W. Maxwell Prince and Martín Morazzo are bringing Ice Cream Man back to where it all began this Halloween season. Image Comics will release Ice Cream Man #1: Chocolate/Vanilla Twist in October, presenting the bestselling series’ debut issue in stark black and white with a collectible interactive cover.
The special edition will also feature remastered lettering by Good Old Neon. In addition, the entire creative team has created a brand-new Ice Cream Man short story for the release.
An Interactive Twist on the Original Cover
Ice Cream Man #1: Chocolate/Vanilla Twist adds a new visual trick to the series’ original cover art. The issue uses focal decoder technology designed to make the Ice Cream Man disappear from the cover.
Readers can bring him back using the included “Lookety Split” Decoder Lens. The lens reveals the original cover art along with hidden messages and images scattered throughout the design.
The interactive treatment turns the cover itself into part of the experience. It adds another layer of strange visual storytelling to a series already known for experimenting with the comic book format.
W. Maxwell Prince Looks Back at the Beginning
Writer W. Maxwell Prince connected the new edition to both the origins of Ice Cream Man and one of his own formative experiences with interactive artwork. He also described the release as the beginning of the series’ push toward its milestone 50th issue.
“Ice Cream Man: Chocolate/Vanilla Twist is where two of my favorite things converge: Martín’s first pages of this strange little book that would, for reasons still unclear to me, go on to become a geriatric ongoing comic… and this insanely cool focal decoder technology, which I experienced for the first (and last) time in college, when Bright Eyes’ 2007 LP Cassadaga came into my dorm’s mailroom bearing my name. Both of those things left me with my jaw on the floor, as both of those things are, to me, examples of the way in which visual art and musical logic can create an experience greater than the sum of its parts. (And that’s before Chris O. and Good Old Neon made Ice Cream Man #1 even lovelier…),” said Prince.
“To marry those two things, as Part One of a special-project-kickoff to Ice Cream Man’s December return to regular publication, and its march toward issue 50, is a blessing that means more to me than I can articulate in a press release. There must be a monkey’s paw somewhere running out of fingers.”
Martín Morazzo Celebrates the Series’ Journey
Artist Martín Morazzo also reflected on how far Ice Cream Man has come since its first issue. For Morazzo, revisiting the debut marks the beginning of a larger celebration leading toward issue #50.
“It’s crazy to look back and see what we’ve built through the years, Ice Cream Man has been a life changing experience for us, and I hope it’s been the same to our readers, and it all started here, with this first issue! It’s fantastic to release it again, starting a celebration road to issue #50!” Morazzo added.
The special edition celebrates the series in appropriately unusual fashion. Its combination of remastered material, new content, black-and-white artwork, and interactive packaging reflects the experimental approach that has helped define Ice Cream Man.
The Road to Ice Cream Man #50
Ice Cream Man #1: Chocolate/Vanilla Twist also kicks off the series’ return to regular publication in December. From there, Prince, Morazzo, and the creative team will continue their march toward the milestone Ice Cream Man #50.
That landmark issue is scheduled to arrive in 2027. Before then, readers can return to the story that started it all with a new presentation built for longtime fans and newcomers alike.
Ice Cream Man #1: Chocolate/Vanilla Twist will be available at comic book shops and digital platforms on Wednesday, October 14. Fans can pick up the special edition when it arrives this Halloween season.
