Toxic Avenger Returns, Teams Up with Jesus Christ

In 2024, AHOY Comics made headlines by bringing back the cult hero, The Toxic Crusader, in comic book form. This year, they're taking things up a notch with "Toxic Mess Summer," a celebration where Toxie teams up with various heroes from the AHOY Universe—including none other than Jesus Christ.

"Toxic Mess Summer" kicks off in May with the release of The Toxic Avenger Pinup Special, a showcase of different artists putting their unique spin on Toxie and his crew. Following this, AHOY will launch the miniseries Toxie Team-Up, where Toxie will collaborate with a range of characters from AHOY's lineup. This includes Project: Cryptid's Jersey Devil, My Bad's Acid Chimp, The Wrong Earth's Dragonflyman and Stinger, Justice Warriors' Swamp Cop and Schitt, and, intriguingly, Second Coming's Jesus Christ.

Art by Fred Harper. (Image Credit: Ahoy Comics)

For those unfamiliar with the satirical superhero series Second Coming, it features Jesus returning to Earth and sharing a home with the superhero Sunstar. Since its launch, Second Coming has been both acclaimed and controversial, and the upcoming collaboration between Jesus and Toxie is sure to stir more interest.

Toxie Team-Up #1 is crafted by the creative duo behind Second Coming, Mark Russell and Richard Pace. In AHOY's press release, Russell humorously stated, “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. 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.”

AHOY Comics Editor-in-Chief Tom Peyer commented on Toxie's widespread influence, saying, “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. The only question is: why doesn’t he have a church of his own?”

Art by Fred Harper. (Image Credit: AHOY Comics)

The Toxic Avenger Pinup Special is set to release 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 collected in a trade paperback edition available on April 1, which you can preorder on Amazon.

Looking ahead, Toxie is slated to return to the big screen in 2025. In IGN's review of The Toxic Avenger, Amelia Emberwing noted, "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."