It’s hard to believe it’s been two decades since the Freelance Police first defended the streets of New York City, but lo and behold, their first official comic book, Monkeys Violating the Heavenly Temple was released 20 years ago today. The demented tale featured neither monkeys nor heavenly temple, but it did mark the beginning of the legacy of comic, cartoons, and games that thrives to this day.

To celebrate, Telltale is reprinting the 1995 compilation Surfin’ the Highway, which has been out of print for over a decade, and remains highly sought after, commonly fetching triple digit prices at auction. This tome chronicles all of the dog and rabbity-thing’s comic book adventures, and a smattering of one-page cartoons and other goodies. This reissue will be extended to include a lot of the loose odds and ends from projects since the original issuing.

I, for one, couldn’t be happier. As brilliant as the games are, Sam and Max’s humor has always been strongest in its raw, original form. I haven’t been able to read Surfin’ the Highway since my father gave away his copy to his brother, and I’ll be there for the reissue day one.

In related news, Telltale also unveiled their boxed version of their episodic Sam and Max games. This DVD packs all 6 games with a generous smattering of DVD-style extras, including commentaries, shorts, trailers, and concept art. It is available for free to those that downloaded the episodes, and for $35 for newcomers.

[Via Telltale Games]