The Comic: Flaming Carrot Comics

In 1984, Bob Burden dreamt up the wacky concept of a man who reads 5,000 comics in a single sitting and becomes brain damaged, leading to him dressing in a giant carrot mask and costume and battling crime.

The character appeared in titles for various comic companies, enjoying a run under Dark Horse for a while and a relaunch by Image Comics in 2005.

Occasionally, Carrot would be part of a team called The Mystery Men, a sort of low-rent X-Men with various characters including Mr Furious and The Shoveler.

Universal hired ads director Kinka Usher to turn the Mystery Men into a movie.  But despite the presence of Ben Stiller, Hank Azaria, William H Macy and Greg Kinnear and the killer concept of wannabe, slightly rubbish heroes, it flopped.

It's beloved as a cult film, however - and is well worth watching.
 
Franchise Potential?  The dodgy box office means we're unlikely to see another, and most of the actors involved would likely now be too busy/expensive to warrant collecting the original case back.

There are loads of Mystery Men stories out there, though - maybe someone should try again?