These two simple sentences back in 1996 started a beautiful and weird series of the life and times of Homestar Runner and the other Residents of Free Country, U.S.A. Written by Mike Chapman and a friend named Craig Zobel, this book introduced us to the Homestar Runner universe. Some of the characters in this original book became fixtures in the H*R universe - Homestar, Pom Pom, Strong Bad, and The Cheat - While others would end up being generally forgotten. But, like watching the pilot episode of your favorite TV show after 4 seasons on air, you can still see where things started and look at how far you've come.
In honor of the fact that Brothers Mike and Matt Chapman have once again started updating homestarrunner.com, I've decided that, as long as I can remember to do it, I am going to go through as much of the body of work as I can. Not a small feat, considering the site updated nearly weekly for about nine years. However, I will do what I can to offer my own insights and thoughts about each item.
I plan on doing this in order, so that those who desire to read about this can perhaps follow along with me as we get to see the birth of such iconic characters as Trogdor, Stinkoman, Stiny, Teen Girl Squad, Limozeen, and so much more. We can observe the changes in the characters as Strong Bad moves from main antagonist to main feature. We can find the inside jokes and laugh at the self-referencing humor. And hopefully, we can just enjoy this strange world.
As I go through this, I plan on giving each piece a grade, between A and F. Admittedly, these grades are subjective and you may agree or disagree. I do plan on giving my reasons for each grade.
I may also provide little bits of information that I can gather from other sources. My source will primarily be one of the best wiki's I've ever seen, hrwiki.org. HRWiki has been an invaluable source in helping me to really appreciate Homestar Runner since I found it years ago, and I highly suggest that all of you check it out.
So, without further ado, here is my review of the Original Book:
The Homestar Runner Enters the Strongest Man in the World Contest
This is it, the beginning. Fittingly we are first shown the titular character, (The) Homestar Runner. To clarify, this is the being we usually refer to without the integral article "The" not the 1939 version which won't show up for a while. Or maybe it is the old version colorarizized? An odd thought, hm. . .
Anyway, we learn everything we need to know at this point about Homestar, namely a) everybody loves him, and b) he is a terrific athlete. Now, being a terrific athlete, his friend, Pom-Pom entices him to join a contest, surprisingly titled "The Strongest Man in the World Contest." Homestar agrees and the two train for days.
As the two are heading for the competition, they are stopped by another competitor, the villain of the story, Strong Bad, who informs them that they are not strong and that he is the "very strongest." This is truly the greatest trash talk in the history of the universe.
We are then introduced to the other contestants, three of which we won't see for quite some time and the three more that will become very active characters. All of the competitors are informed of the rules of the contest (which seems like something that should have been covered long before the contest, but whatever). Basically the contest involves holding up a pile of giant grapes as long as possible while more giant grapes are added to the pile by the Grape Fairie, a fairie that is inexplicably riding atop a giant bee.
All six athletes are bestowed twenty grapes to start, this proves to be too much for Mr. Bland and he is crushed by his grapes. Another grape is added to each pile and minor character number two, with a "SPLURT!" sound gets squished like a pancake. Señor is definitely not the strongest man in the world. And then, surprisingly, last year's winner, The Robot, shuts down and drops his grapes. We see a small yellow animal running away from the outlet the Robot was plugged into. Homestar is suspicious.
Another grape is added and Homestar notices Strong Bad getting some help from that little yellow thing. He declares his intentions to drop his grapes and uncover the cheat. He succeeds by pulling The Cheat out from under Strong Bad's grape pile and kicking him far away. Strong Bad is squished under his pile of grapes.
So who's left? Pom-Pom, obviously. He is the only character that is still holding up his grapes, and is therefore the winner! The final panel, however states that Pom-Pom shares his trophy with Homestar because "he could not have done it without The Homestar Runner's help."
Now, the review. To be fair, it wasn't very funny. It was surreal, for sure, but it didn't have many jokes. However, it did do a good job of giving us the names of the characters and some basic traits of theirs. For example, the fact that Homestar accidentally forfeits the contest to stop Strong Bad's cheating shows his impulsive nature and his inability to think very far ahead. We also see the beginning of Strong Bad and the Cheat's relationship, namely that of villain and lackey. Finally we see Pom-Pom, his ability to really not care about what everyone else is doing and getting the job done anyway. Due to the fact that this book is the beginning of the Homestar Runner body of work, I will grade leniently. I give it a B+.
So, feel free to read the original book, and tell me if you agree or not. And just so you know, this is only for fun, so no need to get into any fights with me about what I think.
Also, do you feel like I should make this feature part of this blog or should I create another blog specifically for my Homestar Runner Grading Project? Let me know!
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