The Toxic Avenger is Here!
Plus: art, signings, shootings, and cons
In this newsletter: new comics • new signings • new assassination attempts • new art
The Toxic Avenger #1 is out today. Hell yeah.
A little over a year ago I pitched the idea of reviving the Toxic Avenger in a new comic series. Today it’s on shelves in shops across North America. With the fantastic Fred Harper on art and Lee Loughridge on colors (I mean, look at that shit above), along with the full support of Troma and Ahoy comics, I am feeling blessed.
Early reviews are extremely positive. A glowing write-up at AIPT by a certified Toxie fan says we have created a “crazy and unsettling story that is updated just enough with new insights and politics without ruining the kind of underdog, deliberately bizarre energies of Toxic Avenger.” My Kind Of Weird also approves: “the result is evolving The Toxic Crusader into more of a three-dimensional radioactive dispenser of justice.” The Beat rightfully celebrates Fred Harper’s art as “the star of this show from page one.”
That’s what I like to hear. This series is for fans and newbies alike. You don’t have to know a single thing about the Toxic Avenger going into this one. Honestly I’d love to hear thoughts on the comic from Troma fans and people who don’t know a damn thing about the character.
As I’ve tried to hammer home whenever I write about or am interviewed for this book, I pitched a multi-volume Toxie roadmap, and I’d love to get there. But first we’ve got to tell—and sell—this five issue story. So please pick up a copy at your local shop this week and maybe catch me at a signing this month…
Signings this weekend in Buffalo and Toronto
I don’t live anywhere close to a comic shop, unfortunately, so I’m hitting the open road this weekend! This Friday I will be in Buffalo: Come see me with local cartoonists Adam Zyglis and Dri Snow read from our work! 7:30pm at Gutter Pop Comics.
Then this coming Saturday I will be in Toronto for two signings! I'll be appearing in store at Knowhere Comics to sign at 1-3pm and The Beguiling Books & Art from 5-6pm. If you’re in either of those cities, come say what’s up and pick up Toxie. Bring the books you already have and I’ll draw in them!
New York Comic Con
I’ll also be at New York Comic Con, signing at the Bulletproof comics booth with Fred Harper Friday, October 18, from 10am-noon. Bulletproof is a shop in Brooklyn and hosting a lot of signings over the con, including friend-of-the-newsletter Spencer Ackerman, who will have early copies of his new Iron Man run (which I read and thought was great and want to draw the new Iron Monger armor).
Fred and I will also be signing at Everyone Comics in Queens on Saturday, October 18 at noon. If you’re in New York, come on out—I have’t been to Da Big Apple since before Covid and I’m very much looking forward to it.
A Second Shooter Has Hit the Presidential Campaign
Since I last wrote, a second assassination attempt on Trump popped off in Mar-a-Lago from a man with some politics that are—being generous here—all over the fucking place. Things are starting to look more and more like Justice Warriors: Vote Harder, our mutant election thriller that features multiple assassination attempts.
In fact, a recent shooting here in Canada was motivated by the strange soup of inflation, genocide in Gaza, wokeism, everyone being on their phone too much, as well as the need to promote, I quote, “healthy choices, healthy diet, exercises.” It could be a popular platform if he worked on the overall delivery.
I say things are getting more Justice Warriors-y not just because we wrote about an election, but because an increasingly bleak world, a seeming lack of options creating total political incoherence, and everyone being on their phone too much is a main theme of both volumes.
Let’s hope any October surprise doesn't play out like the third act of our story.
Ben Clarkson and I have been going hard and heavy on the podcast circuit, talking about our comic, the election, shooters, and whatever else comes up on Chapo Trap House, The Deprogram, QAA, Trashfuture, Minion Death Cult, Rob Rousseau, Comics and Chronic, Comic Book Couples Counseling, and more. All that stuff is available wherever you get your podcasts. Look it up if you want to hear me yap!
I’ll leave you with a full page from the middle of Vote Harder, with activist Fen and undercover cop Swamp knocking on doors to get out the vote. Oh, and I’m still selling Justice Warriors direct in the US so buy a copy from me! See you after the election…
