Writer: Matt Bors
Artist: Felipe Sobreiro & Fred Harper
Colorist: Lee Loughridge
Production & Letterer: Rob Steen
Cover Artists: Fred Harper & Matt Bors
Trading Card Design: Tom Napolitano
Logo: Mark Kaufman
Editor: Tom Peyer
Publisher: Ahoy Comics
Price: $4.99/$5.99
Release Date: August 13, 2025
Senator Greene wants to tour Tromaville during her fact-finding
mission. She plans to take her Clean Act to the White House. But men clad in
combat gear, carrying assault rifles and other weapons, won't let her through
their roadblock. Can the senior senator for New Jersey find her way into the
town befouled by toxic waste? Let's pull on our hazmat suits, leap into Toxic
Avenger Comics #2, and see!
Story
She may be traveling to her death. Her visit may change her
forever. Still, Senator Greene pays Mr Grundy to take her to Tromaville. At
least the ferryman doesn’t demand an obol.
Melvin Junko sees the toxic waste as a symptom of society.
When it spilled into Tromaville, it empowered people to become who they
secretly yearned to be. Melvin may regret the people he killed. He’s not a fan
of how the ooze transformed him. But others see him as a model to follow.
In Toxic Avenger Comics #2, Sabrina likes mushrooms. She
believes that Human society is corrupt, and fungus offers the way to
enlightenment. When people find a corpse, the police want to question Melvin.
But he prefers investigating the crime to sitting in jail.
Matt Bors’ story tackles the impact of Humans on our
environment. Unchecked, the demands of society can extract a heavy toll on our
ecosystem. Toxic Avenger Comics #2 may address the effects of pollution,
avarice, and indifference in its humorously over-the-top way. Still, it reminds
us to educate ourselves about the problems we face, and that causes are never
more important than people.
Art
As a giant hand reaches toward the reader, we spot Mr
Grundy's head in this forced-perspective opening page. A later panel reveals
the distorted features of the fisherman’s other hand. Fred Harper shows the
senator’s minders, clad in dark suits, studying the debris floating down the
river. Senator Greene, the only one on the vessel wearing an orange life vest,
watches as Mr Grundy reaches into the river. The local fisherman smiles as he
shows his senator a fish with tentacles spouting from its mouth.
As the story in Toxic Avenger Comics #2 shifts to Melvin and
Sabrina’s journeys, Felipe Sobreiro shows Melvin walking down a street strewn
with bodies. Weapons lay on the ground, while the handles of more bladed
weapons sprout from Melvin's body. Mushrooms frame Sabrina's face as she
imagines her future, before trudging up a pile of refuse and crawling into a
metal drum. A man wielding a knife, surrounded by others wearing frog and
dolphin masks, displays a black armband bearing the letters GSCO. But the knife
he leaves in a body, pinning a blood-splattered paper, reads “The Toxic Avenger
was here.”
While Lee Loughridge portrays Senator Greene’s story and
Melvin’s memories in color, he presents the main story in black, green, and
red. Rob Steen fills white dialogue balloons with black uppercase letters and
melting black narrative boxes with white lowercase letters. The dialogue grows
bold with intonation, enlarges for elevated voices, and rarely shrinks. Sound
effects enhance gunfire and showcase the transforming power of fungi in Toxic
Avenger Comics #2.
Extras
In Franklin vs. the Flying Saucer, Tyrone Finch’s story
involves a town's heritage and a visitor who dislikes pitchforks. While the
story speaks to ways of breaking down cultural barriers, it evokes classic
tales like The Day The Earth Stood Still, War Of The Worlds, and The Twilight
Zone episode “To Serve Man.” Or should that be, “To Serve Spaceman?”
In Scents And Susceptibility, Kirk Vanderbeek regales
readers with a tale of a spinster. Having achieved her dreams of procuring a
cottage surrounded by the beauty of nature, she grows enamored with the
bachelor living next door. She adores everything about him. Yet, as she spends
her days watering plants and reading in her picturesque garden, one quirk of
his character sparks her unease.
A.R. Sullivan introduces Tyrone Finch's story with a
grayscale image evoking a black-and-white still from a 1950s sci-fi B movie.
Joe Orsak illustrates Kirk Vanderbeek's Regency Romance with a pastoral
portrait spanning two pages. Thanks to Ahoy Comics and Superfan Promotions for
providing a review copy.
Final Thoughts
Some people despise the past. Others wish to preserve it.
Matt Bors’ main story, The Garden State Co-Op, in Toxic Avenger Comics #2,
addresses the anger that arises as Human society sparks changes in the world we
all share.
Rating 9.4/10
To look inside see my preview of Toxic Avenger Comics #2.
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