Books like Ice Cream Man, Vol. 4: Tiny Lives

Ice Cream Man, Volume 4: Tiny Lives continues Maxwell’s horror comics run that is washed in pastels and ice cream and sprinkles. It’s in part nostalgia for a sweet happy American time that never was, like David Lynch’s Blue Velvet (or most suburban nightmare books and movies), that fine-trimmed lawn with evil worms just below the surface. This collection once again features Maxwell trying to do something different every time to scare you or creep you out, this time with four stories, one of them Live Evil, yes, a story palindrome that can be read backwards or forwards exactly the same, {that’s like a definition of palindrome, I know) featuring 17 actual palindromes that actually fit into the story, such as “Dennis sinned” or “bird rib.” A second story deals with a man lost in his life and language, obsessed with crossword puzzles. The third is about a mad family, and schizophrenic logic. Madness is a trued friend of horror, going back through Lovecraft to Poe. The fourth is a father-daughter story where the Dad reads her dairy and finds it is not just about her having sex, but also killing the boys she disdains. So the point is horror play. I keep getting the feel of Ray Bradbury’s small town America with a serial killer, or the invention of Rod Serling’s Twilight Zone. Or even Hitchcock, who makes you smile before he scares you. They don’t hide the fact that this is entertainment and some commentary about lost innocence and actual evil lurking under the surface of our happy lives.I’ll keep reading. The invention is great fun.