The Collected Sam & Max: Surfin' the Highway [Paperback]

Steve Purcell (Author), Lawrence Deneault (Author, Editor), Pauline Neuwirth (Illustrator)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 1995

Containing all of the Sam and Max material published by Marvel's Epic Comics and the one-page strips commissioned by the comic's current publisher, LucasArts, The Collected Sam and Max is replete with the wry humor, witty repartee, and first-class graphics that have earned this quirky pair of furry flatfoots a rabidly devoted following. Color illustrations throughout.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

I'm not going to pretend this book makes any sense. But it is funny as all heck. It's about ... well ... a dog and a rabbit-like creature who operate as "freelance police," going around town and stopping crime where they can. You may be familiar with the Sam & Max CD-ROM game from Lucas Art. I mean, either way, how can you not buy a book that has the line, "Oboy! It's the colorized version of Citizen Kane... oh, my mistake--it's just the Flintstones."

From Booklist

Sam, a trenchcoat-clad hound, and Max, described as a "small rabbity thing," the anthropomorphic heroes of the cult comic book collected in this volume, are a far cry from the benignly humorous critters of traditional funny animal comics. Their outlandish cases take them from ancient Egypt (where they confront pyramid-building aliens) and the moon (which they rid of giant cockroaches) to the local supermarket (where they encounter an ectoplasmic manifestation from the spirit world). But their nearly plotless adventures are basically just setups for letting the trigger-happy pair commit senseless but hilarious havoc that both parodies the violence pervading contemporary pop culture and updates and escalates the entertaining catharsis of classic animated cartoon mayhem. Purcell adds to the hilarity by working in hundreds of background gags that evoke the heyday of Mad comics. Sam and Max are probably less known in their comics incarnation than as stars of a popular video game. This collection gives their video audience opportunity to check out their original appearance in comics. Gordon Flagg

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Product Details

• Paperback: 154 pages
• Publisher: Marlowe & Co; First Printing edition (October 1995)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1569248141
• ISBN-13: 978-1569248140
• Product Dimensions: 9.8 x 6.8 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (38 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,261,337 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars it's even better than that, April 4, 2006

By 

Nick Name "call me Mr. Name" (CA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Collected Sam & Max: Surfin' the Highway Collector's Edition (Hardcover)

Writing a rave review for Sam and Max is a kind of public service. Everybody who encounters this book enjoys it; it's one of those way-too-rare pieces of work that prompts laughs of recognition, surprise, and delight. In a world full of crap marketed as treasure, it's pretty unusual to encounter something that exceeds all expectations. This book gets read and re-read; even those who are familiar with it find new stuff all the time. It just gets better. And those who read it because it's been so hyped never fail to say that it's a whole level better and funnier than they had been led to expect! What else in the known universe causes that kind of result? Other reviews will describe the contents; I'll just say that the visuals are brilliant, from the most dashed-off panel to the refined paintings, and Purcell's dialogue kicks Shakespeare's mumblings right to the curb. Surfin' the Highway is simultaneously a hilarious escape from life and the most faithful rendition of the nature of existence ever encountered.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A towering, immortal work of staggering genius, October 8, 2003

By 

Uncle Odie (Somewhere on the Coast of California) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Collected Sam & Max: Surfin' the Highway Collector's Edition (Hardcover)

Sam and Max are the greatest thinkers of our time. Well, what they do can't exactly be called thinking, but that is what sets them above the rest. This book has changed my life, re-written my entire value system, and forever altered the way I look at rats and cockroaches. Steve Purcell is a jaw-droppingly good draftsman whose every panel is crawling with little things to savor. And big things. Lots of things. You can see more in one page of Purcell than in an entire afternoon of cable TV, including all those expensive add-on channels.

Purcell is apparently now working at Pixar. Nemo is fine but Sam and Max can save humanity from itself, Steve. DEATH FROM ABOVE!! AAIIIIEEE!!

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars "EGYPT: It's hot, but it's a dry heat!" -Promotional ad, October 18, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: The Collected Sam & Max: Surfin' the Highway (Paperback)

What can I say? Sam and Max - Surfing the Highway is by far the greatest piece of literature to grace this once-monotonous planet. Steve Purcell is a veritable grandmaster of high-speed, edge-of-your-seat, nail-biting, pulse-pounding, heart-throbbing, non-stop, intense action thrill-ride comic antics. One look at the incredible attention to detail in this book will cue a "Hey, that ain't half bad" response from even the most cynical and bitter reader of bizarre literature! Despite Fraggler?'s false sense of self-worth and delusions of grandeur, his review is essentially correct - BUY THIS BOOK!!! BUY TWO!!! OR THREE!!! OR MORE AT DISCOUNT PRICES AT ONE OF THOSE COOL BULK STORES!!! The more you read it, the better it gets. So get it! Now! Go! Why are you still here? Go!