Sam & Max

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Front cover of The collected Sam & Max: Surfin' The Highway.

Sam & Max are a pair of fictional comic book characters who occupy a parody of American popular culture. Sam is a 6-foot anthropomorphic dog in detective's clothing and Max is a "hyperkinetic rabbity thing". Created by Steve Purcell in a 1987 comic book, the characters are probably best known for their 1993 computer game, Sam & Max Hit the Road.

They are private investigators, or as they like to call themselves, "freelance police". The pair live and work in New York City, but often travel to such places as New Orleans, ancient Egypt, the Philippines, and the Moon. They drive a seemingly indestructible black-and-white 1960 DeSoto Adventurer to most of these locations (including the Moon, which they achieved by "stuffing the muffler with thousands upon thousands of match heads"). Max often drives, despite being unable to see over the dashboard.

Their crime fighting technique involves brandishing their oversized guns to intimidate criminals (it is not clear where Max keeps his weapon as he is completely naked; when asked, Max always replies with "None of your damn business, Sam."), but more often than not they need to rely on more creative solutions to vanquish evil. When they do use firearms Sam favours a gigantic revolver, while Max prefers a Luger. Sam and Max occasionally receive assignments from a mysterious Commissioner over the phone, but they usually just walk straight into trouble.

1 History and appearances
2 The characters
3 Major adventures
4 External links

[edit] History and appearances

The comic books are laced with dark, nihilistic, and surreal humour. The series was created by Steve Purcell based on his brother's childhood drawings, and published in bits and pieces under several different titles and by several different publishers. Most of the stories were assembled in a collection entitled The Collected Sam & Max: Surfin' the Highway in 1995.

With Steve Purcell working at LucasArts, the characters became quite popular within the company and they were soon appearing in cameos in many LucasArts games. They also spawned a successful graphical adventure game of their own, Sam & Max Hit the Road. In August 2002, LucasArts announced that a sequel — Sam & Max Freelance Police — would be released in the first quarter of 2004, but the game was cancelled in March 2004.

In September 2005, it was announced that Telltale Games, a small company started by members of the creative teams behind numerous LucasArts adventure games, will be creating a new episodic series of Sam & Max games with the help of Purcell. The first episode, "Culture Shock", was released on October 17, 2006 as part of the GameTap download service. Each individual episode or the whole season of six can also be bought online at the Telltale website. Starting in December 2005, a new online comic strip was released to celebrate the collaboration.

There was also a less adult animated series, called The Adventures of Sam & Max: Freelance Police, which aired on the Fox Kids programming block in the U.S. and Channel 4 in the UK, airing 24 episodes from 1997 through to 1998.

[edit] The characters

[edit] Sam

Sam is a laid-back, but enthusiastic anthropomorphic dog wearing a suit and a hat. He is usually the brains of the operation, often trying to figure out a logical solution to things. He is prone to long-winded sentences filled with elaborate buzzwords. He is also rarely seen losing his temper (except when he's given a pink belly), and is able to react to panic-inducing situations with extreme calm.

Voiced by: Bill Farmer (Hit the Road), Harvey Atkin (animated series), David Nowlin (Season One)

[edit] Max

Max is a "hyperkinetic rabbity thing" (he himself prefers being called a "lagomorph") with a huge jaw normally stuck in a crazed grin, showing off his razor sharp teeth. He enjoys violence and tends to prefer the aggressive way of solving problems. He has a slight distaste for the long stories, anecdotes and sentences that Sam consistently spouts forth, often asking Sam not to use various words. He shares Sam's enthusiasm in just about anything, especially if it involves large guns and trouble.

Voiced by: Nick Jameson (Hit the Road), Robert Tinkler (animated series), Andrew Chaikin (Season One)

[edit] The commissioner

The commissioner is an unseen character who briefs Sam and Max for their various missions. He interacts with them through the telephone; a ringing phone usually causes the freelancers to brawl a bit for the right to pick up the phone first - a fight which is traditionally won by Sam.

[edit] Flint Paper

Flint is the freelancers' next-door neighbour, a stereotypical private detective. His work method often consists of "pummeling", and he has, to date, proven to be effectively indestructible.

[edit] Major adventures

Spoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow.

"Monkeys Violating the Heavenly Temple" (1987): Sam & Max journey to the exotic Philippines ("drawn without reference material") to stop a volcano god cult.
"Night of the Gilded Heron-Shark" (1987): Sam & Max have a run-in with the fish-headed Mack Salmon and his goons. Introduced the Rubber Pants Commandos and their leader, the chimpanzee Sergeant Blip.
"Night of the Cringing Wildebeest" (1987): The Freelance Police investigate refreshment booth trouble at the local carnival.
"Fair Wind to Java" (1988): Sam & Max fight pyramid-building aliens in ancient Egypt.
"On The Road" (1989): A complete story in three chapters, chronicling what happens when the Freelance Police take a vacation. The heart of this story is "I Love a Band Leader", involving fake land-pirates, manatees, and talking octopuses.
"The Damned Don't Dance" (1990): A charming Christmas tale.
"Bad Day on the Moon" (1992): Sam & Max travel to the Moon to aid an anthropomorphic rat civilization rid itself of giant moon roaches. This story was later adapted for the short-lived Sam & Max animated series. Rats and cockroaches are frequently seen throughout Sam & Max's adventures.
"Beast From the Cereal Aisle" (1992): Sam & Max grapple with paranormal life forms at the local supermarket.
Sam & Max Hit the Road (1993): A computer game published by LucasArts sprawling the width and breadth of the continental United States. The Freelance Police travel across America in search of two freak show escapees.
Culture Shock (2006): The first episode of Season One of a computer game series published by Telltale Games. A group of former child stars — known as the Soda Poppers — are found causing trouble in Sam and Max's neighbourhood.