Of all the fabulous beings that have emerged from Western Pennsylvania soil, none may be less so than Martin Badger. But whose 1950s coming of age was harder than Marty's? Whose bodily parts more rebellious? Whose peers more annoying? Whose music more out of touch? Whose sense of beauty more perplexed? Whose soul more at war? Misdeeds more regrettable? Passions more fumbling? And then came Russo. Fiction, humor, coming of age.