Ice Cream Man is an acclaimed and terrifying horror anthology comic series. The Twilight Zone was created by Rod Serling and debuted in 1959. The series is considered the grandfather of the anthology format, with each episode exploring a new story and themes. The show has endured over the decades with classic episodes like "Nightmare At 20,000 Feet" and its been revived multiple times, including the 1983 movie and the current, Jordan Peele produced TV series.
The Twilight Zone's inspiration on future anthology shows is plain to see, from The Outer Limits to Tales From The Darkside and Black Mirror. Of course, comics have had their fair share of horror and sci-fi anthologies too, including classic EC comics like Tales From The Crypt or The Vault Of Horror, which would leave lasting impressions on the likes of Stephen King, John Carpenter and George A. Romero.
A modern-day horror anthology comic is Ice Cream Man, which debuted in 2018 from Image Comics. The series is written by W. Maxwell Prince and is a Twilight Zone-style series where each issue focusing on a new character or theme. They're all connected by the title character though, who on the surface appears to be a normal, friendly neighborhood ice cream man - but he's really something much darker under the surface.
Each Ice Cream Man story is usually self-contained, though characters from one can leak into another, and they can range from tragic dramas to body horror or even sci-fi. One memorable tale involves a one-hit-wonder who feels he peaked early in life and is still desperately trying to come up with the next great song. After being given a special free vanilla ice cream by the titular demon, he's whisked away to a world that needs him to pen a great song; needless to say, it ends on a dark twist.
That's just one example, but Ice Cream Man is loaded with great, inventive tales, including "Strange Neapolitan," a mostly silent issue that follows the three possible paths taken by one character, or "Palindromes," which can be read forwards or backwards. Ice Cream Man has been acclaimed since it started its run and its easy to see why, as it's a masterclass in existential dread and creative concepts. A TV series based on Ice Cream Man is currently in development and is being written by Sneaky Pete's Max and Adam Reid. If it's able to retain the comic's unique tone, the show could be something special indeed.