High Quality Content by WIKIPEDIA articles! Steve Ross Purcell (born 1961) is an American cartoonist, animator and game designer. He is most widely known as the creator of Sam Max, an independent comic book series about a pair of anthropomorphic animal vigilantes and private investigators, for which Purcell received an Eisner Award in 2007. The series has since grown to incorporate an animated television series and several video games. A graduate of the California College of Arts and Craft, Purcell began his career creating comic strips for the college newsletter. He performed freelance work for Marvel Comics and Fishwrap Productions before publishing his first Sam Max comic in 1987. Purcell was hired by LucasArts as an artist and animator in 1988, working on several titles within the company`s adventure games era.