2025 is definitely the year of the Toxic Avenger. The long-awaited movie reboot starring Peter Dinklage is finally hitting theaters in September, and the Toxic Crusaders beat-em-up game is slated for release in Q2 2025. Not to be outdone, AHOY Comics is in the midst of "Toxic Mess Summer," as Toxie teams up with heroes from across the AHOY Universe.
IGN can exclusively reveal that AHOY will follow up Toxie Team-Up with a Toxic Crusaders series, one that, like the game, aims to capitalize on the nostalgia surrounding the classic animated series. Check out the Retroware game variant cover to Toxic Crusaders #1 below:
And see artist AR Sullivan's variant cover to Toxic Crusaders #1 below:
Toxic Crusaders is a five-issue miniseries written by franchise veteran (and Pulitzer prize finalist) Matt Bors and illustrated by newcomer Tristan Wright. The series pairs Toxie with No-Zone, Junkyard, Major Disaster, and a brand-new character called Fungirl.
“In the aftermath of the chemical spill that created Toxie, other mutants arose — and they have united to wage war against an alien conspiracy,” said Bors in AHOY's press release. “We are taking everything from the original Toxic Crusaders cartoon —gross mutations, evil aliens, and over-the-top ecological action — to bring readers a must-read mutant monthly.”
"Everyone at AHOY Comics is delighted to publish a world-famous group of characters who are as well-meaning, violent, and frankly disgusting as we ourselves wish we could be,” said AHOY Comics Editor-in-Chief Tom Peyer. “We’re also delighted to debut the work of talented artist Tristan Wright. Matt found some of Tristan's work online and shared it with me — and we both thought, where has he been all our lives? It's solid, imaginative, amusing work, and we intend to extract as much as we can, like the cold-blooded capitalists we are."
Toxic Crusaders #1 will be released on September 10, 2025, just after The Toxic Avenger movie hits theaters. To tide you over, check out some exclusive new screenshots of the Toxic Crusaders game:
In IGN's review of The Toxic Avenger, Amelia Emberwing writes, "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."
Jesse is a mild-mannered staff writer for IGN. Allow him to lend a machete to your intellectual thicket by following @jschedeen on BlueSky.
