Review: Ice Cream Man Vol. 2- Strange Neapolitan
Quick Summary
Pros: The stories here are told in unique and creative ways. The horror is more frightening than it was before. The artwork looks great and enhances the reading process.
Cons: The individual story themes are as diverse as they were in the previous collection.
Overall: This comic is another win for the Ice Cream Man series and for horror comics in general. In this book, readers can find four separate stories that each tell a strange and frightening tale. These stories are also creatively written and drawn, making them stand out as unique and memorable entities. The themes here are less diverse than they were previously but should still be compelling enough to keep most readers interested. Anyone looking for a unique dive into horror can find it within this comic.
Story
Ice Cream Man Vol. 2: Strange Neapolitan, by W. Maxwell Prince, delivers a solid batch of horror stories while managing to improve on some elements from the previous volume. The improvements here can mostly be seen in the enhanced creativity found in the stories themselves and the heightened levels of horror throughout this comic. These make reading this book a more stimulating experience. The only problem is that the themes found in each of these stories tend to be less diverse than they were previously. Overall though, this is still a step up for the comic as a whole and an interesting way to continue this series.
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The general structure in Strange Neapolitan is relatively similar to the general structure in the previous volume; each chapter tells a different horror story with a different cast of characters. However, in Strange Neapolitan, the way in which these stories are told is more creative than before, allowing for a more interesting and unique reading experience. The most obvious example of this occurs in the titular “Strange Neapolitan” chapter. This chapter tells three separate stories set in three divergent timelines that all converge in a way that highlights the story’s message. Experiencing this story and the rest of the volume in such a way makes for an all around better book.
Strange Neapolitan also double downs on the comic’s level of terror. In the previous volume, the most frightening scene involved a child coming home to his dead parents. In this volume, the most frightening scene involves a man being vivisected while a child is tied to a chair in the background. There were moments in reading this collection where I felt genuinely uncomfortable in a way that is typically reserved for bone-chilling movies rather than comics. As a horror book, this volume has really upped its game.
However, the stories in this volume are not quite as diverse as they were in the previous volume. In Ice Cream Man Vol. 1 (Review), there were stories about arachnophobia, addiction, wasting life, and death. Meanwhile, in Strange Neapolitan, almost all of the stories focus on death or a general sense of impending disaster. The most interesting and unique aspect of the Ice Cream Man series is how the individual stories allow for a diverse range of stories to be told, so it is disappointing to see that potential left on the table.
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Art
The artwork in the Ice Cream Man series continues to be a significant draw for the series as a whole. In Strange Neapolitan, Martín Morazzo brings back the same unique visual style that made the previous volume so appealing. This means that scenes depicting everyday events are still eerily peaceful while scenes depicting horror are still genuinely terrifying.
Like the story, the artwork in this volume also seems to be more creative in general. Individual chapters require different art styles in order to capture the feeling or emotion that the story encapsulates. This is particularly noticeable in the “Strange Neapolitan” chapter, which features meaningful colors from Chris O’Halloran, or the “My Little Poltergeist” chapter, which features moments of an entirely unique art style. This leads to a book filled with unique and meaningful visuals, improving the reading experience as a whole.
Continuity
Ice Cream Man Volume 2: Strange Neapolitan continues the story from Ice Cream Man Vol. 1: Rainbow Sprinkles (Review).
The story here continues in Ice Cream Man Volume 3: Hopscotch Melange.