read Full Review

This book is crazy as hell and I thought it was great. It is creepy suburban weirdness that coasts along well and throws you off the expected path quite a few times. Well worth trying out, even if it just confirmed my feelings about Ice Cream men! Read Full Review

It's difficult to tell from this opening issue, but the titular Ice Cream Man would appear to function as a kind of Crypt Keeper for the series. In this vein, it seems that his van will travel from place to place, intersecting with the lives of fateful human, and creating minor winking breaches in the fourth wall. It's a promising start, filled with at least 31 flavors of possibility. Read Full Review

If anyone ever wants to contact me, look me up in my groupfor the love of comic books, I also have several comic pages dedicated to my various true loves,Batman,Spider-man,Marvel,Oldie GoldiesandHats! (Long story on that last one haha) or on Twitter@johnbatusijack Read Full Review

While the ending isnt satisfying, the writing is great and the art is beautiful. Ice Cream Man isnt perfect, but its worth a read.Theres enough mystery that will keep you coming back wanting to see just what will happen with the next story. Read Full Review

Twists that are predictable, concepts that aren't explored, and characters not given enough development that we should care. Ice Cream Man #1 is a better idea than comic. With some slight tweaks, this would easily be a great horror series, but as is, the comic falls short in story and scares. Read Full Review

Just like a bad episode of The Twilight Zone though, there remains the promise that next week there will be new oddities and shocks, perhaps even ones that will haunt you for more than a few minutes. Read Full Review

Very promising series. Creepy and weird, lovely art. For fans of Stephen King, Black Mirror, X-Files, the Twilight Zone.

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• TheImageIsStrong

TheImageIsStrong - Jan 22, 2018

I couldn't of said it better. So true! Excellent comic.

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felt like a dream straddling a nightmare but not jumping over just yet..

Soooo weird, but weird equals great here. Definitely pick this up and give it a read.

The perfect amount of meanspirited and strange horror.

This is great anthology comic book, so twisted but fun! Art was solid loved the 1st story and look forward to issue 2 asap! Also cover A was awesome, but I had to get the crazy, freaky ass cover B. This is what a comic should feel like this!

ICE CREAM MAN,
"It is now an Ice Cream Man" is basically the premise here (at least for now) but the comic book doesn't fail to establish it's own personality, tone, and argument. ICM establishes characters marvelously (Detective Hwan, Byron, etc.) and shows the beauty of Weirdness. After reading the first issue I am absolutely sure that I'm going to read the next one as soon as it comes.

Rating out of 100%
:90%
1-Art: 17
2-Story: 20
3-Design(Style): 20
4-Colors: 15
5-Lettering: 18

Well, I'm not sure what this exactly is, but it was creepy as fuck! The whole scene where the kid comes home to his parents while the effects of the spider-bite are narrated to us is really effective (if not a bit reminiscent of "Kill Bill 2," when Ellie kills Bud with the Black Mamba), and the ice cream man character seems pretty sinister. For a first issue, it gives enough intrigue, and raises enough questions, to bring me back for more.

There were some great things about this book and some things I'm cautious about going into further issues. It was well drawn and the colors were perfect, but the story was just a little flat. I thought the writing was good and it was a good first issue worth a shot.

In my town there are two comic book shops of note. One, I have been a customer of for many years, and it is where I get my pull books held. But for the longest time it wasn't the best shop to browse for new books or even back issues.

The OTHER shop in my town is GREAT for browsing back issues, and always has a TON of new books and random issues. The problem is that I already get the books I want held at the other shop- so when I stop in this shop I never have a distinct idea of what I want to find. And I also hate leaving a comic shop empty handed, so there's that.

On this one occasion, finding little to buy that day, I happened upon issue #2 of Ice Cream Man on the new comic shelves. I was immediately drawn to the cover by Martin Morazzo, and was surprised to flip through the issue and find a story about addiction featured. Being a fan of Image comics, horror, and anthology books, this was an instant grab. But what about issue #1? Luckily, the shop happened to have one slightly dinged up copy of the second print of issue 1 filed dutifully behind the handful of copies of issue 2, so I scooped that up too.

And thus began a love affair with one of the best comic series of the modern era in my opinion. A series that pushes the envelope of creativity and existential angst and anxiety in every single issue, while slowly building out a creepy world full of easily understood metaphors, symbolism, and callbacks to sadder times.

But anyway, back to issue 1. This was NOT the issue that officially sold me on this series.

First issues are always a bit like pilot episodes to tv shows. They need to give you enough to want more, but often carry the weight of the pressure of a first impression. For a book like Ice Cream Man, where the newest issue can tell a self contained story with the benefit of tiny callbacks to previous stories, issue 1 has to carry the load all on it's own.

What we get is a rather basic story with many of the concepts present, but little emotional weight. This story is actually a strange outlier in the series, where multiple characters are focused on in an overarching storyline.

A young boy is continuing on with his life, deluding himself that his parents are not dead in his kitchen. He tells himself he is a big boy now, and must take on the grown up task of going to the ice cream truck all by himself. He ignores the danger of his new pet, and treats it like a replacement family member.

We get the Ice Cream Man himself, a character that at first seems to be pleasant enough. We find that he can become a beast at times, and this gives him a potential duality- until we realize he is capable of turning anything into something else- making him a a godlike agent of chaos who seems to relish in the misery around him.

And we get detective Hwan- who arguably gets the MOST character development in this issue, though strangely seems to escape the focus of the narrative and the Ice Cream Man altogether. I think this character makes this issue a bit of an outlier in the series, and frankly had me thinking she would be a main character in future issues. For the record, she has not reappeared in the series over 40 issues in.

The artwork by Martin Morazzo is fantastic and often jaw dropping in my opinion. His ability to capture nuance on faces, depict creepy imagery with grotesque lighting and mundane setting with an air of sadness to them is just perfect. Morazzo's artwork is easily identifiable and the visual language he creates part of what adds a sense of discovery to each successive issue of this series. This is the best writer artist duo on an ongoing independent book since Fiona Staples and BK Vaughn on Saga in my opinion.

Ice Cream Man tropes we do get?

1. First time The Ice Cream Man says "In a jiffy!" and "Lickety Split!"

2. Creepy voice over narration, likely from the Ice Cream Man.

3. The Brazilian Wandering Spider. This spider WILL show up again in future issues. Generally an omen and likely chosen because it not only can kill you with a bite, but it will paralyze you, and perhaps most importantly- humiliate as well- by causing death by priapism. The randomness of its attack, and early presentation as an ally of the young boy also add layers of weight that might strike the reader in later issues when it appears in various stories.

4. We get possession for the first time here too, or simply a character seeing the underbelly of societies niceities- in a brief panel where Detective Hwan's partner speaks in a broken speech balloon and tells her that he as cockaroaches crawling on him telling him to cheat on his wife. This is presented in a manner similar to the film "They Live" where we have a feeling the other detective didn't actually say this, but what Hwan is hearing is the actual SUBTEXT of those words. The fact that her partner then suggests a scenario where he might be able to have her over his house immediately following this thought cements that idea. Hwan also seems to get a direct message from the Ice Cream Man through the television commercial where he suggests that by giving in to the sweetness of Ice Cream you allow "something sweet for the bugs to eat." Following the former panel about cockroaches, this seems to imply that when you allow yourself the pleasure of eating an inherently unhealthy food such as ice cream, you are allowing in other hurtful thoughts and feelings, perhaps guilt, shame, regret etc, that will eat away at you from the inside. It's presented so plainly here- but it's the ultimate metaphor for the entire series. Love it.

The strangest part about this issue is that the spider attacks the Ice Cream Man. (Which SEEMS to be giving him a painful erection- at least that's the way I read those panels by Morazzo lol) It would seem to indicate the spider did not originate from the Ice Cream Man himself, but was incorporated into his arsenal by the end of the issue. Proving he might have some weaknesses after all.

This issue was fine on its own, but I'd be lying if I said I loved it. There is little here to emotionally connect with, though there are a few touches with Detective Hwan that come close.

Will I read the next issue? It's the one that hooked me on the series, so absolutely.

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I'm reading this years after the first printing and I'm going to be honest it looks and feels very dated. Maybe my taste in horror is a bit more refined but it left huge gaps in the actual story. So/So in 2024