Image comic series, Ice Cream Man, debuted in 2018. It’s a horror anthology, featuring a very loosely connected series of suburban horror stories, with the one constant being the eponymous Ice Cream Man himself. Like the seemingly normal neighborhoods he frequents, there are very dark, sinister secrets just beneath the cheery surface of the title character. The series has become increasingly experimental in terms of how it tells its stories, but with the one-shot special, Ice Cream Man: The Mortal Coil Shuffle, it’s perhaps reached its peak in terms of the truly unusual way in which its tale plays out.

Though it’s not a card game, we definitely thought that a comic book told using a deck of 55 cards was of interest to our readers, so here’s our look at this brilliantly unique comic book.

So What Exactly is Ice Cream Man: The Mortal Coil Shuffle?

When you get hold of Ice Cream Man: The Mortal Coil Shuffle, you’ll notice that it really does just look like a deck of standard sized playing cards. In the box are 55 cards; the front of the box calls it “A Comic Book in Fifty-Five Playing Cards”, and the back of the box gives you your intstructions for reading it.

That’s right: reading the cards. Despite its looks (and the word “shuffle” in its name), The Mortal Coil Shuffle is a sequential story, told across the 55 card deck. The back of the box is very explicit in its instructions to not shuffle the deck at all, beginning the experience at card 1 and ending at card 55.

Cards are already in sequence in the box, so you just need to open the box and begin reading from the first card onwards. If you do happen to drop them or otherwise get the cards out of order, each of them are numbered to ensure you can place them back in the correct sequence.

Is Ice Cream Man: The Mortal Coil Shuffle Worth Picking Up?

As you’d expect from Ice Cream Man, which already leans into inventive and unusual ways to tell its stories in its regular series, The Mortal Coil Shuffle is far more than “just” an experiment or a gimmick. The story it tells features plenty of elements related to cards, with references and homages to numerous card games (Magic: The Gathering included, among others) throughout. It does go beyond gaming, however, featuring other card-related elements too. It’s definitely worth going into the experience knowing as little as possible, because just about every card flip brings a surprising new addition, or a cleverly interwoven thematic element, to tell its dark, twisted tale.

Readers already familiar with Ice Cream Man will, to a certain extent, know what to expect with writer W. Maxwell Prince and artist Martín Morazzo’s particular brand of suburban horror, but newcomers tempted by the inventive format would do well to be warned: this tale is not for the faint hearted. It’s not that it’s graphic or in any way explicit in terms of gore, but its themes are certainly dark and potentially close to home, given its blend of horror with familiar, seemingly “normal” settings.

That said, if you can stomach the unsettling nature of its story, Ice Cream Man: The Mortal Coil Shuffle is a mind-bendingly clever experience, which uses its unique format in genuinely impressive and inventive ways. It kept me utterly enthralled from beginning to end, with a tactile look and feel which truly justifies the shift from the comic book page to a seemingly simple deck of cards. Though not interactive per se, the shift to cards gives the story not just the opportunity to really play with the narrative form, but also a very intimate, highly immersive feel; it almost seems as if you’re in control of the unfolding story, in an odd way. Despite this, even the outside of the box warns that “The Deck is Stacked!”, alongside a grinning portrait of the Ice Cream Man himself; a stark reminder of who’s really in charge here.

Ice Cream Man: The Mortal Coil Shuffle is available from comic shops now; be warned, however, that it won’t be reprinted, so if you want to experience this dark and compelling, uniquely told tale of the fantastique for yourself, you’ll need to grab a deck before they’re all snapped up.