It’s election time again (for the first time) in Bubble City!
Matt Bors and Ben Clarkson return to the world of Justice Warriors just in the nick of time in the new AHOY Comics graphic novel Justice Warriors: Vote Harder.
The follow-up to the original mini-series sees the first ever election for mayor in Bubble City, pulling Officer Swamp and his partner Schitt into a violent mission that puts the stalwart duo at odds with each other.
Read all about Vote Harder in this exclusive interview with the creative team below.
How does Justice Warriors: Vote Harder continue from the first story arc/graphic novel?
Matt Bors: Swamp and Schitt were brought together in the first volume and bonded as partners. Now that bond is being tested as they are separated for the Bubble City election and placed on a crash course against one another. Vote Harder is a standalone story — you don’t need to know much going in — but the dynamics of the relationship between Swamp and Schitt are the core of the story.
Ben Clarkson: The politics of the Bubble, just like politics at Thanksgiving, threaten to tear our heroes apart. In terms of continuity, you get about 5% more jokes if you’ve read the critically acclaimed best-selling first volume — so it might be worth it to you, but we have designed these stories to stand on their own.
AHOY Comics Editor-in-Chief Tom Peyer called Vote Harder’s art and storyline “amphetaminesque.’” Would you also describe it in this way?
Bors: The book moves and is fast-paced, but Ben’s art leaves a lot to linger on. It’s a hysterical world we’ve created, one with great detail that we want to feel as lived in as possible. The Uninhabited Zone is at once bizarre and as familiar to you as walking down the street while laughing at Instagram reels while cops clear out homeless encampments.
Clarkson: I take amphetamines while I draw it so all of this tracks.
Matt: You recently described the new story as a mix between 70s political theories and modern day conspiracy mania. How and why do these elements work in Vote Harder?
Bors: Justice Warriors is a world where everyone is as paranoid as they are uninformed. This is a political thriller for the deranged online era. Swamp Cop, after receiving a head injury, starts to hear messages from his favorite television show Gun Law. He then infiltrates the opposition movement, the mutants who want radical change to Bubble City, and he gets deeply entangled while undercover, doubting his own sanity.
He’s one part COINTELPRO, one part Manchurian Cop. There’s assassination attempts, betrayals, and one very hard-to-make sniper shot.
Ben: The timing of the release couldn’t be better with the election only weeks away. What would officers Swamp Cop and Schitt think of our own election season?
Clarkson: All of the assassination attempts, eating shit at the debates, and vote counting hijinks would have them feeling at home in our own corporate toxic dystopia. All we need now is an exploding giraffe.
In terms of sci-fi influences, where do both of you go to help fuel Vote Harder’s story and art?
Bors: We both share a lot of influences from the 80s and 90s, like Akira, Aeon Flux, and Robocop. We try to keep the late cyberpunk capitalism at its most maximalist while being wild and entertaining visually. It’s at once ultra-violent, hyper-literate, and super-dumb.
Matt: What can you tell us about the upcoming Toxic Avenger comic?
Bors: I’m writing a new Toxic Avenger comic with Fred Harper on art — licensed straight from Troma and published by AHOY. The first issue drops October 9 and we’re doing an all-new version of the character that blends elements of the movies and the Toxic Crusaders cartoon and updates everything to take place in the modern day.
It’s gory, funny, and has mutated teens taking on a corporation that spilled thousands of gallons of toxic waste Tromaville, New Jersey, the small town we all know and love.
Upcoming projects?
Bors: We intend to make Justice Warriors for the next decade, at least, so while there are not confirmed plans, if the citizen consumer votes with their dollars, it will surely be an upcoming project for both Ben and I next year.
Clarkson: I’m working diligently on something that’ll blow your mind. I can’t talk about it yet.
Justice Warriors: Vote Harder is currently available at finer comic shops everywhere. The original Justice Warriors series is also available in a collected edition as well.
