Product Description

Toxique, a fictious comic book heroine born in the vivid imagination of a lonely young boy, comes alive to do battle with an evil killer on a bloodthirsty quest to eliminate young comic book fans everywhere. Original.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #2850454 in Books
• Published on: 1994-06-01
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback

Customer Reviews

Not the smoothest of rides, but it sure demands your attention
Fiend is the story of Joe Clark, a teenager who dreams of writing comic books. Joe loves comics, and has created a character named Toxique, an avenging angel who destroys evil wherever she finds it.

As the story begins, Joe attends a comic book convention, hoping to sell his ideas to a publisher. Although unsuccessful, he enjoys the atmosphere of the convention and the company of his fellow enthusiasts. Not everyone is there for fun, however. A cold blooded killer named T.T. Dyson stalks the show, and he's not there to buy a copy of the latest issue of X-Men.

Joe becomes embroiled in a confrontation between Dyson and Medea, a woman possessed of supernatural power and beauty, with a fanatically loyal following called the Empusae. After Medea dispatches Dyson, Joe learns more about her and the Empusae, and eventually joins the group. Joe, who until now has only read about the heroics of others, becomes an adventurer himself.

Joe and the Empusae become engaged in a battle with Toxique, who has now come to life amidst all this action. This is a perverted version of Joe's character, so obsessed with her creator that she will kill anyone whom she perceives as a threat to him. In the course of the conflict, Joe learns some painful lessons about violence and himself.

Edward Bryant, reviewing this book in Locus, said that it "possesses a rough grace", and I agree with him. The book has a lot of energy--Andersson grabs your attention, puts you on a roller coaster, and sends you careening off into his story. It's not the smoothest of rides, but it demands your full attention. Andersson has crammed a whole lot of story into these pages--there's something for everybody (especially comic book fans) inside.