Back when I was a kid I would play on my dad’s Power Mac for hours. I remember faking sick all the time to stay home and play my favorite LucasArts adventure games, like “Sam & Max Hit the Road.” I can’t tell you how much I loved that game. All the plucky one-liners, odd characters and truckloads of comedic violence were relentless. It was the perfect game for a 9-year-old!
As fate would have it, I found out some years later as a teenager that Sam & Max actually started out in comics written and illustrated by Steve Purcell. But after a few failed attempts to procure some copies of my own, Sam & Max slowly slipped from my consciousness.
That was until a few months ago at a comic book store in San Jose, where I found the ultimate treasure, the holy grail if you will: “Sam & Max Surfin’ the Highway,” the complete Sam & Max comics to date. You wouldn’t believe my ecstasy! Here it was, in one volume, the culmination of my childhood and teenage entertainment. Let me tell you, I was not disappointed.
To better understand Purcell’s work, I think a bit of explanation of Sam and Max is in order. Sam is your stereotypical-looking private eye, sporting a suit, tie and fedora, and just so happens to be a gun-toting dog. Max on the other hand, is an insane and adorable rabbit creature that doesn’t wear clothes, has a head that is much too large for his own body and constantly resorts to violence.
Sam and Max are actually freelance police in a New York look alike city and take on a variety of odd jobs, such as battling giant cockroaches, rat creatures from the moon and a whole mess of off-the-wall wrongdoers with unbridled violence.
There’s something to be said about the offbeat dialogue in Sam & Max comics. Sam and Max really have a language all of their own, with such phrases as, “Holy jumping mother o’ God in a side-care with chocolate jimmies and a lobster bib!” I don’t even know what that means, but I love it!
I’m rather glad I didn’t find these wonderful Sam & Max comics when I was a kid. It’s not like I would have been too young for them, but I probably wouldn’t have appreciated them as much. When you’re a kid, you just don’t appreciate comedic violence that much. And hey, having all the comics in one volume is pretty frickin’ sweet!
So if ever you have a hankerin’ for some offbeat comedy, pick up a copy of “Sam & Max Surfin’ the Highway.” Or if you’re really feeling in the mood, try to find a copy of “Sam & Max Hit the Road.” If that isn’t enough, which I’m sure it wont be, you just might be able to find the short-lived animated series on DVD.
Jon Monteith is a history senior and Mustang Daily comic book columnist.