Ice Cream Man

Summer looms and the suburban air is filled with the cheery jingle of the approaching ice cream man in this caustic, ongoing multigenre anthology of single-issue stories by the same creative team. The purveyor of frosty treats is eagerly anticipated by all, but his friendly demeanor masks miraculous powers and a sinister omnipresence that links the tales. The lives of a young boy with a dark secret and a lethal “friend,” a desperate heroin addict, a washed-up one-hit wonder from the dawn of rock ‘n’ roll, and a young man wrestling with the fears and uncertainty of impending fatherhood all intersect with Rick, the ice cream man, on his route. As the stories progress, hints are dropped that there is more to Rick than simply serving as a Rod Serling for this contemporary Twilight Zone. Prince’s work ups the ante from his earlier efforts (One Week in the Library) with a precisely-crafted page-turner, sporting crisp line work by Morazzo (The Electric Sublime) and the dreamlike colors of O’Halloran (Magnus). This is a perfectly bitter confection for those with a taste for short-form shockers, accented by adult language and content. [em](June) [/em]