Customer Reviews

The Collected Sam & Max: Surfin' the Highway

5 star:		(37)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

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.

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!!

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!

I don't pretend to know what legal situation/absolute insanity is preventing the re-release of this nugget of genius, but I beg you for the love of all that is holy: DO IT! PLEASE!

This is one of the funniest things I have ever had the good fortune to read. I borrowed it from a friend over 10 years ago, and I now wish I hadn't given it back (I don't see this guy much anyway...). From time to time, I'll try to explain this comic to someone, and the vacant, unfamiliar stare I get in reply is absolutely heartbreaking. Whomever it is that has the authority to reprint this, I am literally begging you to do so. I will gleefully pay upwards of $50 for a reissue, especially if it has some little tiny extra, like an introduction from Purcell; a bundt cake recipe, or just a couple of new sketches. I'm desperate, and $200 for a comic just feels dirty (though I confess, I've considered digging out the credit card for this).

Please.

I once read an interview with Steve Purcell and learned that he began drawing Sam and Max as a kid, and it grew from there. I myself have been drawing a set of characters since childhood, and although they were very much set in their ways before I first saw Sam and Max, I must say that Purcell's uniquely intense drawings have inspired me to improve my own work. Also, I must say that this collection is a must have for anyone looking for a brand of comedy that is found nowhere else.

The book is great - it contains extremely creative ideas, and its like a big explosion of wild imagination. I felt I want more as soon as I unfortunately finished it - and I'll buy the next one as soon as it comes out!

Twisted unusuall humour, hilarious violence and even in the bad situations - everything is psycothicly funny (like when max dies and turns into a soup in a lab).

WARNING: you will become addicted.

I never thought that the great SAM&MAX quest is based on this marvelous comics. Steve Purcell at his best.

amazing collection of course. purchased it on amazon in 1996 for twenty bucks when i was in middle school. fairly sure it played a major part in my alienation as a twelve year old, as it caused my weirdo sense of humor to flourish greatly. absolutely amazed it sells for hundreds of dollars. guess i should have taken better care of it, eh? i cut up the cover to put it on my wall. silly twelve year old.

This comic inspired me so much when I was in high school. I can't even begin to describe how hilarious and well-done it is. SUCH a shame it costs so much, because it's one of the things you'd like to share with the entire world. I wish I would have taken better care of mine...not that I would ever sell it anyway. I keep coming back to it over and over again, and I'm alomost 29 now. There is so much artistry and humor going on in every single panel. It's like a cornucopia of non-sequitor humor, jabs at cheap American culture, and sheer unadulterated cartoony mayhem. If you don't laugh out loud, over and over again, there is something seriously wrong with you. Plus, there are so many little fun extras (Fizzball, the Road Trip game, Sam & Max explain our Bizarre Universe). Get it and you'll be glad you did.

Steve Purcell is a genious. This is the best comic series ever. It's freaking hilarious. Get this and get the game. Teh, they're classic!

in a sidecar with chocolate jimmies and a lobster bib. This is the funniest comic book in the world. Heck, it might be the funniest _book_ in the world. It follows the adventures of Sam, a six-foot dog, and Max, a three-foot rabbity thing, as they roam around New York, ancient Egypt, the moon, and Captain Quasimodo's Island of Amusement, among other places. They stop evil pagan sacrafices, giant rat-eating roaches, and those pyramid-building aliens you've heard about in speculative books and films. It's absolutely hilarious! And Max is psychotic.