Original Book

From Homestar Runner Wiki

The Homestar Runner Enters The Strongest Man in the World Contest is the original children's book that started it all. The story is bizarre and has few of the regular characters but showed signs of the greatness to come. The archive includes the story plus some alternate cover ideas.

Strong Bad later made a revised edition of the story in the email "kids' book." The book was also spoofed in the 100th email "flashback," which in turn inspired Main Page 20.

Contents 1 Summary 2 Transcript 3 Background 4 External links

Summary

Homestar Runner, Pom Pom, Strong Bad, and three others enter the Strongest Man in the World Contest. "Whoever holds the most grapes, wins." Strong Bad cheats with the help of The Cheat himself (naturally). Fortunately Homestar notices this extra help, and as a result of heroic sacrifice Pom Pom wins.

Transcript

• First Cover

{Homestar Runner stands on a field with a blue sky above. The title, "The Homestar Runner Enters the Strongest Man in the World Contest," is written in the upper left corner. "A Children's Story by Mike & Craig" is written in the lower left corner.}

CAPTION: 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)

• Second Cover

{Homestar Runner is in front of an orange star on a yellow background.}

CAPTION: The alternate, construction paper cover. A little less embarassing. (Sept 96)

• Third Cover

{Homestar Runner stands in front of yellow diamonds on a blue background. The title, "The Homestar Runner Enters the Strongest Man in the World Contest," is written in the upper left corner. "A book by Mike and Craig" is written in the lower left corner.}

CAPTION: The 'I'm just learning Photoshop' remix of the cover. (July 97) And now, onto the story...

• Page One

{Homestar Runner stands in front of a yellow star with a blue border.}

CAPTION: Everybody loves the Homestar Runner. He is a terrific athlete.

• Page Two

{Homestar and Pom Pom stand in a field.}

CAPTION: One day, his friend, Pom-Pom, asked him to enter the Strongest Man in the World Contest.

• Page Three

{Homestar and Pom Pom lift weights. Homestar wears a blue headband and there are pink and blue stripes in the background.}

CAPTION: The Homestar Runner agreed, and the two trained for days and days to become the strongest men in the world.

• Page Four

{Homestar Runner, Pom Pom, Strong Bad and The Cheat stand in a field. There is a wooden sign shaped like an arrow.}

CAPTION: 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 Five

{The top of this page reads, "The Contestants:". Mr. Bland stands in front of a blue oval with the caption "Mr. Bland." The Robot stands in front of a red oval with the caption "The Robot (last year's winner)." Señor stands in front of a pink oval with the caption "Señor."}

• Page Six

{Pom Pom stands in front of a green oval with the caption "Pom-Pom." Strong Bad stands in front of a navy blue oval with the caption "Strong Bad." Homestar stands in front of a sky blue oval with the caption "The Homestar Runner."}

• Page Seven

{The Grape Fairie, riding her bee, and the Announcer, with a list of rules, stand in front of jagged green mountains. Homestar, Pom Pom, and Mr. Bland look on.}

CAPTION: 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 Eight

{The Grape Fairie creates glowing piles of grapes with her wand.}

CAPTION: The Grape Fairie granted each of them twenty grapes.

• Page Nine

{Mr. Bland is squished beneath his pile of grapes. The Robot stands nearby.}

CAPTION: Mr. Bland did not hold up.

• Page Ten

{The contestants are seen in silhouette (including a pile of grapes which presumably has Mr. Bland beneath it), each with a glowing grape on the top of his pile. The Grape Fairie flies in the air.}

CAPTION: The Grape Fairie added another grape.

• Page Eleven

{Señor is squished beneath his pile of grapes with the sound effect "SPLURT!"}

CAPTION: Senor [sic] was NOT the strongest man in the world.

• Page Twelve

{The Robot stands with grapes all around his feet, his plug disconnected from a nearby socket. The Cheat zips away.}

CAPTION: Suddenly, the Robot shut down and dropped his grapes. Homestar knew something was up.

• Page Thirteen

{Pom Pom, Strong Bad, and Homestar Runner stand in green rectangles. Each has a glowing grape on the top of his pile.}

CAPTION: There were only three contestants left. Another grape was added.

• Page Fourteen

{Strong Bad and The Cheat hold up a pile of grapes as Homestar looks on.}

CAPTION: Homestar noticed that Strong Bad was getting some extra help. "I will drop my grapes and uncover that CHEAT!"

• Page Fifteen

{Homestar kicks The Cheat. Strong Bad falters under his pile of grapes. Homestar's abandoned pile of grapes sits nearby.}

CAPTION: The Homestar Runner yanked the cheat [sic] out from under the pile of grapes. "OH NO!" screamed Strong Bad.

• Page Sixteen

{Strong Bad lies under his pile of grapes. Homestar looks at Pom Pom, who still holds his pile of grapes.}

CAPTION: Strong Bad was squished and Pom-Pom won.

• Page Seventeen

{Homestar and Pom Pom, wearing gold medals, display a large trophy. The Announcer and the Grape Fairie appear to be cheering.}

CAPTION: Knowing that he could not have done it without The Homestar Runner's help, Pom-Pom shared the trophy.

Background

In an interview, Mike Chapman tells how he and Craig Zobel started the story in 1996.

"Just a story we made one afternoon, went to Kinko's, made about ten or fifteen copies of it, and kind of gave it to our friends, and that was it, really, for several years. We just did that in the summer. We were in college, and did it in a bored afternoon."

External links

• Read the book