Collected Sam & Max, The - Surfin' the Highway

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.