He is the Crispy Bacon of Vengeance that sizzles in the night. He is the Cheeto® dust that stains the fingers of injustice. He is Alex Portobello, an inventive eighth grader who spends his time reading comic books, butting heads with his classmates and teachers, building incredible gadgets, designing his own martial art, and discussing the skin-moistening effects of soaking one's feet in Pepto Bismol®. Unbeknownst to Alex, his superhuman intelligence is the product of a bizarre experiment: his brain's been irradiated by a weird energy core! Once the experiment reaches its zenith, Alex finishes his arsenal of gadgets and becomes a spandex-clad crime-fighter, waging war on the criminals of Cremini City as the Black Walrus. But the flatulence of crime won't dissipate without a fight. In order to save his city from a rising tide of evil, Alex must defeat the sinister Birthday Gang, outwit a peculiar zookeeper who may be on to his secret identity, and contend with a mysterious foe threatening to turn Cremini City into his personal criminal empire. Adventure awaits in this #1 international bestseller! "Alex Portobello is a kid genius obsessed with inventing his next big crime-fighting device. Unknown to him, Alex is a guinea pig in Dr. Thorium's experiment to determine the effect of his energy core on human tissue. Thorium has hidden the radioactive energy core in the television set Alex has watched daily for years, and in that time, Alex has grown more and more intelligent. But tonight, Thorium will turn the power of his energy core to 100%. Alex is watching a documentary on walruses when the pulse comes from the television. Thus begins the origin story of the Black Walrus in Joseph Caldara's delightful superhero novel suitable for middle-grade readers. With an array of his own inventions—a communications interceptor, grapple guns, smoke bombs, and his unique walrus blubber bombs—Alex is set to go forth to rid the criminal element from Cremini City. His first adversary: Felix Cumpleaños, leader of the infamous Birthday Gang. The novel is a perfect blend of action, adventure, humor, and catch phrases uttered by the no-nonsense crime fighter. The only question is, will the Black Walrus survive when faced with Dr. Thorium's latest creation: Lil' Poochy, Thorium's Chihuahua turned criminal mastermind?" -John M. Campbell, Author of "Living the Dream (Except for One Thing)" and "The Battle of Misty Canyon" "My son [child's name redacted] goes to [school's name redacted] and got to meet you last semester. He absolutely loves his signed copy of The Black Walrus. He has read it 4 or 5 times. He is very eager to know when the second book in the series will be released. I told him I would try to find out when the book release is. Thank you so much for writing fun stories for kids. I love the fact that my son loves to read and is excited about new book releases. Thanks for what you do." -Anonymous Parent He is the Crispy Bacon of Vengeance that sizzles in the night. He is the Cheeto® dust that stains the fingers of injustice. He is Alex Portobello, an inventive eighth grader who spends his time reading comic books, butting heads with his classmates and teachers, building incredible gadgets, designing his own martial art, and discussing the skin-moistening effects of soaking one's feet in Pepto Bismol®. Unbeknownst to Alex, his superhuman intelligence is the product of a bizarre experiment: his brain's been irradiated by a weird energy core! Once the experiment reaches its zenith, Alex finishes his arsenal of gadgets and becomes a spandex-clad crime-fighter, waging war on the criminals of Cremini City as the Black Walrus. But the flatulence of crime won't dissipate without a fight. In order to save his city from a rising tide of evil, Alex must defeat the sinister Birthday Gang, outwit a peculiar zookeeper who may be on to his secret identity, and contend with a mysterious foe threatening to turn Cremini City into his personal criminal empire. Adventure awaits! Joseph Caldara is a Colorado native and has been writing stories and comic books since he was eight years old. He fell in love with reading as a kid by gobbling up adventure, comedy, and fantasy books. There's nothing Joseph loves more than sharing his stories with other people. Joseph has worked a variety of "day jobs", including managing financial software and digitizing physical media. In his free time, Joseph loves to play and design tabletop RPGs. He also really likes walruses. Go figure.
