Comic books aren’t always about spandex, superpowers, and heroic deeds. Sometimes it’s more interesting to cast the spotlight on characters who would rather goof around than fight crime, or have no qualms about killing to accomplish their goals. Oftentimes, their lack of superpowers makes them that much more relatable – and relatable main characters are always the basis for a great story.

Though they may not have Superman’s heat vision or Wolverine’s adamantium claws, these comic book characters are no less interesting or compelling. As for games based on indie comics, they’re something of mixed bag – but just because you don’t lay the supernatural smackdown on enemies in them, doesn’t mean they can’t be equally entertaining or engrossing. These are the best games based on comics with nary a superhero in sight…

This anthropomorphic animal duo got a fantastic revival thanks to Telltale Games, but their original PC adventure had such a charm and absurd wit to it that has yet to be topped. LucasArts perfectly captured the buddy-cop dynamic between the straightfoward gumshoe Sam and his maniacal little buddy Max, with hilariously quirky dialogue reminiscent of their comic book exchanges. Hearing the spot-on voicework for the detectives actually enhanced our enjoyment of the comic, imbuing that much more character into these mystery-solving miscreants.

The answers to the wacky puzzles actually felt like solutions that Sam and Max’s warped minds would devise, and the backdrops were unforgettable – what other game offers bungee-jumping from the nostrils of Mount Rushmore? Given that the creator of Sam & Max, Steve Purcell, worked for LucasArts and was heavily involved with the project, you know it must be good.

We're still tempering our excitement for Telltale's Walking Dead games – the episodic journey is, after all, only 2/5 of the way to completion – but there's no denying how strong the adventure series is so far. Only a few hours in and we're already mesmerized by the characters, completely smitten by the unique blend of quick-time events and puzzle gameplay, and totally blown away by how well Telltale was able to adapt the stressful world of Walking Dead to games.

The reason for this success comes in the strong story and the decision-fueled gameplay. Sure, there's no question as to whether or not we bash in the head of an undead monster – the real stress comes into play when we're forced to make more realistic choices: rationing food, saving or killing survivors, or simply deciding whatever or not to lie. It's enthralling, and we're praying the quality keeps up in future episodes.

With all the references that this delightful comic makes to the culture of video games, it seems only fitting that it made for a great game all of its own. It might’ve been released to coincide with the thoroughly-enjoyable film adaptation, but it owes most of its kinetic charisma to Bryan Lee O’Malley’s original saga of romance and gaming tropes. With the factors that comprise it, the game was all but guaranteed to succeed with fans of the comic and classic games: slick sprite-based graphics, frantic beat-‘em-up sidescrolling, minigames galore, and chiptunes by Anamanaguchi, it’s practically a fan-service slam dunk.

When you’ve got all four party members bashing onscreen baddies in unison, the game’s visual flair matches the cortex-stimulating art style and nostalgia-triggering stunts of Scott’s graphic novel escapades. If 16-bit games had actually looked and played like this downloadable, the world might very well be a better place.

Frank Castle may ultimately be fighting on the side of good, but his methods would turn the stomach of any other hero out there. If threatening, beating, torturing, or murdering a hapless thug gets the job done, the Punisher will execute his modus operandi with nary a guilty thought. His violent dedication to vigilante vengeance was captured perfectly in the PS2’s The Punisher from Volition Inc., the developers best known for the Saints Row and Red Faction series. It may have been framed around the film of the same name, but the game owes a lot more to the comic run that revitalized the Punisher as hardboiled crime fighter: Garth Ennis and Steve Dillon’s “The Punisher” (also known as “Welcome Back, Frank”).

Though this Marvel lead’s methods were horrifying by a hero’s standards, they were so over-the-top brutal that we couldn’t help but cheer for Castle’s unflinching bad-assery. Curb-stomping, deep-fryer head-dunking, and turning thugs into shark food aren’t out of the question in The Punisher – and we wouldn’t have it any other way.

It may prominently feature dragons and monsters, but Bone is far from your average high fantasy epic. What starts out like a seemingly simple comic expands into a massive fantasy world, filled with heartwarming characters that run the gamut from mysterious to endearing to downright goofy. Kids and adults alike are entranced by the story of Fone Bone and his cousins, and with its storied fandom from all ages, it was that much more ambitious for Telltale Games to take the series on as their second game project ever.

And for the most part, they succeeded with flying colors. Telltale seems to have moved on to other projects after the second episode in 2006, but the three-dimensional point-and-click adventure set the tone for future Telltale projects while capturing the charming essence of the comic we’re all so fond of. Great voice acting, colorful visuals, and pleasantly-designed puzzles make it clear that this game was lovingly crafted for Bone fans, by Bone fans.

His source of power may be supernatural, but we don’t recommend calling Jackie Estacado a superhero. When this young gun mobster was imbued with the ancient evil known as The Darkness, he gained the ability to mutilate targets in half with enormous sentient nether-tentacles and summon mischievous Darklings to do his bidding. There’s one thing stopping him from becoming an all-powerful demigod, though: all his powers are negated by sources of light. Jackie has to pick his targets carefully during a fight, making sure to strike from the shadows to maximize his offensive capabilities as he rends mob and gang members into bloody chunks.

The game captures the spirit of the comics’ vicious violence perfectly, with a myriad of gory killing moves and dual-pistol, dual-tentacle FPS combat that balances paranormal powers with good old-fashioned bullets. It also does a great job of emphasizing Jackie’s need to fight on his own darly-lit turf lest he be reduced to a mere mortal. No other shooter made us appreciate the delicate art of blasting troublesome lightsources to get the jump on our opponents like The Darkness games did.

You might know him from his long-running anime appearances or not-so-hot CGI film, but Astro Boy started out his robot-lad life in the pages of Osamu Tezuka’s manga over half a century ago. It’s impossible not to adore this android’s childlike demeanor and entirely innocent dedication to doing the right thing. Given his propensity for firing lasers out of his metal hands – much like Mega Man – it only made sense to have Astro star in his very own sidescrolling platformer. Putting its development in the hands of Treasure and Hitmaker was a stroke of genius – their expertise in the art of 2D shooting produced one of the best Game Boy Advance games of all time.

Flying around and zapping renegade robots was an absolute blast, and Astro remained chipper and cherubic throughout. The story even took things to a new level unseen in the comics, wrapping nearly every character together in one unprecedented chronicle that encouraged multiple playthroughs. Even if you haven’t read the comic, you need to play this game.

This French-made comic about an amnesiac assassin became one of the most memorable cel-shaded games in the 2003 release of XIII, bridging a stylized comic-pane style with stealthy FPS gameplay. Full of conspiracies and political intrigue, XIII’s plot was as enthralling as its shootouts, with plenty of twists and turns as the disoriented protagonist tries to deduce if he actually murdered the President of the United States. The gameplay was full of comic-style flourishes: pinpoint headshots and precision knife throws were commemorated with comic-pane close-ups, and it’d impossible to forget the first time we threw an enemy off a ledge and watched his death-scream of “AAAAAAAAAAAAH!” float out of his falling mouth in giant letters.

The game also featured an all-star voice cast; where else could you possibly find David Duchovny, Eve, and Adam West all working on the same project? The game covered a mere fraction of the 20-volume comic run, up to the end of the fifth volume; we wouldn’t mind seeing the story continue in a next-gen cel-shaded sequel.

The stars of the eponymous web comic are far from superheroes – Gabe and Tycho would much rather shoot the breeze or obsess over the latest games than rid the streets of evil. But their breakout video game took a decidedly different approach, pegging the duo as steampunk heroes in a turn-based adventure. Sure, why not? Fighting against an army of Fruit, uh…lovemakers, Tycho, Gabe, and their newfound buddy (that’s you) take to the Victorian-era streets to lay the metallic smackdown on these fruit-molesting machines.

With the same irreverent comedy, attractive art, and intentionally-bombastic prose that the comic is known for, mixed with scads of references to the RPGs of old, this is a surefire hit for longtime fans of the comic. The battle system is rock-solid, emulating the addictive timing-based attacks of Mario and Luigi: Superstar Saga. The third episode in the series was released quite recently; if you’re a fan of old-school RPGs, we definitely recommend checking it out.

If you’re a comic book fan who hasn’t played these games, you owe it to yourself to give them a go. Unless you can’t stand a hero that doesn’t wear a cape and have otherworldly abilities, you’ll find that these titles have a lot to offer, each of which are lovingly true to the source material that inspired them. Think we missed your favorite indie comic tie-in, or an awesome game based on a graphic novel? Let us know, and we’d be happy to consider adding it to the list!

To continue reveling in the greatness that is comics and/or games, check out our other features on the top 7 games that deserve comic book spin-offs and every comic book game review in GamesRadar history.