How To Blow Up a Toxic Waste Line

After 33 years, the Toxic Crusaders are back in comic shops today

In this newsletter: Upcoming comics / my next signings / new covers

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Toxic Crusaders #1 is out today.

I began circling an idea for how to revive these mutants five years ago. I approached Troma in 2023 with my pitch. I’ve already hyped artist Tristan Wright, who is debuting on this book. You know the setup with my Toxic Avenger series with Fred Harper. Now we’re here: firmly in my Toxic Avenger Era with an ongoing, miniseries, and crossover with my own creator-owned series Justice Warriors. Get to a comic shop and hop on this train. We’re blowing things up.

We’ve been given some great blurbs by the likes of Ryan North, Mark Russell, Mike Allred, Mattie Lubchansky, and Chris Burnham—a grab bag of my favorite comic book artists and writers. AIPT’s early review says Toxic Crusaders “kicks things off right with personal turmoil, social relevance, and weaponized mucus.” There is a lot of snot, you’ll notice.

Here are all the covers for the first issue by (from L to R) Tristan Wright, Xander Arnot, and A. R. Sullivan.

Oh, and the new Toxic Avenger movie came out last week. I enjoyed it a lot. Macon Blair seems like he came to this through a similarly honest route as myself: with an idea of how to update Toxie kicking around his head for years that he managed to convince the world to let him make. We have different origins and plots to our stories, but I think we’ve both come up with a complementary concoction of gore, relevance, and satire. (If anyone wants to commission a drawing from me of the Dinklage Toxie fighting the Killer Nuts, please reach out.)

Artist Xander Arnot, who works on the Toxic Crusaders video game over at Retroware and did the variant cover above, drew all the iterations of Toxie together. Rad.

xanderflicks

A post shared by @xanderflicks

Return to the Catacomb

My next story for the EC revival will appear in Catacombs of Torment #6 later this year. It is titled “The Composite Man” and involves a woman who is—or believes she is—beset by various assaulters, which she describes to a police sketch artist. This is the most straightforward thriller I’ve written, with no satire or gross mutants or violent aliens in sight. Not a lick of snot.

I was wondering how it would turn out, how the tone would come off, how it would look trying something so out of my usual lane. Then I saw the inks from artist Claire Roe. She illustrated one of my favorite stories from the new EC line so far, “The Perfect Pearl,” and knocked this out out of the park. More on this when we get closer to release.

Upcoming signings

This Saturday, September 13, I’ll be tabling at the Guelph Comics Jam organized by comic shop The Dragon. Fresh copies of Toxic Crusaders will bee on hand along with all my other work and some original art. Come for me, but also come for the slew of artists listed below on their poster!

On September 27 I’ll be tabling at the Georgian Bay Fan Con in Meaford, Ontario.

I may have an appearance in Buffalo soon and Toronto again… working on it.

In These Times

I’ve been editing comics at In These Times magazine for many years now. It is the last vestige of my political cartooning and editing career—and I’ve decided to hold onto it. We’ve formalized expanding the comics section slightly to two dedicated sections a month, one of which will appear in print.

Read the latest section here, which features Bianca Xunise on the imminent invasion of Chicago along with a number of Nib regulars.

Where Walks SENTIAC

Tristan Wright and I are doing back-to-back releases this month. Toxic Avenger Comics #3 drops next Wednesday, which features the Crusaders pitted against invasive species-eradicating synthoid SENTIAC. If you love billionaires, you’ll hate this one. Check out this splash with colors by Lee Loughridge.

Let’s drop some more covers below after we run through some release dates for upcoming comics:

• Toxic Avenger Comics #3 - September 17

• Toxic Crusaders #2 - October 15

• Toxic Avenger Comics #4 - October 22

• Toxie Team Up #5 (with Justice Warriors) - October 29

Toxic Avenger Comics #4 is the Romance issue with art by Erica Henderson and issue 5 is the Fantasy issue with Grim Wilkins. On the latter, we got the Frazetta uncorked for these two covers below by Fred Harper and Wilkins.

The Return of Justice Warriors

The boys are back in town

On October 29, two of the most violent, dumbest satires of all time will clash in a battle of mutant degeneracy. My creator-owned series with Ben Clarkson, Justice Warriors, will meet head-on with the other series I’m writing, Toxic Avenger. It just made perfect sense.

Two of the grandest cities in all of fiction—Tromaville and Bubble City! And you’re alive to witness it all. Absurd. Spectacular.

Toxie Team-Up #5 will feature The Toxic Avenger dropped into the world of Justice Warriors, where everyone is a mutant, including the police. Pitted against two of the dumbest cops alive, Swamp and Schitt, Toxie must sort out his immigration status and unite his fellow mutants against a grave threat.

Ben Clarkson turned in the line art recently and I’d like to give you a little taste.

If you’re excited about the prospect of more Justice Warriors, please pre-order this book from your local comics shop! We aren’t done with these boys.

The Sleep of Reason

Comics Pal Zander Cannon, of Top Ten and Kaijumax, reached out to me recently to draw a variant cover for his new Image series Sleep. The story follows Jonathan Reason who, when he falls asleep, becomes some sort of monster. Cannon’s story takes place during Reason’s waking hours, dealing with the aftermath of each sleep, which quickly become impossible to conceal. The monster has, so far, not been seen on the page and cover artists were all invited to come up with their own ideas—all within the limited black, white, and red color palette used very cleverly in the book.

This issue hits stores October 29. It didn’t dawn on me until after I turned in the final art: this is my first Image comic cover. Very cool.

Toxic Avenger Comics #2 is out!

Our second outing with the new ongoing series hits shelves this week. It’s the Crime issue. Felipe Sobreiro is art this time and completely nails it, while Lee Loughridge’s limited spot color palette adds a toxic noir feel. It’s a major departure from our Horror issue and shows off what we’re going for—different approaches in different genres, all tackling the fallout effects of the spill in Tromaville.

Sobreiro’s name you might recognize as the colorist on Justice Warriors. Here’s a few panels of him stretching out into the artist role. I really love the way he draws Toxie.

Oh, and I drew the trading card for this one. Our new character, Fungirl, who everyone is going to love. Look at her.

Upcoming Signings

• Guelph Comics Jam - September 13

• Georgian Bay Fan Con - September 27

• New York Comic Con? Probably. - October 9-12

Upcoming Comics

• Catacombs of Torment #2 - August 20

• Toxic Crusaders #1 - September 10

• Toxic Avenger Comics #3 - September 17

• Sleep #6 (cover) - October 29

Upcoming Covers

Recently, I drew a promotional image for Troma and Mathew Klickstein for his book, Lloyd Kaufman: Interviews. That has now been repurposed for an upcoming cover for Toxic Avenger Comics #3. While Lloyd Kaufman doesn’t appear in the story, it was an honor to draw the man being disembowel by his creation.

A few more below to catch up on upcoming covers. First, Toxic Avenger Comics #3 by Fred Harper in a stunning painting of the Toxic Crusaders, who figure heavily into that issue, followed by Toxic Avenger Comics #4, the Romance issue drawn by Erica Henderson. Can we pause for a moment and drool over this sensual squid energy? I hope it’s not just me lol.

I’m throwing in Toxie Team-Up #3 featuring Acid Chimp, out August 20. That’s another character who meshes well with The Toxic Avenger (it’s a chimp who throws acid) and I can’t get enough of Fred’s painted covers.

Finally, Toxic Crusaders #2 by Tristan Wright. God, I can’t wait for people to read this new series and pop their eyes out with gorgeous, gross art.

It's Going To Be All Wright

Artist Tristan Wright debuts in The Toxic Crusaders #1. Check out these goddamn pages.

Four years ago I bookmarked a tweet by an artist who came across my feed—Tristan Wright, who I had never seen before—and spent half an hour digging into his work. His output was mostly self-published and small press work he wrote, drew, and lettered, and after reading his comic “Late Night Special” I made a mental note to approach him someday for a collaboration.

Earlier this year, the opportunity presented itself when my plans to expand The Toxic Avenger were greenlit by Ahoy after the success of the first volume. We were kicking off the new ongoing series with a number of guests artists working on genre-specific issues and launching a Toxic Crusaders spin-off series. I wrote Tristan to see if he’d be interested in drawing for an issue. He ended up signing on for six.

In September, two books written by me and drawn by Tristan will drop within two weeks of each other, marking his mainstream comics debut. The pages he has been turning in the last few months have been blowing me away—and I need to show some off.

SENTIAC sees all

The Toxic Crusaders #1 hits stores September 10. A five issue mini-series featuring Toxie and the gang, the Crusaders have been radicalized by the conspiracy to destroy the planet’s ecosystem and decide to take the fight right to those responsible—with explosively gross results. Featuring all-new new team member, Fungirl, who debuts next week in Toxic Avenger Comics #2!

Toxic Avenger Comics #3 drops the following week on September 17. That story will feature the Toxic Crusaders encountering the diabolical synthoid SENTIAC, a new villain with its own idea for saving humanity fit for the Science Fiction issue.

For fans of X-Men, X-Statix, and Doom Patrol, The Toxic Crusaders is our mutant treatise on ecological action and body horror. It’ll pop because the art is tremendous. I don’t need to overhype anything. These are what the pages look like.

The Toxic Crusuaders #1

Fungirl and No-Zone hatch a plan.

SENTIAC strikes in Toxic Avenger Comics #3

If you think these look like good comics, this is the last week to pre-order Toxic Crusaders with your local comic shop. Please do! Pre-orders signal interest in a book and can dramatically affect the number of copies a shop orders.

A hero for the sludge era: The comics site AITP has a meaty interview and article focused on my longterm plans for Toxic Avenger, working with a nostalgic IP, and being in my mutant sludge era after my political cartoon era.

Below are all the covers for Toxic Crusaders #1.

All the covers for the first issue (from L to R): Tristan Wright, Xander Arnot, and A. R. Sullivan

Oh, and as revealed yesterday on Bloody Disgusting, I’m drawing trading cards for the upcoming issues, each featuring a Crusader who will be the focus of that issue’s story. You will definitely need to pre-order these to ensure your store has enough copies for you to snag one! My card lineup is:

• Toxic Avenger Comics #2 - Fungirl

• Toxic Crusaders #1 - No-Zone

• Toxic Crusaders #2 - Major Disaster

Meet the artists of Toxic Avenger Comics

Plus my schedule for Comic Con this weekend

I’m headed to San Diego Comic Con this week, swimming into the smoldering sewage of self-promotion to push my mutant comic books up to new sales records—past Marvel, past Superman, up up and away. This will be my third year in a row attending and I love it there despite being a big press conference and toy sale. Not only is it place where I see more industry friends and colleagues than anywhere else during the year, but it is the convention where I approached Troma two years ago about doing a Toxic Avenger comic book. This year we have the number 1 issue of our new ongoing series—with Toxic Crusaders following close behind—so it is largely responsible for my shift into writing, what they call in undignified comics parlance, floppies.

My schedule for this weekend is below. I'll be signing Toxic Avenger Comics #1 at a retailer booth, EC Comics at Oni, and doing a panel on Toxie with Troma founder Lloyd Kaufman. I'm also thrilled to be on a 2000AD panel, a publisher that's been a massive inspiration to my work, and another Ahoy panel about what they have coming down the pike with some great creators.

Meet the artists of Toxic Avenger Comics

Now that Toxic Avenger Comics is launched with our first horror-themed issue drawn by Fred Harper, we get to delve into other genres with other fine artists. In the first five issues we explore the strange ripples and ramifications of the toxic waste spill in Tromaville through different genre lenses while laying down some bricks that build to our second story arc.

The issues are written. The art is coming in. Here’s how it’s looking.

Issue #2 - Crime with Felipe Sobreiro

This issue leans in to the crime genre and debuts an all-new character, the spore-powered Fungirl, who will be a big part of the upcoming Toxic Crusaders series. This issue shows her origin, which gets entangled with a new armed environmentalist group, The Garden State Co-Op. The art is by Felipe Sobreiro, whose name you might recognize as the colorist on Justice Warriors, which is rounded out with sublime spot color from Lee Loughridge.

Issue #3 - Science Fiction with Tristan Wright

The artist on the upcoming Toxic Crusaders, Tristan Wright will debut on Toxic Avenger the week before that first issue drops in this stand-alone story featuring the Crusaders, with new member Fungirl, as they face the robotic synthoid SENTIAC.

Issue #4 - Romance with Erica Henderson

You know her from The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl. The three-time Eisner winning artist (!) is bringing her pen to Toxie and Yvonne’s relationship, a central dynamic of the book, as a demented villain emerges with a violent NoFap agenda.

Issue #5 - Fantasy with Grim Wilkins

A brilliant artist whose wonderful book Mirenda made him my top choice for the Fantasy issue, Wilkins is drawing loads of mutants as we pluck obscure characters from the Toxie-verse and reimagine them entirely as we glimpse the future of New Jersey.

That’s all for now. See you on the other side of Comic Con with more comics. I’m drawing some things for this series myself—new covers and trading cards—which I’ll be able to show off soon.

The real reason the internet is so bad

Social media, algorithms, vertical video, and surveillance capitalism have all conspired to keep people from seeing the one thing they need most.

There aren’t enough pictures of Bog Being on it.

Toxic Avenger Comics #1 is out now!

Toxic Avenger Comics #1 drops in comic shops today, the launch of my first ongoing series. We kick things off with a stand-alone story called “Something is Mutating the Children,” a straight up horror comic illustrated by Fred Harper, who I think is doing the best work of his career on this book.

The first five issues rotate through different artists and genres as we build to a larger epic drawn by Harper and the launch of the Toxic Crusaders comic in September. We are doing Crime, Science Fiction, Romance, and Fantasy—each issue featuring a bizarre new mutant or deranged villain.

The story picks up right where we left off with the last issue of our Toxic Avenger miniseries, with the town of Tromaville in shambles after the toxic waste spill and quarantine. We will now explore the stranger ripple effects of this disaster, as Toxie’s actions in the previous issue literally haunt him while teenagers around town go missing.

Grab the collection of volume 1 here or, better yet, at your local comic shop when you pick up the new issue!

All Praise Fred

Last newsletter I mentioned Fred Spreads and I plan to write a bit more about how Fred and I collaborate. For now, I’ll link to this interview with Monkey’s Fighting Robots:

MFR: Fred Harper is coming back as the artist on the Toxic Avenger Comics. What makes Fred the perfect artist for Toxie? What’s it like working with him? What’s the process you guys use?

MB: We talk on the phone a lot. I write full scripts, but we riff too. Sometimes I start with imagery and draw something specific. Other times, I’m loose and toss it to him. Fred has this beautiful command of anatomy and texture that makes him perfect for Toxie. He’s sculpted him a chiseled physique and crooked face—equal parts alluring and revolting. Part of that, I think, comes from Fred’s own devotion to the gym, and the rest is from his devotion to the page. Fred got all his reps in on other books over the decades and is now doing the best work of his career. I load up all the plates for him—mutations, satire, gore—and watch him press it like a piston.

The Horror!

There are a number of covers for this issue—the main cover by Fred Harper, a cover by myself, and a blank sketch variant, and of course the main cover bagged with a trading card (of an important character, the mop). If you’re interested in a sketch variant that I draw on, you’ll have a couple of options. I’m doing a pile of them for a few stores that plan to offer them for sale, so more details on that as I get them.

Bat City exclusive

One more cover! I drew an exclusive cover for Bat City Comic Professionals that will be limited to 500 copies, featuring Toxie mopping up inside their Florida store. You can grab one from their website right here.

Signing this weekend in London, Ontario

I will be signing comics, including the new Toxic Avenger #1, at Heroes in London, Ontario, this Saturday July 12. If you are in the area, come on out. As you can see below, there is a ton of talent tabling with their comics.

Upcoming comics: Crime, torture, and snot rockets

I have some more comics coming in Oni’s EC revival, specifically in the horror title Catacombs of Torment. I wrote a story titled “Hostile Architecture” in the second issue drawn by Kano, an artist I’ve long admired. Inspired by my youthful days skateboarding and the ever-encroaching reach of hostile architecture into the public sphere—to deter sleeping, loitering, and simple sitting—our story imagines the next front in this school of architecture with some gruesome horror befitting a book bearing the title Catacombs of Torment.

Here are the upcoming comics from me in open order, meaning you can call you comic shop now and pre-order them. Both Toxic Avenger Comics #2 and Toxic Crusaders #1 will have exclusive trading cards drawn by me, so tell your shop you’d like the bagged trading card for only a dollar more—you rarely see deals like this anymore!

• Toxic Avenger Comics #2 - August 13

• Catacomb of Torment # 2 - August 20

• Toxie Crusaders # 1 - September 10

Also, I’ll be at San Diego Comic Con this year and have some panels and signings scheduled. In the next newsletter, I’ll drop those details for anyone who is interested.