1: Ice Cream Man The Mortal Coil Shuffle - Image

            This is almost certainly going to be the only time that a deck of cards is in my weekly picks list. If you haven’t heard, this is an issue of Ice Cream Man told entirely through 55 playing cards. One of the selling points of this is that it’s not going to be reprinted in any other format or garner any subsequent printings so if you’re a fan of Ice Cream Man or if the format sounds interesting to you, you better jump on board fast.

 

            I have to add that I’ve been selling this as a “playable card game that’s also an issue of Ice Cream Man” and I want to set the record straight here that I’ve been unintentionally lying about that. The solicit implies that it’s a playable card game but it very much is not, in fact, it’s very important that they stay in the correct order at all times otherwise it doesn’t work. I was impressed by how well the format worked for the story that they were trying to tell and the fact that it wouldn’t have worked without being a deck of cards adds to the mystique of the whole idea.

 

            I’ve been waiting in anticipation for this one for the past few months and when expectations are that high, it can be difficult to live up to them but this exceeded those expectations. We tried to order a bunch of these but got allocated, so stop by the store sooner rather than later if you want to secure a deck.

 

2: Moon Knight: Fist of Khonshu #14 - DC

            If you haven’t been reading Jed McKay’s run on Moon Knight, you definitely should. He started writing for the character in 2021 and it’s impressive how consistent the storytelling has been. While you can start from Moon Knight: Fist of Khonshu #1, you won’t get the full story unless you start from that 2021 story and frankly, it just won’t be as impactful.

 

            The current story is focusing on Marc Spector and Layla El-Faouly (originally from the Moon Knight tv series) assisting the Wrecker as he’s tormented by the ghosts of everyone he’s killed. While it feels like a bit of a filler story I’m not going to complain because it’s a good change of pace with lower stakes for a change.

 

            As much as I’d love to spoil a few things to talk about this issue some more, I’ll hold my tongue so you can read it for yourself. I’ll also mention that if you want a light and breezy superhero story that’s mostly a mindless good time, this is the book for you.

 

3: Tales of Paranoia - Fantagraphics

            Tales of Paranoia is the first work from underground comix legend, R. Crumb in over 23 years. The book features 12 short stories, with a few of them veering closer to short essays with a few pictures thrown in for good measure. One of the aforementioned stories was scripted by his late wife and underground comix legend in her own right, Aline Kominsky-Crumb.

 

            I love Crumb and his neuroticism, the first line of text in this book is “Just because you’re paranoid, doesn’t mean they aren’t after you” and while I know that that quote is originally from Catch-22, it just encapsulates the tone and mindset of Crumb so well. It’s also impressive to me that an 81 year old that hasn’t published a comic in over two decades still has a handle on his style from over 50 years ago.

 

I kept this one short and sweet because in the year 2025, most comic book readers know whether they like R. Crumb and the underground comix movement of the 70s. But if you’re one of the few people whose introduction to Crumb was this book, Fantagraphics has his other work available for order (Mr. Natural is a favorite of mine).