Matt Bors Talks About Reviving "THE TOXIC AVENGER" For A New Generation (INTERVIEW)

Our love for Troma’s “The Toxic Avenger” knows no bounds, and Toxie fans are eating good in 2025! After the release of the 4K UHD collection last year (see our review), the recent remastered version of “The Toxic Crusaders” (see our review), and the forthcoming “The Toxic Avenger” reboot from Macon Blair it’s a great time to be toxic…well, a Toxic Avenger fan that is. For those not content with the amount of Toxie in their life, there’s hope, and it comes in the form of comic books from Matt Bors and Ahoy Comics with their latest reboot of the iconic superhero from New Jersey!

Macabre Daily was able to ask Matt a few questions about his comic reboot, which he wrote, and Fred Harper did the artwork for, and understand why now is the right time for Toxie. Thank you to our friends at SuperFan Promotions for setting things up, and you can get more info on the series over at AHOY Comics’ website!

Macabre Daily: What was your first memory of "The Toxic Avenger?"

Matt Bors: You know, I was so young when I saw the movies that I don’t even remember ever not seeing them. I was born in 1983 and the cartoon came out in ‘91. I did watch that and had some of the toys (still have Headbanger!) and I’m pretty sure by then I had already seen the movies. The covers of the original films just jump out at you from that horror section in the video store. My dad would let me rent whatever the hell I wanted, so I just made my way through all those great, violent, disturbing movies of the 80s and 90s at a pretty early age and it made me the mentally normal person I am today. 

There is one scene in, I think, the third toxic avenger movie that really seared itself into my mind where Toxie feeds a guy’s hand into a VHS rewinder. And this is a very powerful device because it rips his hand apart and I would forever think about that any time I’d reach my hand into a machine for the rest of my life—I still have all my fingers!

MD: With respect to Melvin/Toxie's origin story, you weave in current events to update the material, but you also shift some other things around as well. How did you decide what to change, and why?

MB: I wanted to tell a new story that felt very current and took all of those core concepts of the Toxic Avenger and updated them for 2025, from bullying to pollution and corporate goons. In the story I’m telling with artist Fred Harper, the main thing is that there is a toxic waste spill in Tromaville that happens from a derailed train, which is inspired by the toxic waste spill in Palestine, Ohio. 

What I decided to do was make that spill the origin for all of the mutations in Tromaville. So it’s a little bit of an amalgamation between the original movies and the Toxic Crusaders cartoon. We have Major Disaster, the military guy with plant-like powers, as a major character in our story. Then by the end we see that the original Toxic Crusaders lineup has been formed. So we have a unifying origin for these characters and a unifying purpose. I don’t wanna spoil anything more, but for those who read it you’ll see that there’s something behind the toxic waste spill and that has been pulled from a plot line in the cartoons, and given its own spin, and that will be our story engine for everything I have planned.

MD: The Toxic Avenger films, and Troma as a studio, err more towards gory violence, how did you strike a balance to find something that would appease fans of the source material without alienating younger fans from the series?

MB: That’s a good question. I didn’t see myself as trying to emulate the films, which have their own low-budget charm, nor trying to do an ode to the cartoon for purely nostalgic purposes. I love mutants, violence, and satire, and I think you’ll see that if you read my other mutant dystopian series, Justice Warriors, also at AHOY comics. So I’m kind of naturally drawn to a character like the Toxic Avenger. How I balance it is to not overthink it. We’re never going to top the original film and what that meant to people. 

We’re doing something new, while paying proper homage to the series, so hopefully fans will dig it and new readers will come in as well. It is both gory and humorous and about some real world issues, but it doesn’t take itself too seriously. You don’t have to know anything about the Toxic Avenger to enjoy these comics, but if you have familiarity with the characters and events you’ll see what we are plucking out and using in new ways.

MD: Why is now the right time for the Toxic Crusader to make a come-back?

At this point, we’ve been inundated with 20 years or so of superhero movies where beautiful heroes with insane physiques act out moral lessons and save the day. It’s time for some horribly mutated freaks with questionable ideals to accidentally rip out someone’s intestines while trying to save the town, don't you think?

A lot of things don’t make sense in 2025. I think we need some weird art to rectify the situation. 

MD: Are there plans to continue the series, and will any other Troma properties or characters be making appearances in later issues?

We have a lot of plans! There’s a pinup special coming out, and then we launch this series called “Toxie Team Up”, where we pair him with Jesus Christ. Subsequent issues have him taking up with the likes of the Jersey Devil and Justice Warriors. I can’t speak to other Troma properties, but the movie will be in theaters in the fall and we do have a lot planned around that. You’ll be hearing a lot from the Toxic Avenger this year!

Stay up to date with “The Dark Side Of Pop Culture” by following Macabre Daily on Instagram, Facebook, and BlueSky!