Like so many beloved ’80s properties (Robocop, Rambo, and of course, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles), The Toxic Avenger managed to mutate from its origins as a cult and violent property into something more mainstream. There were comics, there were toys, and there was a cartoon. And like those other aforementioned properties, Toxi e always kept his fans. Pulitzer Prize-winning cartoonist Matt Bors (The Nib)was one of those fans, and along with artist Fred Harper, recently completed an excellent The Toxic Avenger mini-series from Ahoy Comics. The series was such a hit that Ahoy is launching a new ongoing, Toxic Avenger Comics, as well as a Toxic Crusaders mini-series, with Matt writing both. Matt was awesome enough to give us some time and talk to us at Monkeys Fighting Robots. Check it out below.
Monkeys Fighting Robots: Matt, thank you for taking the time. Let’s start at the beginning. What’s your comic book origin story? Why comics? When did you decide it was something you wanted to do and be a part of?
Matt Bors: I have never wanted to do anything but work in comics. I’ve drawn them since I could hold a pencil and I’ve been lucky enough to work in comics my entire adult life. Plan is, do them until I’m dead.
MFR: And how did you discover The Toxic Avenger? Because there’s ALWAYS a story there. For me, I saw it way too early on a weekend rental, along with Robocop! That was a life-changing weekend!
MB: What an epic weekend! I had a similar life growing up, renting whatever cool and violent movies jumped out from the rental store rack. The Toxic Avenger’s illustrated cover drew attention to itself and carried the promise of gory revelation. I can’t remember if I saw the movie or cartoon first; I can’t remember having ever not seen it. I was that young.
MFR: What’s your favorite Toxic Avenger movie? And what’s your favorite moment in the movies?
MB: The first movie might be the best, but my favorite moment was in the third movie where Toxie takes someone’s fingers and sticks them into a VHS rewinder where the apparently industrial-strength gears stretch and rip off his fingers like cheap, blood-filled rubber tubes. It stuck in my mind over the years and made me wary of “be kind, please rewind.”
MFR: Toxie is such a unique character in pop culture. It started as a very adult satire, and somehow, years later, we ended up with a cartoon series, toy lines, comics, and even an upcoming video game. What is it about Toxie that makes him such an enduring, endearing, and surprisingly malleable?
MB: I think in all iterations, Toxie is a charming underdog and superhero parody. He’s dumb fun—he means well, often gets things wrong, and as long as you are not robbing a store with an Uzi, he is not going to crush your skull and scoop out your brains. 
MFR: Did you ever get into Marvel’s short-lived Toxic Avenger series? Or their Toxic Crusaders comic that tied into the cartoon?
MB: I only went back and read the Marvel work recently, but I was a big fan of the Toxic Crusaders cartoon and toys. That, along with Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, cemented my lifelong love of off-putting mutants. If you’re familiar with the underlying premise of the cartoon, you’ll see I worked a lot of into the story we are telling in our series.
MFR: How did Toxie come to have a home at Ahoy Comics? Were you involved from the beginning?
MB: I had some ideas in mind for the Toxic Avenger for years. As I was wrapping up my time running The Nib, I approached Lloyd Kaufman at Comic-Con and pitched him. Then I went to Ahoy and asked if they’d be up for publishing it. I had a multi-year plan in mind and, surprisingly, no one blinked. It all came together much more easily than these things tend to.
MFR: How is it working with Troma and Lloyd Kaufman? How involved have they been in the creative process?
MB: They’ve been great! Everyone at Troma has been very supportive and I am truly grateful for the runway they are giving me to spin out a new version of Toxie in comics.
MFR: We also have Macon Blair’s upcoming Toxic Avenger remake on the horizon. Was there any involvement there?
MB: No, I’m doing something different with my story but the movie sure looks cool. It’s coincidence more than anything, but I’m so glad this appears to be the year of Toxie with more awareness and nostalgia for the guy than there has been in ages.
MFR: For those unlucky non-mutated folks who haven’t had the pleasure of reading your Toxic Avenger limited series, can you briefly sum up your take on old Melvin and his Tromaville adventures?
MB: A train derailment causes a massive toxic waste spill in a small town, transforming Melvin Junko and his sadistic bullies into mutants. As the Toxic Avenger, he must free the town from the corporate control of Biohazard Solutions while uncovering a massive conspiracy.
MFR: Will the new ongoing pick up where the limited series ended? Is there a new setup?
MB: The story picks up right where we left off, with Tromaville being freed from the quarantine of Biohazard Solutions. Now Toxie has to deal with the aftermath, as new criminals, mutants, and cults emerge from the neglected town. It’s all working toward a big story beginning in issue #6 where Toxie will go to Washington, DC, to plead for federal help for Tromaville, and things will get more insane than you could ever imagine.
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.
MB: Yvonne, for sure. She’s Toxie’s girlfriend and probably the main supporting character. If Toxie is naive and earnest, she’s cynical and sarcastic, and she’s a non-mutant with a lot of vision problems so I like writing how she navigates around those limitations.
MFR: Ahoy Comics recently announced a Toxic Crusaders series. Can you tell us a bit about it, how it came to be? Does it connect to Toxic Avenger at all, or is it its own thing? What’s the setup there?
MB: The Toxic Crusaders is a mutant team book, relishing in the weird, and for fans of X-Men and Doom Patrol. It mainly deals with the environmental threat posed by Mr. K, the villain from the initial series, who we now know is an alien intending to terraform the earth. My plan from the initial pitch was to revive the Crusaders and split the books into two concurrent series. The artist, Tristan Wright, is just killing these pages. I think it’s career-making work that people will make people take notice. You can see his first swing at these characters in Toxic Avenger Comics #3, which features the Crusaders being pursued by a eugenicist robot.
MFR: Do you have a favorite Toxic Crusader?
MB: I’m going to say Fungirl, our new character. She’s the only character who willfully became a mutant and has a—let’s say, unique view on humanity along with very cool powers. Her origin story is part of Toxic Avenger Comics #2.
MFR: In either book, will you be introducing new mutants?
MB: Constantly. New mutants, new villains—aliens, robots, cults, monsters. There is an outrageous new character debuting in every issue of both series!
MFR: What do you hope readers take away with both The Toxic Avenger and Toxic Crusaders when they read them?
MB: I know they’ll take away some sick kills and satire. There are some other things I’m going for, some obvious and some less so, but rather than prime people for messaging, I’d rather they read it themselves and chew it over.
MFR: Any final words, hints, or barrels full of toxic waste you wanna leave with our readers?
MB: Grab the issues that come with the trading cards. I’ll be drawing every Crusader myself and a lot of other great artists are contributing to create the villains and other important main characters, like the mop.
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