Grishny's All-Web Review

Homestar Runner

My little sister came home from college for the Christmas holidays in 2001 and told me about this funny little Flash cartoon web site that she thought I would enjoy. I wrote down the address and a few days later I checked out Homestar Runner. A few days later, I checked it out again. And a few days after that, and a few days after that... this is how addictions are formed.

I love the story of how Homestar Runner came about, because I can connect with it. Its creators, Mike and Matt Chapman, are roughly my age, and share the same sense of humor as me. They're just a lot better at it. Most of the characters that inhabit Free Country, USA were spawned for a children's book that Mike put together, inspired by a comment one of his friends made during the 1996 Olympic Games in their home town of Atlanta. Now it's a wildly popular web site and a full-time, thriving business for the Brothers Chaps. It's amazing how a major success story can come out of something so seemingly insignificant.

Of course, everyone who is familiar with Homestar Runner knows that the real reason for the site's success is Strong Bad and his weekly sbemail. Even the site's titular character, Homestar himself, admits that in the introductory 'toon.

Anyway, that's enough blah blah blah. If you've never heard of Homestar Runner, you've got a lot of catching up to do. You'd best get on over there.

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