The Toxic Avenger Will Relaunch as an Ongoing Series. I'm Writing.

Fred Harper and I will continue our run on Toxie as the first print collection drops in stores today

Two big announcements this week so let’s do them both right up top.

First, today is the release of The Toxic Avenger collection containing the first five-issue series by myself and Fred Harper. Call your local comic shop or bookstore to order a copy or check here for online for places to buy one right now.

Second, The Toxic Avenger will be relaunched this summer as an ongoing comic. I’m writing, Fred Harper is drawing along with some amazing guest artists, and we have years of stories planned.

I’m incredibly proud of what Fred Harper and I have been able to accomplish on The Toxic Avenger thus far, along with colorist Lee Loughridge and letterer Rob Steen. It is completely representative of the kind of work I love to make right now: weird, violent, satirical, totally unpretentious genre comics packed with mutants, just like my creator-owned series Justice Warriors.

No familiarity with the original films, or the 1991 Saturday morning cartoon, are necessary to understand this story. It shares their spirit, but we tell an entirely new origin for Toxie and the people of Tromaville, who are put under a quarantine after a train full of toxic waste derails and mutates some teenagers. Corporate conspiracies, societal breakdown, and hideously transformed citizens all spin out of the crisis.

You can read the first issue of the series in its entirety right now at Fangoria. Then grab a print copy and catch up on the entire story, because there are about to be a lot more Toxic Avenger comics…

The Toxic Avenger is now an ongoing series

With the first series a success, Ahoy and Troma have greenlit a new ongoing series launching this July with Toxic Avenger Comics #1. This will be my first ongoing series as a writer. I’m excited. Read the full details at Gizmodo:

“When I first approached Lloyd Kaufman and Troma about reviving the Toxic Avenger in comics, I wasn’t modest,” said Bors. “I pitched a new origin, outrageous new characters, and a fully mapped-out, mopped-up, multi-year storyline. Now, Fred Harper and I have been given the green light to go fucking nuts.”

The first five issues of the new series will showcase different artists on self-contained genre stories in the mold of Horror, Crime, Science Fiction, Romance, and Fantasy. Those lead in to the second arc, a five-part story titled “Toxie Goes to Washington,” drawn by Fred Harper. He will also be drawing the first issue—the Horror issue—which will take adopt a darker tone than our series thus far.

Check out the initial two covers for issue #1 below. The first is by Fred Harper and the second is from yours truly—deviating from my style a bit while channeling some Mignola energy.

What follows is a true honor: The Troma team made a trailer—a short art film, really—for the new book collection. Tasteful! Grab a copy today.

Ithacon

I will be tabling at Ithacon this weekend, April 5-6 in—where else?—Ithaca, New York. If you’re in the area, stop by and say what’s up. I’ll have Toxic Avenger and Justice Warriors book along with some original art I have not put on sale publicly… yet.

In These Times in This Economy?

I continue to edit comics over at In These Times. There are two new sections up recently here and here, which feature the likes of Eli Valley, Bianca Xunise, Michael Sweater, and more. Also of possible interest, with the death of Jimmy Carter, In These Times republished a smattering of their critical cartoons of him from the 1970s.

The Bors Blessing: Free Planet

Since the launch of The Bors Blessing last newsletter, I’ve been parrying desperate comic industry promoters hawking their books in order to win my stamp of approval. Such are the audience metrics that drive the Bors Blessing!

My latest full-throated, uncorrupted endorsement is for Free Planet, a new comic book series by Aubrey Sitterson and Jed Daughtery. It concerns the planet Lutheria, the first planet to free itself from a galactic empire, and their Freedom Guard’s efforts to hold on to, and build from, that liberation. It’s a bit like if GI Joes had revolutionary fervor, openly debated their methods, and were hornier.

It’s got a lot of things you want from a comic book like this: space politics, deep world building, action, death, important charts on domestic grain production, and romance. It’s also a rumination on freedom and a comic deeply engaged with the medium. Free Planet is purposefully rich with visual and textual information, making it a slower read than most comics on the stands, in the best possible way. What does that mean exactly? Read it and see, abiding by my much more concise blurb below.

There is a preview of the comic here. Free Planet launches May 7 from Image comics. Call your comic shop and pre-order the first issue now.