By Acclaimed Artist Steve Ellis
The MAGIC THE GATHERING Card Illustrator
Brings His Talents to AHOY’s Breakout Hit
(September 23, 2024) Due to the success of THE TOXIC AVENGER — starring the satirical hero of the Troma Films cult classic films — AHOY Comics is announcing a collectible trading card by acclaimed artist Steve Ellis (The Only Living Boy, High Noon), to be included in a newly added special variant edition of issue #2. Ellis, a MAGIC THE GATHERING card artist, brings his prodigious talents to the all-new 5-issue comic book series by Matt Bors — the founder of The Nib and a political cartoonist who has twice been named a Pulitzer Prize finalist —and acclaimed artist Fred Harper (Snelson). THE TOXIC AVENGER #1 Cover D, which features a collectible trading card by Harper, will debut October 9, with THE TOXIC AVENGER #2 Cover D featuring Ellis’ collectible trading card following on November 13.
“Speaking as a completely unbiased observer with absolutely no skin in the game, it feels like a very good time to be an AHOY fan,” said AHOY Comics Editor-in-Chief Tom Peyer. “We’ve had two runaway hits this year with brand new series THE TOXIC AVENGER and BABS by Garth Ennis and Jacen Burrows — both of which have been the most successful AHOY Comics launches since the delightfully controversial SECOND COMING by Mark Russell, Richard Pace and Leonard Kirk. Is AHOY Comics about to blow up and forget the names of all the small-timers who knew us when we were nobodies? Watch this space!”
In THE TOXIC AVENGER, teenager Melvin Junko helps run his parent’s junkyard in Tromaville, a small town in New Jersey where nothing much ever happens — until an ill-timed train derailment of toxic waste transforms Melvin into a hideously deformed creature of superhuman size and strength: the Toxic Avenger! Under a media blackout imposed by Biohazard Solutions (BS) and their PR-spewing Chairwoman Lindsay Flick, Melvin emerges as a hero fighting against BS and the mutated threats that keep popping up around Tromaville. Eventually Melvin uncovers a vast conspiracy more far-reaching than he could have ever imagined — but he knows if everyone is simply made aware of the crisis, they’ll act to stop it. Right?
TOXIC AVENGER is the second comic book series from Bors, following the release of JUSTICE WARRIORS, his critically-acclaimed comic with artist Ben Clarkson which follows two police officers, Swamp Cop and Schitt, stationed in the world’s first perfect city. The Toxic Avenger first appeared in the 1984 cult classic film about a mutated weakling mopping up a corporate mess, directed by Lloyd Kaufman and Michael Herz and starring Mitchell Cohen.
THE TOXIC AVENGER #1 will land in stores on October 9, 2024, with THE TOXIC AVENGER #2 following on November 13, 2024. For more updates on AHOY Comics, visit them on X, Bluesky, Facebook and Instagram.
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