Original Book

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The original cover of the book that started it all

The Homestar Runner Enters the Strongest Man in the World Contest is a farcical children's book that started the entire Homestar Runner body of work. Intially created as a small, handmade, photocopied booklet, a digital archive in the museum includes the story pages plus alternate front covers.

The story follows terrific athlete The Homestar Runner and his friend Pom-Pom as they enter the Strongest Man in the World Contest: "whoever holds the most grapes, wins." Fellow competitor Strong Bad (aided by a yellow critter) cheats in an underhanded attempt to win the day, but good sportsmanship ultimately prevails.

Cast (in order of appearance): The Homestar Runner (storybook), Pom Pom, Tiny-Handed Strong Bad, The Cheat, Mr. Bland, The Robot (storybook), Señor, The Announcer, The Grape Fairie, The Fat Bee

Date: July 1996

Page Title: The Homestar Runner Enters the Strongest Man in the World Contest

DVD: Everything Else, Volume 2; Everything Else, Volume 3 (Easter egg)

Background

Early sketches of Homestar Runner and Strong Bad by Craig Zobel.

The original book was co-created by Mike Chapman and Craig Zobel in the summer of 1996. The two college-aged friends were working for the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta;^[1] Mike worked the night shift as a lighting technician for an Australian sports channel.^[8] During a day off, they went to a local bookstore and found themselves looking at children's books. Joking that many of the books were "total crap", the duo decided to make a book of their own.^[1] The Homestar Runner Enters the Strongest Man in the World Contest was created that same afternoon, completed in a few hours.^[2] The duo worked together on the character designs, with Pom-Pom being created by Zobel.^[1] Chapman and Zobel wanted the storybook to feel different from the books they had seen, writing it with a strange tone that would made the book feel as if it were from another country or translated from another language.^[3][a] The uncolored illustrations were drawn with markers on printer paper; in 1997 the images were scanned and colored digitally.^[4]

Though the characters and story were all invented on the day of writing the book, the name "Homestar Runner" dates back to several years earlier.^[b] Friend James Huggins, imitating a commercial featuring Atlanta Braves baseball player Mark Lemke, had ad-libbed that Lemke was the "home star runner" for the Braves as he could not recall any actual baseball positions.^[c]

About a dozen copies of the small book were made at a local Kinko's and given to friends and relatives.^[1][5] There was never any intention of publishing the book; Mike would later recall being upset when learning that his father had submitted it to publishers without his knowledge.^[2]

Matt Chapman was not involved with the book's writing, alternately joking that Mike and Craig "told me to shut up and to go away,"^[6] or that he had "stolen" Homestar Runner from Zobel.^[7] The Mario Paint animation "Super NES", created later in 1996, was his first involvement with Homestar Runner.

The Story

Image description	Text	Image Alt Text	Link
Homestar Runner is standing in an empty field.	The original children's book that started it all. Here's the first cover. Notice at this point he's THE Homestar Runner. (July 96)	N/A	Page 1
Homestar is standing on an orange star background.	The alternate, construction paper cover. A little less embarassing. (Sept 96)	supa punchtime!	Page 2
Homestar is standing on a diamond-patterned background.	The 'I'm just learning Photoshop' remix of the cover. (July 97) And now, onto the story...	Oh, Pollette!	Page 3
Homestar is standing in front of a star.	Everybody loves the Homestar Runner. He is a terrific athlete.	big head, tiny legs	Page 4
Homestar and Pom Pom are standing in a field.	One day, his friend, Pom-Pom, asked him to enter the Strongest Man in the World Contest.	pom-pom's beady eyes	Page 5
Homestar and Pom Pom are lifting weights.	The Homestar Runner agreed, and the two trained for days and days to become the strongest men in the world.		Page 6
Strong Bad and The Cheat stand next to Homestar and Pom Pom in the field.	On the way to the contest, another competitor, Strong Bad, made fun of them. "I'm the very strongest! You guys are not very strong!"		Page 7
Mr. Bland, The Robot, and Señor stand in ovals on the background.	The contestants: Mr. Bland, The Robot (last year's winner), Señor...		Page 8
Pom Pom, Strong Bad, and Homestar also stand in ovals.	...Pom-Pom, Strong Bad, The Homestar Runner.		Page 9
The Grape Fairie is flying over the contestants on a Bumble Bee, while The Announcer holds up a sheet of paper with the rules.	Upon their arrival, the rules were explained: The Grape Fairie starts everyone off with twenty grapes, then adds one at a time. Whoever holds the most grapes, wins.		Page 10
The grape fairie is granting each contestant twenty grapes.	The Grape Fairie granted each of them twenty grapes.		Page 11
Mr. Bland's legs are seen under his pile of grapes with the caption "SQUISH".	Mr. Bland did not hold up.		Page 12
The grape fairie is putting another grape on each pile of grapes.	The Grape Fairie added another grape.		Page 13
Señor is seen being squished under his grapes, with the caption "SPLURT".	Senor was NOT the strongest man in the world.	havin a little trouble	Page 14
Five grapes are seen on the ground by The Robot's foot, and The Cheat is seen running away from an electrical socket with The Robot's plug on the ground.	Suddenly, the Robot shut down and dropped his grapes. Homestar knew something was up.	where's the plug?	Page 15
Another grape is being added to the piles of the final three contestants.	There were only three contestants left. Another grape was added.		Page 16
Homestar is in the foreground, noticing The Cheat helping Strong Bad hold his grapes in the background.	Homestar noticed that Strong Bad was getting some extra help. "I will drop my grapes and uncover that CHEAT!"		Page 17
Homestar's pile of grapes is on the ground, and Homestar is kicking The Cheat from under Strong Bad's pile, causing Strong Bad to wobble.	The Homestar Runner yanked the cheat out from under the pile of grapes. "OH NO!" screamed Strong Bad.		Page 18
Strong Bad is seen under his pile of grapes and Homestar is standing next to Pom Pom, who is still holding his grapes.	Strong Bad was squished and Pom-Pom won.	squisha squisha squisha	Page 19
Homestar and Pom Pom are each wearing medals and are holding a trophy between them, while The Grape Fairie is flying in the background.	Knowing that he could not have done it without The Homestar Runner's help, Pom-Pom shared the trophy.	WORLD BEST	Page 20

Fun Facts

Original artwork and photocopied pages from the book.

Trivia

• Strong Bad has a belly button.
• This was the first appearance of kicking The Cheat.

Remarks

• Although identified as "a cheat", the character was not officially named "The Cheat" until the Old Characters Page.

Goofs

• The caption describing Señor being squished prints his name as "Senor", without the tilde.

Fast Forward

• Many toons and other site elements were later produced that mimicked the style of the book, referred to as the Storybook World.
  • The opening passage — both "Everybody loves the Homestar Runner" (alternatively written as "Everyone loves...") and especially "he is a terrific athlete" — would often be repeated in early works and Storybook toons.
• Strong Bad later made a "revised" edition of the story in the Strong Bad Email kids' book, called "Strumstar Hammer".
• For the book's tenth anniversary, it was remade as the toon Strongest Man in the World.
• Early plans for a sequel book, entitled Homestar Runner Goes For The Gold!, were made later in 1996. The book was never completed, though selected sketches from it were shared in the Museum Sketchbook.
  • For the 20th anniversary of the original book, its unfinished sequel was revisited in the toon Homestar Runner Goes for the Gold.

DVD Version

• The DVD version features creators' commentary. To access it, switch the DVD player's audio language selection while watching. This only applies to Everything Else, Volume 2.
• The book is now read out loud, with Homestar and Strong Bad saying their respective lines.
• The narrator reading the book comments on the sound effects in the book while reading:
  • When Mr. Bland is squashed, the narrator says, "Squish. That says 'Squish' there."
  • When Señor is squashed, the narrator says, "Splurt. It says 'Splurt'."
  • When The Cheat unplugs the Robot, the narrator says, "Zip. The yellow man says 'Zip'."
• Instead of the images being full screen, the book is now presented in a similar fashion to kids' book, with the same music playing.
• Both times the narrator says "contestants", it is with a hard A.

Commentary Transcript

STRONG BAD: Oh great, we gotta watch this one now?

MIKE: Oh great, I have to talk to you.

STRONG BAD: You don't have to ta— why don't you just sit there in silence, I'll take over.

MIKE: Let's see it.

STRONG BAD: Takin' the reins! {monotone} Hi, my name is Strong Bad, welcome to the commentary. I'll be taking the reins today. {Makes microphone clicking noise} If you'll look to the back of your cabin, this is The Homestar Runner Enters The Crappiest Universe In The Man Contest. {click} If you took at this page, they have a bunch of barbells. {click} This is the page that's the best all over, because I'm in part of it.

MIKE: Are you gonna get a new... new little gimmick, or are you just gonna do that. We're on a ride at the theme park, the whole time.

STRONG BAD: Oh, okay. {deep voice} Hi, I'm the spaceship Strong Bad, and you're on board a spaceship. {click} Uh... This is a... {normal voice} Look, I look great. In that picture.

MIKE: You had a belly button there.

STRONG BAD: Yeah. Is it just that page?

MIKE: Very possibly.

STRONG BAD: It could be like, this page has been gr— that page was graffitoed.

MIKE: Just your belly button?

STRONG BAD: Just my belly B.

MIKE: {laughs} You've got a name for your belly button.

STRONG BAD: Belly B, man. Speaking of bees, the bee fairy. {short pause} Who is the guy that's narrating this thing, I wanna punch him. I wanna turn his lights out.

MIKE: {laughs} Turn them out or punch them out?

STRONG BAD: Turn them out.

MIKE: Sounds like it would be very— very— very— very painful.

STRONG BAD: Yeah. Senor.

MIKE: Look at The Tea— The Teach got a tongue!

STRONG BAD: The Teach? I never seen the tongue before on The Teach. Uh... So what's with that robot? That's the worst technological robot I've ever seen.

MIKE: He's gotta be plugged— H-he's got a pretty short cord, too.

STRONG BAD: Yeah, what's the point, you can wa— It's like them boots that I had. Where I could only walk, like, twelve... y-y-y-yards, short, whatever shortest...

MIKE: {laughs} You've got a mouth within your mouth there!

STRONG BAD: Yeah, that's creepy. That was clearly graffitoed onto me. All right, you missed the part, I— like, I clearly told them, "I'm taking a nap! Shut the contest down for a moment!" and they didn't listen.

Fun Facts

• Strong Bad refers to the 'Lectric Boots he owned in extra plug.
• Strong Bad's monotone voice and mimicked microphone clicks are similar to how he sounds in theme park.
• Strong Bad commenting his taking a nap under the grapes instead of being squished (as is the case in the story) may be a reference to the Strumstar Hammer version of the story from an Easter egg in kids' book.
• The Teach was first referenced in geddup noise.

See Also

• Storybook World
• Homestar Runner Goes For The Gold!
• Where My Hat Is At?
• Strongest Man in the World

References

1. ^  "Craig Zobel, Film Production", Gothamist, 4 Jun 2004
2. ^  "An Oral History of Homestar Runner, the Internet’s Favorite Cartoon", Gizmodo, 24 January 2017
3. ^  "Strong Bad’s the Brothers Chaps", Adventure Gamers, 12 Dec 2008
4. ^  "The Brothers Chaps What Made The Homestar Runner", Late Nite JengaJam, 4 Oct 2007
5. ^  "The Homestar Runner Interview", UMFM, 20 May 2003
6. ^  "homestar runner interview", Run Devil Run, 2003
7. ^  "A Date with Homestar Runner", live appearance at New York University, 1 Mar 2005
8. ^  "Looking at a Thing in a Bag", The Boston Globe, 9 Aug 2003

Footnotes

1. ^  The "foreign" feeling of early Homestar Runner would continue with the usage of Japanese katakana in Super NES and British English in Where My Hat Is At?
2. ^  Estimated as far back as 1992 by Huggins at the 20th Anniversary Show. Lemke first played for the Braves in 1988.
3. ^  Discussed in many places, including Gothamist,^[1] The Boston Globe,^[8] Club Aquatica, UMFM,^[5] Flashforward 2006, Homestar Runner 20th Anniversary Show

External links

• View the Flash file for the Original Book
• View the old Original Book