 Complete the following phrase:  The Sam  Max franchise has been highly successful critically, and is considered an iconic and influential aspect of the video game industry in the 1990s and the adventure game genre. In 2007, Steve Purcell wrote that he was somewhat surprised at the success of his creation, noting that the series had gained a large fan gathering despite the small size of the franchise. As the series contains only a small amount of comics, video games and a short TV series, Purcell commented that there was certainly not enough material to build that relentless traction of an endlessly renewed sitcom or a syndicated comic that has existed since the 