In 2024, AHOY Comics made a significant splash by bringing back the beloved cult hero, The Toxic Crusader, to the comic book world. This year, they are ramping up the excitement with an event they've dubbed "Toxic Mess Summer," where Toxie teams up with various heroes from the AHOY Universe, including an unexpected alliance with Jesus Christ.
The celebration kicks off in May with the release of The Toxic Avenger Pinup Special, showcasing a variety of artistic interpretations of Toxie and his crew. Following this, AHOY will launch the Toxie Team-Up miniseries. In this series, Toxie will collaborate with an array of characters, including Project: Cryptid's Jersey Devil, My Bad's Acid Chimp, The Wrong Earth's Dragonflyman and Stinger, Justice Warriors' Swamp Cop and Schitt, and notably, Second Coming's Jesus Christ.
For those new to the satirical superhero series, Second Coming features Jesus returning to Earth and sharing a home with the superhero Sunstar. Since its debut, Second Coming has stirred both acclaim and controversy, and the collaboration with Toxie is likely to continue this trend.
Toxie Team-Up #1 is crafted by Second Coming's creative team, writer Mark Russell and artist Richard Pace.
“Toxic Avenger and Jesus Christ is the team-up that everybody has been clamoring for and I am not one to stand in the way,” said Russell in AHOY's press release. “Just as in Second Coming, Christ shows that there are more tools in the box than just violence and that Tromaville, as strange as it is, is still a place that someone who grew up bullied by the jocks in the Roman Empire would recognize.”
“Having already spawned five films, a cartoon, action figures, a musical, and a Marvel comic book series, the Toxic Avenger is a pop culture icon,” said AHOY Comics Editor-in-Chief Tom Peyer. “The only question is: why doesn’t he have a church of his own?”
The Toxic Avenger Pinup Special is set to hit the shelves on May 14, with Toxie Team-Up #1 following on June 11. Additionally, Matt Bors and Fred Harper's The Toxic Avenger miniseries will be compiled into a trade paperback edition available on April 1, which can be preordered on Amazon.
Looking ahead, Toxie is slated to return to the big screen in 2025. In IGN's review of the 2023 'not remake' of The Toxic Avenger, Amelia Emberwing notes, "Troma and Legendary’s partnership on The Toxic Avenger’s 2023 'not remake' delivers a mixed bag. Director Macon Blair and the rest of the creative team may have more money to play with than Michael Herz and Lloyd Kaufman’s 1984 original, but it struggles to deliver on the schlocky goodness of Troma’s stronger films. Still, what it lacks in so-bad-it’s-good silliness it makes up for with its heart and mostly practical slaughterfests. Kevin Bacon and Peter Dinklage having an absolute blast in their roles doesn’t hurt, either."
