The Toxic Avenger - Grade F+

Title:	The Toxic Avenger
Contributors:	Val Mayerik Rick Parker Rodney Ramos Jim Salicruo Bob Sharen
Publisher:	Marvel Comics
Issue #:	1 of 11
Year:	1991
Pages:	32 Pages
Age Rating:	13 (Violence, Gore)
Story Grade:	D
Art Grade:	F

I have always been a huge fan of the "B" movies. The "B" doesn't actually stand for bad, but is rather a reference to the budget of the film. The Toxic Avenger has always been my yard stick for other "B" movies to be measure by. But for as bad as most people think the movie is, this comic does even deserve a "C" grade.

Let me start with the storyline. The Toxic Avenger has a known, well defined origin that doesn't involve lightning. The comic does a fairly decent sticking to it, but alas it can't keep certain elements in place and for some reason decided to add some elements on it's own, such as drug references, nudity, lightning and other key elements that were used as props and elements in the movie that made Melvin so hated by everyone. Many of these references had to be removed because of the self-censoring comic book code.

Secondly, the story itself steers way off course, for the exact same reasons as stated above. So this is much different story that doesn't include much of the humor and political satire the movie contained, which makes the movie work, again because of the comic book code, damn censoring.

Now lets look at the art. As with most books of early 90s, the art is that stunning when compared to today's art. It is sloppy, repetitive, reused in come cases (same poses, angles, expressions, etc), such as panels 4 & 5 in the scan on the right with some different rocks bouncing off Toxie's head and in some cases botchy.

The violence in many cases was very gratuitous and overly graphic, for a book that received the comic book code seal of approval, and the violence didn't always fit with the advancement of the story or character arc. Toxie isn't a mindless monster. He is helpful superhero and this book paints him as a continuously bumbling idiot.  

It is no wonder the series was canceled after it's eleventh issue released. Hell, I am surprised it got even eleven issues. What was Marvel thinking? They put an R rated, low budget monster movie, full of drugs, boobs, gore and violence into toned down, "approved for kids" comic book with low grade art. The kids couldn't see the movie to appreciate the true potential of the character or the real story, the adults likely scorned the comic's dumbed down, kid-safe approach to the story and character, it had no audience. It wasn't until 1992 that they release Toxic Crusaders, which was more of an eco-friendly super hero comic based loosely on the Toxic Avenger that was properly targeted towards kids with better art, but again, it failed after eight issues, probably largely due to the fact that Toxic Avenger was already to toxic to the intended audience and in 1992, being green wasn't cool.

I give this comic an F+. The plus is only because they tried. It truly makes me want to cry a little inside because they failed so horribly.