A father watches his daughter grow older; a daughter watches her father grow old. Your Major Spoilers review of Ice Cream Man #31 from Image Comics awaits!
ICE CREAM MAN #31
Writer: W. Maxwell Prince
Artist: Martin Morazzo
Colorist: Chris O’Halloran
Letterer: Good Ol’ Neon
Publisher: Image Comics
Cover Price: $3.99
Release Date: July 20, 2022
Previously in Ice Cream Man: Sometimes, writing the “What Has Gone Before” section is difficult, but it’s never more so than with a book like this. The basic gist is that there’s this dark force in the universe that manifests itself as a seemingly innocent purveyor of sweets but is in fact a multi-limbed monstrosity of cosmic unpleasantness. Whether that’s garden-variety body horror, existential angst, fear of the abyss, or just plain ol’ nightmares varies.
Wanna see which is which this time around?
WHO HAS A HOOK IN YOUR HEART?
Ice Cream Man #31 begins with Warren Williamson, a young would-be author who has recently become a father. The first half of the tale covers the first twenty years of Blossom’s life, as Warren comes to terms with being a father and a husband. His marriage slowly falls apart, and he finds himself woefully unable to navigate the waters of adulthood, racism, life, and the universe. Things build until a divorced Warren meets his little girl on her way up for dinner…
…and then the perspective shifts. Blossom’s life continues as she watches her father successfully publish, put together her own life and career, even falling prey to some of the same pitfalls that made her dad’s life so poignant. And then, they decide to emotionally murder the readers.
THE FUNDAMENTAL CRUELTY OF… EVERYTHING
Blossom’s story is actually the most fascinating one for me, because halfway through, I realized that it was full of references to previous issues of Ice Cream Man. Upon realization, i went back through William’s story and found a few more, knitting this all together into a greater whole that somehow makes Prince’s script hit that much harder. The emotional beats of this issue are incredibly powerful, especially when the story touches on the parent/child relationship. Morazzo’s art is haunting, with the occasional horrific moment (like Blossom’s eyes every time we focus on them) that chills the blood, combining with the calm horrors of this story for a truly off-putting story that I nonetheless want to read again immediately.
BOTTOM LINE: HIT ME WHERE IT HURTS
Maybe it’s my being a parent, but Ice Cream Man #31 pulls off a haunting treatise on mortality/poem/comic book, balancing as well as the palindrome issue earlier in the run, with art that enhances all the cosmic insignificance of it all, earning 4 out of 5 stars overall. If nothing else, it’s a perfectly rendered, done-in-one story that captures 2022’s terrors the way EC Comics captured those of 1955, and that is some high praise indeed.
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ICE CREAM MAN #31
Another palindromic story in a manner of speaking, with an utterly devastating ending. If you need to be sad for a bit, here's your dose of dread.
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Writing9
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Art8
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Coloring7
