THE ICE CREAM MAN SUMMER SCOOP: NEW SICKLY SWEET FLAVORS COMING SOON

The delectable, 2025 Eisner Award nominated series by creators W. Maxwell Prince, Martín Morazzo, and Chris O’Halloran returns with a tasty tale of terror this July

Listen for the ear-worm jingle of the Ice Cream truck as it pulls up to the curb with a sickly sweet new Summer scoop…The darkly inventive, critically acclaimed comic book series by creators W. Maxwell Prince, Martín Morazzo, Chris O’Halloran, and Good Old Neon will return with a yummy new tale of terror, Ice Cream Man #44, in July and the Ice Cream Man, Vol. 11 trade paperback collected edition in September from Image Comics.

This tantalizing tale will center around a job performance review gone wrong. Additional upcoming issues of the anthology will feature a twisted Hitchcockian Rear Window homage, a completely creepy tale of cryogenic anti-aging chambers, and a series of vintage medical ads that downplay some pretty shocking side effects.

“Golly. I can’t believe we’ve been putting this book out for 7.5 years,” said Prince. “In comic time, I think that makes us officially geriatric. And so, speaking as a veritable sequential grandpa, I’ll tell you this: I still don’t quite understand how and why we have made it this far. I mean, I am so proud of the corpus of tales we’ve assembled; Ice Cream Man is the defining artistic project of my life. (And I think I can probably say the same for my co-creators).”

Last year’s Ice Cream Man #39: “Decompression in a Wreck, Part One,” has been nominated for Best Single Issue/One-Shot for the 2025 Eisner Awards. The issue is the first in a two-parter story that shows how time slows down and life flashes by during a deadly heart-and-bone-breaking car accident, resulting in the death of a family. The comic details how decompression works in comics storytelling, and how a mere five seconds of a tragedy can be stretched into a 28-page deep dive. “Each moment sacred, each millisecond housing a loving memory, or a painful reminder, or an enticing glimpse into a future that will never, ever happen…” writes Prince in the comic.

The second part of the story, Ice Cream Man #40, shows the accident from the perspective of the truck drivers who collided with the family. Both issues have been collected into Ice Cream Man: Decompression In A Wreck Deluxe Special Edition #1 and Ice Cream Man TP, Vol. 10, available now.

This year also marked the critically acclaimed release of the all-star edition, Ice Cream Man #43, which featured one-page contributions not just from the stellar originators of this disturbing and delightful form experiment, but also short stories written by the likes of Grant Morrison, Patton Oswalt, Kelly Sue DeConnick, Matt Fraction, Jeff Lemire, Geoff Johns, Zoe Thorogood (who also illustrated her own story), Deniz Camp, and Frank Barbiere, with art by Morazzo and O’Halloran. Ice Cream Man has rippled through the comic book scene since its debut in 2018 and was scooped up for the big screen recently by veteran writers Alfred Gough and Miles Millar (Wednesday, Beetlejuice Beetlejuice).

In the Ice Cream Man anthology series, mysterious horror host, Rick, delivers morsels of delicious terror in every flavor. The genre-defying comic book series features short tales of sorrow, wonder, and redemption, with each installment featuring its own cast of strange characters, dealing with their own special sundae of suffering. And on the periphery of all of them, like the twinkly music of his colorful truck, is the Ice Cream Man—a weaver of stories, a purveyor of sweet treats. Friend. Foe. God. Demon. The man who, with a snap of his fingers—lickety split!—can change the course of your life forever.

Prince added: “It’s an absolute privilege to spin yarns about Rick the Ice Cream Man, his jingly-jangly truck, and, most importantly, everyday people fighting their way through the morass of adult life: grief, regret, addiction, divorce, overdue bills, sick family, sick self, the fall of democracy…it’s never-ending, that list. But I can still see that sliver of light breaking through…We somehow managed to make a ‘horror’ book that is, in fact, about human suffering, with slivers of light and hope streaked through the center of everything. Plus, we’ve gotten to perform some very wild comic-specific formal experiments: a silent, three-reality, and three-color issue; a story that’s an actual palindrome; a crossword puzzle; an instruction manual; a dark recreation of beloved children’s books; an advent calendar; a telethon; an issue that is one continuous image when read in landscape orientation.”

“Ice Cream Man is the fulfilling, creative, challenging, cool, and ultimately fun series one can only dream of being a part of when having a comics career,” said O’Halloran. “Having a front row seat to the inventiveness of my collaborators’ hard work for almost 50 issues manages to keep me motivated and inspired with this art form, and just feel very lucky to have my name on this book and be its colorist.”

“Not sure what I can add to what Will and Chris already said, ’cause I feel exactly the same way they do, but I wanted to thank our readers, our fans!” said Morazzo. “It wouldn’t have been possible without you guys, and I’m sure I can speak for the rest of the team now, we’re forever grateful!”

“THANK YOU to everyone who has stuck with us for so long,” added Prince. “We’ve still got a lot of surprises in store for issues #44 and beyond, including the Ice Cream Man, Vol. 11 trade paperback! Eleven volumes to sadden your shelves, stack high as a doorstop, or if you’re in the mood, read entirely in one sitting. And this is to say nothing of our Ice Cream Man movie in development over at horror central, Sony Screen Gems, headed by Wednesday and Smallville creators Alfred Gough and Miles Millar, alongside our amazing producer Aaron Schmidt. Feel free to start your dreamcasting for Ice Cream Man RIGHT NOW.”

Fans of the series can also now get exclusive merch from Team Ice Cream Man, including a shirt, pin, tote, and notebook.

Ice Cream Man #44 will be available at comic book shops on Wednesday, July 23 (Final Order Cutoff deadline for retailers is June 30):

Cover A by Martín Morazzo, Chris O’Halloran – Lunar Code 1224IM303
Cover B by Declan Shalvey – Lunar Code 1224IM304

Ice Cream Man #45 will be available at comic book shops on Wednesday, September 10 (Final Order Cutoff deadline for retailers is August 18):

Cover A by Martín Morazzo, Chris O’Halloran – Lunar Code 0325IM323
Cover B by Alison Sampson – Lunar Code 0325IM324

Ice Cream Man #46 will be available at comic book shops on Wednesday, October 8 (Final Order Cutoff deadline for retailers is September 15):

Cover A by Martín Morazzo, Chris O’Halloran – Lunar Code 0525IM391
Cover B by Juni Ba (to be revealed) – Lunar Code 0525IM392

Ice Cream Man TP, Vol. 10, which collects issues #37-40 (ISBN: 9781534397286, Lunar Code 0524IM265)—including the “Decompression in a Wreck” issues—is available at comic book shops, as well as independent bookstores, Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Books-a-Million, Indigo, and Waterstones. Ice Cream Man TP, Vol. 11, which collects issues #40-44 (ISBN: 9781534331167)—including all-star issue #43—will be available at local comic book shops on September 17, as well as independent bookstores, Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Books-a-Million, Indigo, and Waterstones on September 30.

Ice Cream Man is also available across many digital platforms, including Amazon Kindle, Apple Books, and Google Play.

Author Profile

Al Mega: I'm Al Mega the CEO of Comic Crusaders, CEO of the Undercover Capes Podcast Network, CEO of Geekery Magazine & Owner of Splintered Press (coming soon). I'm a fan of comics, cartoons and old school video games. Make sure to check out our podcasts/vidcasts and more!