The Toxic Avenger: The Novel

The novel version of Kaufman's 1985 cult classic film stays true to the original while throwing in modern references to keep the story fresh—or at least as fresh as a novel preoccupied with head crushing and bodily fluids can be. Weakling Melvin Ferd lives with his mother and works at the local gym as a "mop boy," tormented daily by weight-lifting thugs. When Melvin jumps out a gym window to escape forced sex with a goat, he lands in toxic waste and emerges as a deformed superhero, the Toxic Avenger. Toxie, as he is affectionately called, becomes the symbol and savior of Tromaville, a New Jersey city that has become a toxic waste dumping ground, "a punch line to a nationwide 'Who Farted?' joke." Toxie proceeds to dismember the town's evildoers, including everyone in the corrupt government and on the police force. Much of the novel is adolescent exposition, serving only to get to more gore, sex and toilet humor—which is, of course, the point. If you're already a fan of the ferociously juvenile Troma Entertainment oeuvre, you'll have no complaints; otherwise, you might want to save your money and hang out at a local middle school instead. (June)