Sam and Max are a pair of comic book characters - Sam a 6-foot anthropomorphic dog, Max a "hyperkinetic rabbitty thing" - who occupy a parody of American popular culture.
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. Occasioanally Sam and Max recieve assignments from a mysterious Commissioner over the phone, but they ususally 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 bits were collected in a collection entitled Sam and Max: Surfin' the Highway.
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 successfully graphical adventure game of their own, Sam and Max Hit the Road. In August 2002, LucasArts announced that a sequel - Sam and Max: Freelance Police - would be released in the first quarter of 2004, but the game was cancelled in March of 2004.
There was also a less adult animated series, which showed on the Fox Network in the US and Channel 4 in the UK.
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: 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 Wildebest: The Freelance Police investigate refreshment booth trouble at the local carnival.
Fair Wind to Java: Sam & Max fight pyramid-building aliens in ancient Egypt.
The Damned Don't Dance: A charming Christmas tale.
On The Road: 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.
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 television series.
Beast from the Cereal Isle: Sam & Max grapple with paranormal life forms of the local supermarket.
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.
Freelance Police (2002-2004): The sequel to the LucasArts computer game. Was cancelled for other Star Wars games. Despite several magazines reporting that the game is back underway, the game remains cancelled. Most LucasArts employees working on it have either been fired or gone to work with other companies.
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