Telltale Games - Surfin' the Highway is here!

Posted by emily

February 6, 2008

Let's get the important part out of the way first -- the brand new, incredibly classy Surfin' the Highway anniversary edition is now available for preorder in both paperback and hardcover format.

Visit the store and get it!

The paperback costs $19.99 and should start shipping by February 25 (very likely sooner). The $49.99 hardcover is a limited edition, and each one will be signed and numbered by Steve Purcell himself. (The hardcover is still in production, but we're working on it! Expected shipping timeframe is Spring, 2008.)

As if that's not enough, if you buy the book between now and February 29 you'll get a FREE copy of Ice Station Santa, to either play yourself or send to a friend, if you've played it already. As the best reviewed of any of our Sam & Max episodes so far, Ice Station Santa is a great place to start.

The curious among you may wonder what exactly it took to reach this glorious day (or, put more bluntly, why it took so damn long). Sit back, and I'll tell you a story...

Months of work, reduced to a messy pile on Jake's desk.
Do you remember when you found out that Surfin' the Highway would be reprinted? Was there a spark of disbelief, a mental double-take, an almost-afraid-to-say-it-out-loud moment where you thought, "Wait, is this for real?"

It was an idea Telltale had been talking about with Steve for months before we uttered a word of it to the world, so I don't remember exactly when I first heard about it, but I do remember when we let it slip. At last year's WonderCon, we did a panel about the Sam & Max games, and during the Q&A, a question was asked (as questions often are) about whether the long-unavailable Sam & Max collection would ever be rereleased. Steve mentioned that he'd been thinking about it, and Lois Buhalis, who lettered the original Surfin' the Highway and happened to be sitting in the audience, later dropped a note about it on her blog. This was picked up on by the ever diligent Hero1 on our forums, and *poof* all at once, speculation was running wild. What had for months (years, even) been kicked around as one of those great ideas we should do someday was suddenly starting to feel like something real.

Soon after this, Steve brought over a huge package of the film pages from the original book. The films had been tucked away for years and he wasn't even sure if everything was in there. We carefully unpacked the films and combed through them. Since our printer would be using a digital printing process, they'd need to scan each of these pieces of film, and then assemble these with the new content Steve wanted to add to the book. It was definitely not a straightforward job. We mailed them the film so they could get started.

This is how they printed books in the old days.
With the film safely off to the printer, we felt comfortable that the book would be coming out in the not too distant future, and we announced it as one of the activities commemorating the 20th anniversary of Sam & Max. Then we (mostly Jake) got to work on the nuts and bolts.

For this anniversary edition of Surfin' the Highway, Steve didn't want to just reprint the same book as before, but to update it with additional content and a new cover. He put together a master copy of how he wanted the new book to be laid out, a huge sheaf of 11x17 paper cobbled together from photocopies and printouts and the occasional sketch. Some of the new content, like "Kids Take Over" and "Sam & Max: Skeptical Investigators," was released after the original book's publication. Other new pages were pieces Steve pulled from his archives, like ads he did to promote the original Freelance Police comic book back in 1987, and recent paintings promoting our Sam & Max games and the animated series DVD.

Our Surfin' the Highway production bible, featuring original art by Steve Purcell.
The last piece of the puzzle was the cover. Steve wanted to retain the look of the original enough that it still felt like Surfin' the Highway, but also to change it enough for people to know that this version was a little different, and that time had passed. The result was a sepia-toned version of the original, set into a leather-like, old-timey cover... the kind of book you might find in a trunk in your crazy grandpa's attic.

The cover, in various incarnations.
In October we hit a bump in the road. Our printer ran into problems scanning the film and formatting some of the files for the new content. Steve had long since sold many of the original pages from Surfin' the Highway, but he kept very high-quality photocopies. He brought these in and we rescanned the pages that hadn't come out well from the film. Then we did weeks of touch-up work and assembled the book into a PDF so massive, the only way to get it to the printer was to buy an external hard drive and FedEx it. Due to the Season Two launch and other projects the team was already neck deep in, we couldn't complete all this as quickly as we would have liked, which is why the intended 2007 release slipped to 2008. If you were banking on finding Surfin' the Highway under the Christmas tree, we're sorry, but the book will be much better because of it!

For all these months we'd been working on Surfin' the Highway, we knew (sort of) that someday there would be a finished book in our hands, but somehow it still didn't feel real. Then we started getting proofs back -- proof (so to speak) that the book was being printed, but still one step removed from the real thing. With a little anxiety over whether they were perfect enough, we approved the black and white pages and the color pages and the cover. Then all we could do was wait. The future of Surfin' the Highway was out of our hands.

Proof. It exists.
The day the cover came off the press, the printer sent us a few copies so we could see how the colors turned out, and big sighs of relief were heaved all around. It looks great. Then yesterday, he called to tell us the books were being bound (ahead of schedule!) and he would overnight samples to us. There are no words for how exciting that news was. If he had been in the same room instead of thousands of miles away, I would have kissed the guy. (No, I'm not kidding.)

As I write this blog, we are anxiously watching the windows for the FedEx truck. We were already planning to put the book in the store for preorder today, but the fact that today it will also be a real thing, in our hands, is an amazing and awesome coincidence. I can't wait to sit down and read the whole thing, cover to cover. Even better, I can't wait for all of you to do the same.

Yes, guys, Surfin' the Highway is back in print. It's real. And we think you're going to love it.

Bonus Update! FedEx came by and dropped off a tiny handful of the paperback edition, and it looks awesome! Check out some photos of the book by clicking here!

Tagged Around the Office, Events, Sam & Max, The Website

	Boy, that's quite a hassle. All I gotta do now is get my credit card from my dad and I'm set lol Can't wait!!
	Comment by Kroms February 6, 2008, 10:58 am

	I'm speechless... :D
	Comment by Mysterysheep February 6, 2008, 11:03 am

	Jake's desk is looking hot. But seriously, I can't wait to read this... I never have before!
	Comment by Guybrush Threepwood February 6, 2008, 11:03 am

	Got mine ordered and separate too, don't wanna wait for all of them! Thank you all!
	Comment by eloffler February 6, 2008, 11:13 am

	Yay..Already ordered both the paperback and the limited edition :D
	Comment by FWZ February 6, 2008, 11:19 am

	Insta-buy for me. And I think I'm going for the hardcover edition :)
	Comment by Giglio February 6, 2008, 12:00 pm

	wow! this is the best year ever, and it's only February I could just cry...in fact, I'm crying right now you make me happy :-D
	Comment by zozenka February 6, 2008, 12:56 pm

	is this going to only be available in the telltale store or will it be available in the shop? btw, thanks so much for reprinting it
	Comment by Sam February 6, 2008, 1:08 pm

	I'm not sure what the intersection of this particular Venn diagram looks like, but for those of you who are TTG blog readers & reddit.com members, please feel free to up-vote us here: http://reddit.com/r/gaming/info/67w4e/comments/
	Comment by xtrmntr February 6, 2008, 1:13 pm

	The free episode included... will be upgradeable for the same $26?
	Comment by fco. February 6, 2008, 1:17 pm

	nvm... I just found the answer.
	Comment by fco. February 6, 2008, 1:19 pm

	For others who are wondering, yes you'll be able to use the free 201 to upgrade to the full season... or you can just buy Season Two from the Surfin' the Highway page and it'll cost $26. We didn't want to give anyone a reason not to buy the season if they had been planning on it. ;)
	Comment by Emily February 6, 2008, 1:29 pm

	Now I just need to figure out who to send the free Ice Station Santa to...
	Comment by TrogLlama February 6, 2008, 2:05 pm

	omgwtflolbbq >_> Anyway, awesome news. Now I just need to dig up some cash to order with. Dang do I want that hardcover....$50 is just too much for a kid without a real job though. Ah well... :-\
	Comment by dg10050 February 6, 2008, 2:07 pm

	whoa!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
	Comment by 13 Daniel 13 February 6, 2008, 2:20 pm

	im a get it
	Comment by 13 Daniel 13 February 6, 2008, 2:55 pm

	I've been waiting so long for this. Just pre-ordered the HC. Thank you guys for making this happen!
	Comment by Ryan February 6, 2008, 2:56 pm

	Looks great.
	Comment by PJJ February 6, 2008, 3:07 pm

	Haha! I was the dude who asked if Surfin' the Highway will get re-printed at Wondercon last year!
	Comment by mish February 6, 2008, 3:09 pm

	Wanted to add my "Thanks!!!" especially for the hardcover version. I have an old paperback version from years ago, and I've really looking forward to a hardcover that I know will hold up a lot better. Thank you so very, very much! You just made my week!
	Comment by number9 February 6, 2008, 3:14 pm

	todays my birthday so he timing couldn't be better.. Great work Jake thanks for all the effort you put in.. Looks fantastic
	Comment by Hero1 February 6, 2008, 3:28 pm

	My dream come true
	Comment by some nerdy guy February 6, 2008, 3:52 pm

	Who knew Christmas would come so early this year? And I gotta give props to the international shipping rates of the Telltale site, they're some of the cheapest I've seen in US online stores.
	Comment by buemba February 6, 2008, 6:20 pm

	I have to admit when I first heard this was being reprinted I was actually disappointed. Because then I will be less cool for actually already having the original, lol. I'll miss people being jealous when I tell them I've got the Sam and Max collection. ;) But I came around. I'll try to spring for the hardcover if I can. I'd still like to get Steve to sign my old copy at Wonder/Comic-Con if I can actually remember to bring it next time...
	Comment by Sybil Pandemik February 6, 2008, 11:03 pm

	Is the method of film printing really that ye olden day sort of thing? That's how we learnt in my prepress course - although that was... at least five years ago and I guess digital technology has progressed in leaps and bounds since then... Huh. Anywho, I'm damn excited! :D Long have I been visiting the store page in the hopes that the book would suddenly be selling. ^___^
	Comment by morgandea February 7, 2008, 5:15 am

	Yay! ^_^ I've been waiting for this for a while now; its really great to finally see it almost here! Soon I will be able to witness the early mayhem of our favorite dog and rabbity-thing from the beginning...without having to cough up a ridiculous amount of cash to a seller on the dark corners of Ebay. Many thanks Telltale Games :)
	Comment by Hyperkinetic_Martian February 7, 2008, 6:39 am

	Goddamn it, Steve and Tell Tale Games is stealing away from my 401k fund again! Curse you HARD COVERED SIGNED AND NUMBERED COPIES OF THE REPRINTS!
	Comment by MeaningOfLife February 7, 2008, 8:00 am

	morgandea - Film/plates etc are still used by the actual press who is printing your publication, but it's definitely not how you archive a project anymore! Steve's only archive of Surfin the Highway was a huge cardboard box of film, since the book was printed before one could easily store a book of that size digitally. These days you can put your pristine digital master on a few DVDs or an external hard disk, and won't have a lossy second printing because of it.
	Comment by Jake February 7, 2008, 8:31 am

	Are ONLY the hard copies signed, so i know what one to spend all my cash on, if i get any that is!
	Comment by Trixie February 7, 2008, 9:09 am

	Yeah, the paperbacks aren't signed, unless you come to Wondercon or some other event Steve's at and get him to sign :)
	Comment by tabacco February 7, 2008, 9:13 am

	okay, that's around 27£ off of my bank account soon. If i have it.
	Comment by Trixie February 7, 2008, 9:16 am

	It's back it's back it's back it's back... BREATHE It's back! Hardcover for me! And judging by the photos and work, it's well worth the wait! Next step: waiting for the hardcover to hit publication so I can get it in my freshly washed grubby little hands to peruse! ("Sam, never use the word 'peruse' again")
	Comment by Gondar February 7, 2008, 10:37 am

	MUST HAVE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
	Comment by Wilyam February 7, 2008, 11:35 am

	looks like everyones on the hardcover train
	Comment by Hero1 February 7, 2008, 3:44 pm

	Woo, I just bought the hardcover AND paperback editions of Surfin' the Highway. What would I ever do with my money without you guys? I probably would have spent it on something boring like food. Thank you, Telltale.
	Comment by mhaley February 8, 2008, 12:46 pm

	Any Chance to get a German version of Surfin the highway??
	Comment by EdlerSchinken February 9, 2008, 1:44 am

	Is that embossed text on the front cover? you guys really pulled out all the stops to make this one magical re-issue. thank you so much cries :)
	Comment by Edgy_McSpoon February 9, 2008, 5:28 am

	How limited is the limited edition? Will there still be copies available in a week or so, when I get paid, or will they already be pre-ordered out?
	Comment by Asylos February 9, 2008, 8:18 am

	I've been waiting months for this and it's here i better get some money soon :)
	Comment by Ian February 10, 2008, 11:46 am

	Will there still be copies available in a week or so, when I get paid, or will they already be pre-ordered out? Should still be available, but as with anything that's limited run, we can't promise.
	Comment by Emily February 11, 2008, 7:32 am

	I'll make you a deal telltale. Now if I give you 20$ plus tax and crap and I sold you my soul then could I get a copy?
	Comment by some nerdy guy February 11, 2008, 7:12 pm

	For the paperback it really only costs the $20 plus tax and crap. We do collect souls on the side, but really you shouldn't be encouraging it.
	Comment by Jake February 11, 2008, 9:44 pm

	Sam and Max are on my "Reasons to Live" list after my kids and Episode One of Star Wars, but that one got crossed out a while back.
	Comment by wittzo February 11, 2008, 11:25 pm

	Is there any chance that there will be a hard cover that isn't signed/limited. I quite like the idea of having a easily preservable version of the comic, but I honestly don't care much for it being Signed. Having it signed is only interesting if I'd want to sell it for ridiculous amounts of money, and I don't, I want to have my own copy and keep it always :D Either way it's awesome, and if there wont be a 'normal' hard cover, I'll be getting the paperback along with the Animated Series DVD :D
	Comment by Phoenix February 12, 2008, 4:05 am

	Is there any chance that there will be a hard cover that isn't signed/limited. I quite like the idea of having a easily preservable version of the comic, but I honestly don't care much for it being Signed. Probably not (at least, it's not in the plans right now). The paperback is very nice, and we didn't see a point to doing a hardcover unless we could make it extra special, above and beyond what we'd already done for the paperback. So that's the reasoning behind the signed/numbered/limited run hardcover. If you're really worried about preserving it, you could buy one paperback for everyday use and a second copy to keep in plastic. :)
	Comment by Emily February 12, 2008, 8:17 pm

	Hmm its wierd thinking about the sam and max comics now, considering it was more than ten years since i saw the last one, brings back a lot of memories from my strange childhood (Sam and Max made sure of that). Maybe ill get the DVD, maybe not considering how Sam's horrifiying voice still haunts me to this day....
	Comment by zanotoole2000 February 15, 2008, 10:12 pm

	If only I could get my credit card -sigh- I must find another way to get money for this! It will take much convincing...
	Comment by xxscrumxx April 26, 2008, 10:24 pm

	xxscrumxx, you should get a job. I will be paid tomorrow! Then I will buy a wii
	Comment by Zonder BKR May 2, 2008, 7:53 am

	Any news on availability of the hardcover verion?
	Comment by kaefer May 10, 2008, 5:00 am

	Why hasn't the Hardcover been released yet? My brother managed to order a copy of the Effigy Mound and Surfi'n The Higway Hardcover before it was sould out. So now I am spending my days waiting for the package to come. I really hope it comes soon, and I hope you get done with the hardcover version soon.
	Comment by StewG May 12, 2008, 4:04 pm

	It looks really nice. Can't wait
	Comment by StewG May 12, 2008, 4:05 pm

	best thing EVER !!!
	Comment by kerza October 21, 2008, 5:39 am

	I jst got mine its awesome and and im almost done with the book because i've been engrossed in it 4 a week no not a week 3 days
	Comment by Adam West17 March 6, 2009, 3:06 am

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