The roast of the Fantastic Four, Pt. 1

We celebrate comics here, but you know that superheroes aren’t real right? They’re drawings on paper, and that’s the beauty behind comic books — characters can be anything. Batman can be dark, brooding, silly, fun, Asian, etc. That’s the best part about fictional characters: there’s a version of every character for every personal taste to enjoy. And why not? We’re not making Nelson Mandela into a cyborg, that never happened. But Batman? He can be anything. If you don’t like it, too bad. Learn to share your favorite characters. And today, with some built up negativity floating around my website, it’s time we took a break and enjoyed the lighter side of comics.

Let us have cartoonist Fred Hembeck explain what’s going on in today’s article:

That’s right, kids. In 1982, Marvel published a one-shot called Fantastic Four Roast, written by Hembeck and drawn by pretty much everybody. It’s over thirty pages of mostly horrific puns and I love every page of it. So take a deep breath, let go of your anger, and read the strangest comic book since the LSD days of the ’70s.

Get a good idea of how this issue will turn out? If you’ll allow me to be honest here, I didn’t think this article through. I have no idea what angle to take with commentary. No one wants to read a “that joke is funny!” thing every two or three pages. For now, I’ll give you a taste: here’s the first few pages I can show without commentary that probably won’t get me in trouble.

I have about fifteen more images I want to show you. Give me the weekend to think of something. This comic is too delightful not to share.