Sam and Max

I love Sam and Max. I was first introduced to them when I was hanging around a friend of mine's comic collection, and in one of them they had a small article about Sam and Max comics. I loved what I saw, and sought out the trade paperback collection "Surfin' The Highway" which had me in stitches!

Then the Lucasarts game came out, and I knew I had to have it. I was a big fan of Lucasarts adventure games, having been a fan of Monkey Island and Zak McKracken already (and later games like Full Throttle and Day of the Tentacle). I grabbed it as soon as I could, and it was possibly the most fun game ever made (with the possible exception of Monkey Island). Completely silly. I remember my friend Simon and I played it together and were rolling on the floor with laughter.

There was a cartoon of Sam and Max on TV in the late 90s, but it passed me by - it must've been at an obscure time of day that caused me to miss it (I was working then, so that was probably why) but I had hopes that Sam and Max would return at a later date in another new form. Steve Purcell, the creator of the characters, worked for Lucasarts, but then he moved to Pixar, where he still works, and yet I heard that Lucasarts were planning on making an all new Sam and Max adventure game. I emailed Steve Purcell himself, and asked him if he was still involved, and he actually replied! He said he was. But soon after that, Lucasarts made one of the stupidest decisions (in a long line of recently stupid decisions) and pulled the game from completion (along with a Full Throttle sequel) because they thought adventures wouldn't make them money, and now stick almost exclusively to Star Wars and Indiana Jones licenses. They've sucked that well dry, in my opinion, but anyways...

Telltale Games then said they had the license to Sam and Max. Having never heard of these guys, I wasn't sure about them, but as it turned out most of the team there were ex-Lucasarts, and more importantly they worked on the Sam and Max game that was stopped, so really what they were creating was essentially the same kind of game as Lucasarts would've made anyway (even though it was a different storyline this time). I haven't played this game yet, I haven't found the time to download it, but I do plan to do so soon.

Telltale do have merchandise available on their site related to the game, which I have grabbed. I have a t-shirt, cap, and book of sketches, all of Sam and Max. It's also where I was introduced to Bone, another game they make, and which came from an associated comic book series. I have the complete black-and-white trade paperback of that, and it's an astonishing work. I am looking forward to the movie that Warner Brothers are making of it.

But the reason I brought this up is that the aforementioned TV series of Sam and Max is now out on DVD, and I have bought that. It's just as surreal and manic as all its other incarnations, and is a delight! It even comes with some extra features, though I haven't watched them yet. I heartily recommend that you rush out and buy it now! Now, I tells ya, now! No, put that down, I said go out and get it right now! What is ya, deaf?