Before I get into my review of Ice Cream Man #43, I must confess to you my beloved reader that I don’t care too much for ice cream. It’s not that I’m the devil or possessed by some sugary goodness hating poltergeist, I just don’t enjoy the act of eating ice cream. You see, my philosophy on the whole thing is that I get so much more out of a single scoop than I do having to eat a whole sundae. There is beauty in variety but if I get a bowl of vanilla ice cream then it is the same experience spoonful after spoonful.
But the redeeming thing about ice cream, in my heart of hearts, is the variety. There are unlimited possibilities in the flavor kingdom of cream. Heck, there is even a multinational brand that rests its hat on having 31 flavors.
So tell me, why should I be strapped down to a chair just eating scoop after scoop of plain old vanilla ice cream when I could be having a small taste of the zest of life that is variety? Why shouldn’t I always be allowed to taste every flavor carefully scooped into a hollowed out skull with ignited sparklers shoved into the eye holes of my cornucopia of taste?
Sorry, I got ahead of myself there with the skull. I haven’t even brought in the real fruit flavors of horror. Ice Cream Man #43 reads like the Ice Cream Man himself, Rick, heard my whining about his livelihood and devised a solution. With each of the 14 creatives bringing their own formula to horror, I’m finally being served the sundae of my dreams. I’m just carefully eating around the severed fingers and spiders. But don’t let anyone lie to you, the snail slime topping is divine.
Writing about anthologies is never an easy task even when the content is so delectable. Each page is a new story from co-creator W. Maxwell Prince or one of the heavy hitting guest storytellers in this issue. With each story only being a page, I am going to be as vague as possible so I am not just momma birding the ice cream to you myself. Each page turn is worth seeing it with your own two eyes for the first time.
Each story is an example of why horror is the strongest genre. With each new page, there is an exploration of fears, traumas, and every different feeling under the sun and moon. There are pages that may move you to tears while others will plant new lingering fears in the corners of your eyes. With a limited page space, the writers craft such heart pounding narratives that will easily make 2025’s best of horror lists everywhere. What the Ice Cream Man creative team and guests have done with their anthology in this issue is showcase the power of horror to show a little taste can reveal a million different flavors/fears.
The issue is drawn by Martín Morazzo with colors by Chris O’Hallorn with a few exceptions of Zoe Thorogood and Ashley Walker. Art by Martín Morazzo and Chris O’Hallorn is a bit hard to write about only because I lack the vernacular to put into words the style they bring to each story. Every story they illustrate is completely unique while never losing the distinct stylistic approach unique to Morazzo’s art and O’Hallorn’s coloring. While many anthologies go for artists for every story, this is the cream that makes the ice cream work. They are a foundation that has assumedly limited potential in what they can create.
There is only one story I can speak to directly and I want to highlight it without spoilers because it caught me like a right hook to my noggin. “A Taxonomy of Old Timey Diseases” is a page done by Good Old Neon who letters the book as well. It only bolsters my belief that horror is beyond versatile in that it’s the only story that fully relies on the lettering. Imagine that fear you get when you google your illness symptoms and it spits back the scariest futures possible. As someone writing this while dealing with the flu, it’s a reminder of the power of words themselves. It’s a monumental showcase of the power of good lettering.
Now that I’ve reached the bottom of my bowl, I look down horrified at how much has fit into one bowl. Ice Cream Man #43 is the new thesis I will be handing out when people ask why I think horror works as well in comics as it does on screen. This issue shows you can have a cavalcade of voices bringing their own unique pints to the party but never risk people growing tired of it. This is the best horror anthology I’ve ever read and I am not sure how it could ever be topped other than with whipped cream and a cherry on top.