Do you ever open your refrigerator and weep at the lack of hops and barley contained within? Are there nights when your pizza to brew ratio is severely under represented? Do you dream of a planet of beer?

Then you are not alone my friend. In fact, there’s probably a support group meeting in the basement of your local church right now! Just kidding. Sorta. I mean . . . you should get some help if you’re in a bad place, man. I can stop whenever I want to. Which won’t be anytime soon. Daddy needs his medicine.

So join me fellow binge drinkers, drunken philosophers, and blurry-eyed comedians, for I have just the book for you -- Planet of Beer by Brian Sendelbach.

Out from under the print of those free papers with the nudie ads in the back and into the pages of a respectable 12” x 8” book, Planet of Beer has more to offer than a hilarious good time, it also holds valuable life lessons and the secret to pure enlightenment. (Complete nirvana not guaranteed by Dark Horse Comics, Brian Sendelbach, or any affiliate license.)

Dark Horse got the chance to ask Mr. Sendelbach a few questions about this glorious collection and the whereabouts of one Sammy Hagar.

Dark Horse: What made you choose to start Smell of Steve as a webcomic?

Brian Sendelbach: Smell of Steve ran on a webcomics site for a long time, and that’s where lots of people in the “comics world” saw it first. But it started out in a bunch of newspapers: Seattle, Portland, Philadelphia, New York, etc., etc.

And the whole thing was originally intended as sort of a conceptual art project. Like, “What if I drew comics about real-life rock stars, but naïvely depicted said rock stars as all wearing top hats and smoking huge cigars?”

It eventually progressed from rock stars to other types of things . . . . sons of famous movie stars, superheroes, metaphysical science fiction, social “satire” . . . even autobiographical (kind of).

DH: What challenges and/or benefits do you find working as a webcomic artist?

BS: Well, the great thing about being a newspaper artist is drawing something, and then seeing it all over town a day later. I imagine drawing a webcomic gives one a similar kind of rush.

DH: Your paintings seem to be quite different from the rest of your work. Do you have a medium preference when creating new material?

BS: Do you mean my cut-up paintings? I really like doing those. You probably can’t see it too well online, but I take pieces from one painting, glue them onto another painting, then rip everything all apart again. Until I eventually have something I’m happy with. It’s a really destructive way of being creative.

DH: Statistically speaking, if the universe is infinite, then there could be a planet made entirely of beer, right?

I’m no physicist, but I think so, yes. If the universe is infinite, there’s a planet somewhere out there made of beer.



DH: If there really is a planet of beer, what kind of beer do you hope it would be?

BS: Definitely NOT Pabst. A whole planet of PBR would give you one cosmic hangover. Not to mention massive intestinal “unpleasantness” . . .

DH: Do you think real President Carter was as crazy as comic President Carter? If so, could this explain his single term in office?

BS: I like to think that the “real” President Carter was actually even crazier than the one I draw. Sure, “my” President Carter bombs Pittsburgh and sets fire to a nude Henry Kissinger…but the “real” President Carter saw a UFO and encountered a psychotic, giant squirrel while boating.

Also, I read somewhere that many US presidents were privately devil worshippers, alien shapeshifters, and blood drinkers. So you just never know with that crowd.



DH: Can you explain the seemingly contradictive material in Planet of Beer? On one hand we have a group of galactic travelers looking for an unlimited supply of hooch, and on the other we have this strange figure Bougle Gluce teaching the importance of harmonic vibration through thoughtful meditation to ascend past the seven spheres and into the realm of inter-dimensional Gods. What’s the connection here?

BS: I’m not sure what the connection is. But you’re right: The strips in the first part of the book are more happy-go-lucky (well, if you can call Bigfoot ripping the heads off schoolchildren and Roman soldiers crucifying a dog “happy-go-lucky”), while the second part definitely ventures into, uh . . . darker territory.

DH: Are we all like Abraxas, just waiting to fully realize the potential to create as we say and think?

BS: Yes, I suppose we are. Oh wait, let me think about that one a little bit. Ummmm . . . yes. Absolutely. Yes. I think so.



DH: Of all the ancient philosophers, who was the most incorrect?

BS: Of all the ancient philosophers, I believe that Judd Nelson was by far the most incorrect.

DH: Have you heard back from Sammy Hagar in regards to your open letter to him?

BS: Not yet. Officially, of course, I’ve abandoned my “Hunt for Hagar” . . . but unofficially I’ve still got my rock ‘n’ roll fingers crossed.