The iPad and iPhone have quickly become one of the most popular gaming platforms with hit titles like Angry Birds and Plants vs Zombies becoming as popular as Mario and Sonic. With that success comes the inevitable spin-offs, which we’re delighted to say includes digital comics, so we’re going to take a look at 5 of the best digital comics based on iOS games.

Angry Birds (IDW Publishing)

Probably the world’s most famous iPad and iPhone game, with 2 billion downloads and a million and one spin-offs already. Rovio’s bird-throwing, pig taunting, egg rescuing game is set to become a digital comic courtesy of IDW Publishing this summer. With some comic strips already produced via the Rovio website, the  adventures of Red, Chuck, Bomb, Stella, Matilda are set to be turned into a fully fledged digital comic this summer as they take on the evil King Pig and the residents of Piggie Island in order to regain their stolen eggs. The book will be written by top comics talents Jeff Parker (Thunderbolts) and  Paul Tobin (Bandette/Plants vs. Zombies) so this is much more than just another cash-in, and should be another fantastic product for all the family to enjoy.

Plants vs Zombies (Dark Horse Comics)

Popcap’s incredibly popular undead vs flora and fauna face-off has won countless awards and is one of the quirkiest and most enjoyably odd-ball games on the iPad and iPhone. With a fantastic group of wierd and wonderful characters to work with, in this Dark Horse Comics produced spin-off writer Paul Tobin (Bandette/Angry Birds) and artist Ron Chan expand the simplistic world of Crazy Dave’s zombie infested back garden to introduce his niece Patrice and young adventurer Nate Timely who have to save the world from the marauding undead. They even manage to make Crazy Dave into a Doc Brown style inventor, not just a local nutjob! Despite it’s title this is no Walking Dead style blood-fest though with a much more fun and family friendly approach that perfectly matches the game’s quirky humour.  Plants vs. Zombies: Lawnmageddon is available it’s own free to download app with each issue costing £0.69/$0.99.

Read our in-depth interview with writer Paul Tobin and artist Ron Chan about Plants vs. Zombies Lawnmageddon here!

Cut the Rope (Ape Entertainment)

Turning a game as delightfully simple as Cut The Rope into a comic is no easy feat, however the team at Ape Entertainment have managed it. In ZeptoLab’s hit game the object is to drop candy into the mouth of a little green creature called Om Nom via a series of rope cutting based puzzles. For the comic book series, Om Nom is given a much wider world to cause havoc in as he is delivered to the house of unsuspecting teenage boy called Evan in an innocuous brown parcel. As chaos ensues thanks to the cute little creature’s insatiable appetite for candy no-one and nowhere is safe from his hyperactive antics! With a fun script from Matt Anderson and artwork from Ricardo Garcia and Antonio Alfaro that really captures the sugar-saturated world of Om Nom this is another fantastic all ages treat which really captures the spirit of the game.
Cut the Rope: Special Delivery is available via the free to download app.
Issue #1 is free and subsequent issues are £1.49/$1.99 as an in-app purchase.

Injustice Gods Among Us (DC Comics)

Set in an alternative DC Universe where Superman has become an all conquering dictator after Lois Lane’s death at the hands of the Joker and Metropolis has been destroyed via a nuclear explosion Injustice is both a comic based on a game and also a game based on a comic. In the game itself heroes and villains square off in one-on-one combat as they attempt to work their way through a variety of scenarios and ultimately defeat the power-crazed Superman. Meanwhile in the comic it fills in the back story of the events that led up to this new universe courtesy of writer Tom Taylor and a host of  artists. As well as being available via ComiXology, Injustice: Gods Among Us is also available via the Madefire motion book platform which sees the once static comic pages leap into life. Injustice has now begun to develop even further into it’s own alternative universe with a new series ‘Year Two’ beginning this year which develops the story in this alternative universe even further.
Injustice: Gods Among Us is available from ComiXology for £0.69/$0.99 per issue or from the Madefire app for £1.49/$1.99

Pocket Gods (Ape Entertainment)

Another fantastic offering from the guys at Ape Entertainment, Pocket God was the first iOS game to be turned into a comic and so it is also the longest running comic based on an iPhone or iPad game. Pocket God is a god game that sees you controlling the destiny of an island full of pygmies, either benevolently by giving them fishing rods, or maliciously by striking them down with lightning. In the comic we follow the adventures of some of those tormented pygmies – Ooga, Noobie, Klik – as well as the rest of the Pocket God tribe as they try and outsmart the angry gods. With part of the fun of the game being the seemingly immortal nature of these pygmies, it becomes a running joke in the comic, similar to Kenny in South Park and writer Jason M Burns and artist Rolo Mallada look to come up with more imaginative and exotic ways to smite these innocent island dwellers.
Pocket Gods: Comic is available as a free to download app with the first issue free. Subequent issues are available for £0.69/$0.99 as an in-app purchase.

Read our in-depth interview with pocket God creator Allan Dye and also our interview with Pocket God artist Rolo Mallada