Who’s John Muir? Do you really want to know? I could tell you, or a bunch of stuffed and mounted animal heads from the title that proved a video game based on a comic book could surpass its source material can. Hit it, Sam and Max!
Here’s something to shiver the timbers of Monkey Island fans the seven seas over: a poster, available for sale, drawn by Lucasarts fan favourite (and Sam & Mac creator) Steve Purcell.
One of Steve Purcell’s Monkey Island themed paintings he has just uploaded to his personal blog, via GameSetWatch.
ACG had a little chat with Steve Purcell, creator of Sam & Max. They cover a lot of ground, from comics to TV to his work with Lucasarts and Telltale, but perhaps the most interesting is what he’s got to say about the canned Sam & Max 2. That game was probably between two thirds and three quarters done. I never had a chance to get upset because the fan backlash was so immediate and intense. As far as LucasArts current path, it seems that adventure games are just not part of their plan. It’s a new company with a different direction from their roots but I guess it’s working for them.
You could easily say it’s not been working for them, considering their market share now compared to, oh, 1995, but whatever. The real tragedy is that, at ¾ done, somewhere there is playable, no doubt enjoyable code from Sam & Max Freelance Police. Steve Purcell [Adventure Classic Gaming, via Blues News][Image: Telltale]
Sam & Max creator Steve Purcell’s day job? Story writer at Pixar. Purcell created the characters as a youth and went on to draw a comic strip and create a Sam & Max graphic novel. A LucasArts adventure game followed as did an animated series. Then things went south: The comics went out of print, the cartoon was canceled and LucasArts ditched the adventure game. Fast forward to the present day, where Sam & Max is experiencing a revival thanks to episodic point & click games. It’s getting to the point where the games are now outshining the original comic. Says Purcell:
I still find that when people bump into me at conventions, they saw the game before they ever saw a comic.
And that’s not necessarily at bad thing. Not a bad thing at all.
Sam & Max Piece [Wired]
