An Underrated Animated Series Is Coming Back (And You’ll Never Guess How)

A cartoon show from the early ’90s is finally coming back, but not as an animated series. Toxic Crusaders ran for only one season, but gained a cult following with its message of environmentalism and anti-pollution. The animated series was loosely based on the Toxic Avenger films, following the lead character of Toxie and his team of mutated misfits. With Game of Thrones star Peter Dinklage starring in a new Toxic Avenger movie later this year, now is the right time for Toxic Crusaders to return as well. But instead of another Toxic Crusaders animated series, it’ll be as a comic book series.

September will see the release of Toxic Crusaders, a five-issue limited series published by AHOY Comics and written by THE NIB founder and two-time Pulitzer Prize finalist Matt Bors with art by Tristan Wright. Bors is also writing a Toxic Avenger series for AHOY. Toxic Crusaders features the Toxic Avenger of Troma Entertainment fame alongside fellow mutants No-Zone, Junkyard, Major Disaster, and the all-new character Fungirl.

[RELATED: The Toxic Avenger Has Near-Perfect Score on Rotten Tomatoes]

“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 writer Matt Bors. “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.”

There’s also a Toxic Crusaders video game in the works to go along with the feature film, releasing on Labor Day Weekend. In addition to a main cover by series artist Tristan Wright, Toxic Crusaders will feature an exclusive trading card variant, a variant cover by AR Sullivan, and a special Retroware game art variant cover by Xander Arnot. Toxic Crusaders lands in stores on September 10th, hot on the heels of the all-new Toxic Avenger movie starring Peter Dinklage.

“Watch the movie. Read the comic. Play the game. It’s like the ‘90s never ended!” said variant cover artist and Retroware Art Director Xander Arnot. “If there was ever (another) time to love the Toxic Avenger, or his colorful crew of superhuman Crusaders, it’s now!”

“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.”

AHOY Comics is planning a Toxic Mess Summer following the release of The Toxic Avenger trade paperback in April and the Toxic Avenger Pinup Special in May. Another miniseries, titled Toxie Team-Up, launches in June and finds Toxie rubbing elbows with characters from other AHOY titles — followed by The Toxic Avenger Comics #1, the first of an all-new ongoing series in comic shops, in July. It all leads to the Toxic Crusaders video game from Retroware, the Cineverse theatrical release of The Toxic Avenger film starring Peter Dinklage as Toxie on Labor Day weekend, and the launch of Toxic Crusaders in September.

Toxic Crusaders #1 goes on sale September 10th, with Toxie Team-Up debuting on June 11th, followed by The Toxic Avenger Comics #1 on July 9th. Are you a fan of the Toxic Avenger or Toxic Crusaders? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below!