Sam & Max Surfin the Highway Anniversary Edition

There are two possibilities when you first encounter Sam & Max. One possibility is that you won't get it; at best, it will seem odd and mildly amusing.

The other possibility is that your jaw will drop in amazement that someone out there speaks your secret language - the language of a style of humor that you didn't realize anyone else knew, apart from you and perhaps a few close friends. You'll feel as if you've been reading Sam & Max all your life, saying the same quirky lines back and forth with your friends. And you'll be laughing like crazy.

Sam & Max are freelance police, a six-foot-tall dog who dresses like a 1940s gumshoe, and a white rabbity thing with serious self-control issues. Both carry very large guns, and they're not afraid to use them on anyone or anything.

They live in a world that is completely insane, filled with volcano cults, frightening clowns, criminal rats, giant Moon roaches, ghosts that haunt Stucky's roadside restaurants, and accountants turned pirate - along with uncounted other oddities from the incredible imagination of Steve Purcell.

The violence is not extreme. Well...okay, there's a lot of shooting. A typewriter may have been hurled through an upper-story window. There may have been a disintegration or two. Perhaps an attempted human (dog? rabbit?) sacrifice. Children too young to understand irony probably won't get Sam & Max, but anyone over the age of ten or so would probably be ready.

Sam & Max have been published in many formats over the years. There have been a few comic books from different companies, a guest appearance here and there, some webcomics, a few animated computer games, a TV series with somewhat toned-down versions of the characters, and most recently a Wii game.

This book collects most of the print versions and many of the webcomics. Pick it up, give it a try! If you're one of the people who gets it, you'll be thanking me. ( )

Sam & Max Surfin’ The Highway by Steve Purcell

September 11, 2008 By: Colin Matthew Category: Book Review, Graphic Novels, Thoughts on Books Edit
Blurb for the back cover:
“Ingeniously drawn, helplessly immature, and a delight to read.”

Sam and Max Surfin The Highway

Sam and Max freelance police originally appeared in comic form back in 1987. Since then the duo has appeared in many more comics, a television cartoon series, and computer games. Surfin’ The Highway was published in the ’90s but had since gone to that dreadful place known as “out of print”. Luckily, to capitalize on the recent increase in interest thanks to their newer computer adventures, Sam and Max Surfin’ The Highway has been republished for all to enjoy!

The due is made up of Sam, the suit wearing dog, and Max, a bunny-looking lagomorph. Together they fight crime and injustice (and pirates and a restless spirit that haunts the cereal aisle and rats and a fish named Mack Salmon, to name a few). Since they are freelance police, they get their assignments straight from the commissioner himself who is never seen. Since this is a collection of all the published Sam and Max cartoons so far, there is no story arch which keeps things moving at a fast pace and prevents any situation from getting stale.

Really the thing that stands out here is the humor in the dialog. Often times it is Max who will offer up a witty quip to break the tension. There are also instants when the fourth wall is broken and the humor is self referring such as the time Sam and Max go to the Philippines which is a cross between a tribal voodoo village with the pyramids in the background. Max points out that it was apparently drawn without reference material. Max will also point out when speech bubbles are blocking his vision. It’s this type of humor that makes Surfin’ The Highway worth reading. It’s ingeniously drawn, helplessly immature, and a delight to read. ( )