Sam and Max
|
|
Sam and Max are a pair of fictional comic book characters who occupy a parody of American popular culture. Sam is a 6-foot anthropomorphic dog and Max is a "hyperkinetic rabbity thing."
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 such as New Orleans, ancient Egypt, the Philippines, and the Moon. They drive a seemingly indestructible black-and-white 1960 De Soto Adventurer to most of these locations (including the Moon, which they achieved by "stuffing the muffler with thousands and thousands of matches"). Max often drives, despite the fact he can't see over the steering wheel.
Their crime fighting technique involves brandishing their oversized guns (it is not clear where Max keeps his weapon because he is "buck naked") to intimidate criminals, but more often than not they need to rely on more creative solutions to vanquish evil. Occasionally Sam and Max receive assignments from a mysterious Commissioner over the phone, but they usually just walk into trouble.
The comic books are laced with dark, nihilistic and surreal humour. The series was created by Steve Purcell 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.
There was also a less adult animated series — Sam & Max: Freelance Police!!! — which showed on the Fox Network in the US and Channel 4 in the UK, airing 23 episodes from 1997 through to 1998.
Major adventures
- "Monkeys Violating the Heavenly Temple" (1987): Sam & Max journey to the exotic Philippines 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 anthromorphic rat civilization rid itself of giant moon roaches. This story was later adapted for the short-lived Sam & Max animated series.
- "Beast From the Cereal Aisle" (1992): Sam & Max grapple with paranormal life forms of 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.
External links
- The Unofficial Sam & Max Website (http://www.samandmax.net/)
- Fan-created 'Save Sam & Max' Website (http://savesamandmax.com/)