Among the online casino games based on comics are slots. There are many gaming enthusiasts who love playing online slot games based on comic books or their famous characters. If you’re one of them, here are some of our best picks worth considering:

1. Wonder Woman

Movies made on this famous superheroine have grossed millions of dollars at the box offices worldwide. This is the kind of impact that the female comic book character has on millions of individuals. You might wonder how the online slot version of the character is performing. According to the reviews, the reaction of fans are rather mixed on the game’s quality. It has 30 paylines and 5 reels.

This game from Playtech has an RTP of 95.34%, which is quite impressive. Those who are against this online slot game are of the opinion that it’s too volatile. What this means is the online slot has a few winning rounds and times of no wins. In this game, the Wonder Woman logo acts as a wild. It replaces all the icons on the reels besides the scatter.

2. Tomb Raider

This online slot version of the Tomb Raider features Lara Croft as the best-paying symbol. Tomb Raider comes from the reputed provider of online gaming software, Microgaming. It has 5 reels and 15 paylines. You’ll have simple graphics in this game as it’s an online slot game from the early 2000s. This doesn’t mean that the game is bland. It takes you on an adventurous tour with Lara Croft.

Your goal in this game is to help her find the valuable items. This is made possible in exchange for free spins and wins of real money. Upon triggering the Lara Croft symbol on 3 reels you’re rewarded 10 free spins. Any win in the round would return 3x the amount of your bet. When you trigger the bonus feature, you’ll unlock 12 idols. You can win up to 2,500 bonus points if you trigger 5 idols on the reels.

3. Justice League

Yet another fantastic slot from Playtech, this game is themed on the comic book series of the same title. The series from DC Comics has a long history featuring Batman, Superman, Wonder Woman, Aquaman, and other popular superheroes. This online slot game features six of DC’s famous superheroes.

However, all of them are not equal. The Flash would help you unlock 15 free spins. You’ll get 12 free games from Cyborg while Wonder Woman gives you 7 spins. Superman and Batman would pay you 5 and 2. If you trigger the JL Symbol on 3 to 5 reels, you’ll earn free spins.

4. Judge Dredd

This game comes from Next-Gen and is based on the famous comic book character from 2000 AD comic magazine. In the comics, Dredd is a police officer from the futuristic city of Mega-City One. The online slot game will challenge you to help Judge Dredd solve crimes in the city.

You’ll need to place a bet of $0.25 to $50 to win real money. Through the 25 paylines of this online slot, you can also adjust your bet. In order to increase your chances of winning, experts suggest betting on as many paylines as you can.

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It reached as far as Tokyo, where the Japanese businessmen would be found reading comics. During those days, the French artists were also creating comics with the right combinations of pictures and words. Often, comics are not given the importance they deserve in the world of arts.

Nevertheless, this art survives and thrives with the support of millions of comic book fans. Today, the influence and appeal of comics can be seen in the popular culture. It has inspired several movies and television shows over the years. Many novelists and artists have created some of their works based on the themes and characters of comic books.

Even with the overwhelming presence of the digital media, comic books have survived in some form or the other. Here we’ll take a look at some of the influential comic book artists:

1. Brian Bolland

Born in the mid-20th century, Brian Bolland was one of the first comic book artists to popularize British comics. He got his first job in the early 1970s after studying Art History and Graphic Design. His job involved working on a Nigerian comic called Powerman. In the year 1977, he got the opportunity to design 2000 AD and Judge Dredd. In the late 1980s, Bolland worked with Alan Moore, an iconic writer.

Their project was a book titled Batman: The Killing Joke. The narrative of this book explores the origin of Joker. It still remains a highly controversial Batman story. The graphic novel was one of the inspirations behind the famous portrayal of The Joker by Heath Ledger. It led to the massive success of The Dark Knight franchise.

2. Will Eisner

Born William Erwin Eisner in 1917 in Brooklyn, he is often considered as the father of graphic novels. Eisner was a writer, cartoonist, and entrepreneur. He had a great influence on the comic book industry and contributed immensely towards its growth. One of his most popular series was The Spirit. It went on to receive great praise for its innovative content and form.

Published in 1940, the comic book series was made into a live action movie in 2008. However, Eisner never got the chance to see his work coming alive on the screen. Will Eisner passed away in 2005. The Eisner Award was named after him. It is given as a recognition for achievements in the field of comics every year.

3. Osamu Tezuka

It would be a mistake to ignore the comic book scene of the Far East. Japan is the birthplace of ‘manga’, a popular form of comics. Osamu Tezuka is known in the world of comics as the father of manga. He was a Japanese cartoonist, animator, film producer, and activist. The comic series Astro Boy, Black Jack, and Kimba the White Lion are his most popular works. Many call him the ‘Walt Disney of Japan’.

Tezuka led the vast manga universe owing to his pioneering techniques, innovative skills, and redefinition of genres. By 1989, the year of his death, he had created more than 50,000 pages of manga. He had also created over 60 animations.

4. Steve Ditko

Ditko was born in the year 1927 in Johnstown, Pennsylvania. A reclusive artist, he was the co-creator of the iconic superhero Spider-Man. He was also the creator of Doctor Strange, one of the popular supernatural heroes. He studied in New York City at the Cartoonist and Illustrators School. Batman artist Jerry Robinson regularly mentored Ditko.

Later on, he worked on the legendary superheroes such as Iron Man, Hulk, and The Amazing Spider-Man. Ditko being a very reclusive genius stopped working with Marvel when it was beginning to gain success worldwide. Since the 1960s, he declined to appear in most interviews.

He was of the opinion that his work and not his personality defined what he had to offer. In the years that followed, he worked with DC Comics and small independent publishers.

5. Frank Miller

Most of the prominent works of this American artist, film director, and writer have been subject to harsh criticism. Despite the official critics and peers criticizing most of his works, they were quite successful. Some of his best known works are Sin City, Ronin, 300, Daredevil: Born Again, and The Dark Knight Returns. He is typically famous for dark and film noir style.

Miller is the man behind the transformation of comics and making them suitable for the mainstream adult audiences. His gritty and grim style was a differentiating factor of his artwork. It set his works apart from the more popular colorful representation of superheroes in comics. He is the winner of three Harvey awards, four Kirby awards, and six Eisner awards.

6. Jean Giraud

Jean Henri Gaston Giraud, popularly known as Moebius, was a French writer, cartoonist, and artist. Growing up with comic books, he went on to create his own comics during the years of his adolescence. He went through a formal training at the Institute of Applied art. Despite this, the French comic medium was his real school. The Franco-Belgian bandes dessinees tradition was his predominant area of work.

This caused a language barrier, which didn’t give him much of the global fame that he deserved. Although language came in the way of his worldwide recognition, many creators still hold him in high regard. Giraud created a variety of fantasy and science fiction comics in a surreal and imaginative style.

Among his most popular works was the Blueberry series. It was notable for featuring an anti-hero, which was one of the first in Western comics. The French artist also contributed concept designs and storyboards to many successful films. Among these movies were Tron, The Fifth Element, Alien, and The Abyss.

7. Jack Kirby

Born in 1917, Jack Kirby is considered as one of the major innovators in the field of comics. This influential creator of comics began his career in the 1930s. During those times, he worked on drawing comic strips using various aliases. He finally chose to sign his works as Jack Kirby.

Along with writer and editor Joe Simon, he created one of the most popular comic book characters, Captain America. Kirby had also worked for several publishers, creating some iconic superheroes such as The Hulk, Thor, and The X-Men. He was sometimes referred to as the William Blake of comics.

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This remote Gaulish village is located in the middle of the Roman Empire. Along with his best friend, Obelix, Asterix also embarks on adventures to different parts of the world. Obelix had fallen into a vat of the magic potion when he was an infant. This gave him extraordinary strength.

However, he is clumsy and often the reason behind frequent accidents and injuries in the village. He doesn’t have the permission to drink the potion of strength as this might make him even more destructive. The source of many comic mishaps are his attempts to grab some of the potion.

The creators

Asterix was the creation of illustrator Albert Uderzo and writer Rene Goscinny. The duo started working together in the year 1951. While working together, they created several comic book heroes and had varying degrees of success. Asterix first appeared in a French comic magazine called Pilote in 1959. This character was an instant success.

Following its immense success, the characters became a central focus Uderzo’s and Goscinny’s careers. After Goscinny died in the middle of the production of Asterix’s 24th volume, Uderzo continued creating Asterix’s new stories. He was both the writer and illustrator of the new Asterix stories. Despite this, he kept Goscinny’s name on the cover of all the volumes.

More about Rene Goscinny

Born on the 4th of August 1926, Rene Goscinny was a French writer. He was raised and educated in the Argentinian capital, Buenos Aires. After working in New York City on children’s books, he returned to Paris in 1954. While in the French capital, he was the director of a press agency.

Later, he became the writer for a comic strip called ‘Lucky Luke’. He met Uderzo in 1957 and collaborated with him on ‘Benjamin et Benjamine’, which was a short-lived project. They again worked together on ‘Oumpah-Pah le Peau-Rouge’ a year later. They had some degree of success with this comic series.

Goscinny founded Pilote, a French humor magazine in the year 1959. At the same time he also began publishing Asterix le Gaulois in collaboration with Uderzo. It was about the adventures of a small Gallic tribesman during Caesar’s conquest of Gaul. Asterix and his friend Obelix belonged to the Gauls, the only unconquered tribe. The Romans that they opposed are generally shown as stupid and clumsy in the comics.

This comic strip coincided with the rise of Charles de Gaulle’s to power in France. Apparently, it reflected certain widespread political sentiments of the time. Both Goscinny and Uderzo enjoyed considerable success with the popularity of Asterix le Gaulois.

Goscinny also wrote scripts for many other French comic strips. Among them was Les Dingodossiers, on which, he worked with Marcel Gotlib. He was also a principal in a French publishing firm. In 1967, Goscinny had the honor of being made a Chevalier of Arts and Letters.

The Asterix comic strip was translated into several different languages. It sold over 18 million copies worldwide after appearing in the form of a book in 1959.

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In the world of comics and pop culture of Europe, this was a landmark comic series. It also had an influence on other media such as science fiction films. They included The Fifth Element and Star Wars.

About the main characters

1. Valerian

Valerian travels with Laureline through space and time in the universe. He is from the 28th century born on planet Earth in Galaxity. It is the capital of the Terran Galactic Empire. In the year 2713, he joins the Spatio-Temporal Service. A classical hero, Valerian is strong, kind, and brave.

His training leads him to think that Galaxity is always right. As a result, he follows his superiors’ orders even if they’re against his morals. He does show some reluctance while following these orders. Although the name ‘Valerian’ has a Latin origin, it is believed to have come from Eastern Europe.

This character was created more as a reaction to the popular comic book characters of those times. They were mostly fearless boy-scouts or American superheroes.

2. Laureline

Laureline has a unique sex appeal that combines determination, superior intelligence, and independence. She is a strong French peasant girl from the 11th century. In the debut release Bad Dreams, she rescues her colleague Valerian from the Arelaune forest. However, he is forced to bring Laureline back to Galaxity with him. This happens after she discovers accidentally that he is a time-traveler.

During her time in Galaxity, she receives the Spatio-Temporal Agent training. Upon the completion of this training, she becomes the partner of Valerian. She usually sat in the background in the early stories while Valerian saved the day. With the progress of the series, her position changed. Her rebellious nature came to the fore in Welcome to Alflolol.

3. Mr Albert

Mr Albert is a retired gentleman living in the suburbs of Paris. He is the contact of Galaxity on the 20th-century Earth. Mr Albert has many contacts in the scientific as well as government circles. He also maintains contacts with several individuals whose expertise lie outside the mainstream fields. Mr Albert uses his carrier pigeons for sending messages to some of his contacts.

Always preferring to take his time to act on certain things, he is quite unlike Valerian. He doesn’t get involved in the thick of the action and likes to enjoy the finer things of life. Some of these things are fine wines and gourmet cuisine. Mr Albert first made his appearance in the volume titled Metro Chatelet, Direction Cassiopeia.

4. The Shingouz

These short-furred, brown creatures are aliens. They resemble the flightless birds, but have snouts instead of beaks. Shingouz have a preference for strong alcoholic beverages owing to their high degree of alcohol tolerance. They belong to an extremely capitalist society and always seek a profit from everything they do.

Valerian and Laureline strike up a relationship with three Shingouz. These three alien creatures are especially fond of Laureline. She uses this for her own benefit and strikes some favorable deals with them. The Shingouz made their first appearance in Ambassador of the Shadows.

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One of the largest distributors of comics in the English language has some statistics that provides some interesting insights. According to the statistics, Boston is one of the leading places in America with the most comic book shops.

In recent times, the superheroes are growing in popularity owing to the recent Marvel releases. As a result, there has been an increase in the sales of comic books across the United States. This has brought in some good fortunes to the local book stores selling comic books. Such shops can now be seen in many places across the country.

A more lively comic book scene

Boston has an active comic book scene and many of the local book stores agree on this fact. Some of them have been in business since many decades. It’s certainly amazing that the comic book stores in this part of the country continue to thrive. With the exception of Brooklyn, there’s hardly any other place in the country where you’ll see such a scene.

The high demand for quality comic books is partly to the city’s large population of college students. These books are also in great demand among the tech-savvy young professionals. Younger fans like them have also fueled the growth of geek media in Boston. This city along with New England has produced many talented comic book artists.

This has contributed to the immense popularity of comic books in the region. Boston and New England have a large concentration of colleges with students who appreciate literature and art. These areas are also home to several creative individuals such as Peter Laird and Kevin Eastman. They were the ones who came up with Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.

The change in demographics

You’ll know how far the comic book culture has come in the city from the annual Boston Comic Con. It was once a one-day show held in the Back Bay Events Center’s basement. Today, Boston Comic Con is a convention that has grown exponentially. In the recent years, this convention has drawn thousands of attendees. This is the kind of culture that comic book fans love to see.

Earlier, comic books were purely a superhero genre owing to the censorship that existed in the 1950s. During those days, they were considered as something meant only for children. Today, comics are an art form that the young and old appreciate. There’s also a wider acceptance of comic books as a form of literature.

There was a time when the comic books were used by young boys as a fodder for their fantasies. Over the years, the popularity of comic book culture resulted in a shift in demographics. Now, more comics that are about female characters release frequently for female audiences. They are written by women authors. You’ll also see more diversity in content that the authors come up with in recent times.

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The charm of some among them faded away over the years. However, a few others were able to withstand the test of time. These are the superheroes that are still revered in the popular culture. Here are the most popular superheroes who continue to entertain their fans worldwide:

1. Superman

There are very few who possess the admirable qualities of Superman. He stands up for everything that’s right and is unwavering in his conviction. Superman is a perfect example of everything that’s good in this world. He also reminds you that good always prevails over evil.

This fascinating comic book character is certainly the most influential among all the superheroes. There’s hardly any place in the world where people don’t know who Superman is. The Superman fans know that as long as he’s there, the evil forces won’t rear their ugly heads.

2. Spider-Man

Spider-Man is the most important hero of Marvel. Created by Stan Lee and Steve Ditko, this superhero is someone whom the readers can relate to. He faces the same mundane problems that the common people face. This is something extraordinary and is probably one of the biggest reasons behind Spider-Man’s success.

When he’s not in the superhero costume, he is Peter Parker, an orphan raised by his uncle and aunt. He is not born with spider-related abilities. He gets them owing to a bite that he gets from a radioactive spider.

3. Batman

From the fictional city of Gotham comes the most loved and respected superhero. This legendary character was the creation of writer Bill Finger and artist Bob Kane. Just like Superman, Batman pursues justice and fights the toughest guys for it. Despite this similarity, he’s quite different from Superman. He is not afraid to push the boundaries to ensure justice, while Superman goes ‘by the book’.

This would make everyone form certain opinions about Batman. What they must know is that this superhero does have a moral compass. He won’t go on killing those who come in the way of justice just to prove his point. When he’s not Batman, he is Bruce Wayne, a wealthy philanthropist and playboy.

4. Wonder Woman

Wonder Woman entered the comic book landscape when it was dominated by the male superheroes. She went on to become the third of the ‘big three’ in DC Comics. Thus, she proved to the readers of comics all over the world that girls can be heroes too. This American comic book superheroine was the creation of artist Harry G Peter and writer William Moulton Marston.

The story of Wonder Woman’s origin relates that Queen Hippolyta, her mother, had sculpted her from clay. The Greek gods gifted Wonder Woman her superhuman powers. She has fought alongside Batman, Superman, Green Lantern, and a few other superheroes of DC Comics. While doing so, she proved that she’s more valuable among the lot.

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It would be helpful if you give the other popular French comics a try. Besides providing you with a fascinating story, these comics help you know more about the typical French life. They’ll also help you make significant improvements in your French language:

1. Valerian et Laureline

This is one of the most renowned science fiction comic series in the French language. The comic series had a considerable influence on the Star Wars series. You’ll be treated to some action-packed adventures of Valerian, who is a spatio-temporal agent with dark hair.

He has traveled through space and time from the 28th century with Laureline, his red-headed female colleague. Together, they battle the rogue time travelers in order to protect time from them.

2. Les schtroumpfs

Les Schtroumps (the smurfs) comic books tell the tale of blue humanoids. They live in an enchanted forest inside mushroom-shaped homes. While living in the forest, they fight the evil Gargamel and Azrael, his cat. If you feel like studying French adjectives, this would be an excellent comic book series to read.

In these comic books, all the Schtroumps have names that match their personality. For instance, a DIY schtroump is called Schtroumpf bricoleur while a peasant schtroump is called Schtroumpf paysan.

3. Melusine

This French comic narrates the life of the kind-hearted Melusine, a red-haired witch. It tells you about her au pair experience during her time spent in a castle. Her life in the castle is all about doing boring alchemy work and mindless chores. This is not the kind of exciting and magical life that she had expected.

The young witch gets lucky as she also has the chance to attend a magic school. While she’s there, Melusine often interrupts the classes with accidents that are quite embarrassing. She also overdelivers regularly while attending her classes.

4. Becassine

This French comic came out many years before the popular comic, Tintin. It started off as a filler in a magazine for a blank page. Over a period of time, it became extremely popular. As a result, it became a complete comic series and a TV show later on. It was also the subject of a song by the French singer, Chantal Goya.

This comic tells the story of Becassine, a young housemaid who is from Brittany. In order to please the Parisian readers, her portrayal was of a typical naive girl from the province. When the comic became extremely popular, she was portrayed more favorably.

5. Largo Winch

This comic book series will make you wonder what might happen next as you hold your breath. Largo becomes the head of W group after the murder of his father Nerio. While heading the gigantic company, he discovers large-scale corruption in the world of finance.

The story has been published in two separate volumes. In the first, Largo always has a disaster awaiting him as someone seeks to take control of his company. In the next, Largo solves the problem and temporarily eliminates his opponent.

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He had an amazing mastery over the creation of funny running gags, slapstick violence, and amusing puns. Goscinny was also instrumental in co-founding Pilote, a French comic magazine. Besides being the chief editor from 1963 to 1974, he played an important role in its success. Among his greatest achievements is that he was able to raise children’s interest in a sophisticated form of comedy.

Early years

Goscinny was born in Paris to Jewish immigrants Stanislaw Simkha Gościnny and Anna Bereśniak-Gościnna in 1926. When he was two years of age, the Goscinny family went to live in the Argentinian capital, Buenos Aires. Rene Goscinny enjoyed a happy childhood and received his education in French-language schools in the city. He had a natural shyness, so he compensated for it by making everyone laugh in class.

Goscinny began drawing at an early age. The inspiration for it came from the stories that he enjoyed reading. His father died due to cerebral hemorrhage a year after he graduated from school. This forced the 17-year-old Goscinny to find a job. Although he got his first job the very next year, he was laid off in the year that followed. He soon got a job in an advertising agency as a junior illustrator.

In 1945, Goscinny went to New York along with his mother. To avoid military service in the United States, he traveled to France. He joined the French Army in 1946 and served in the 141st Alpine Infantry Battalion at Aubagne. Later, he was appointed as an illustrator of the regiment. After this appointment, his work in the regiment involved drawing posters and illustrations for the army.

Return to New York

After illustrating the book The Girl with The Eyes of Gold, Goscinny returned to New York the following year. While he was there, Goscinny had to face the toughest period of his life. For quite some time, he was alone, jobless, and completely broke. He was able to come out of this situation by 1948 and began working in a small studio. While he was the art director at Kunen Publishers, he wrote four books for kids.

He also met the chief of the World Press agency, Georges Troisfontaines, who convinced him to return to Paris. In the year 1951, Troisfontaines made Goscinny the head of the agency at its Paris office. While in the French capital, Goscinny met Albert Uderzo. This eventually led to a long-time collaboration between them.

Creation of Asterix and death

During 1959, the syndicate Edipress/Edifrance that he founded with Uderzo and two other individuals launched Pilote, a comic magazine. In the first issue of this magazine, he launched Asterix in collaboration with Uderzo. This comic series was an instant success and went on to become his most famous creation.

Goscinny died in Paris on the 5th of November 1977 from a heart attack. The Rene Goscinny Award has been named after him. It has been presented since 1996 to encourage young comic writers at the Angoulême International Comics Festival in France.

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Uderzo is among the most translated authors in the French language according to UNESCO’s Index Translationum. He is also the third most often translated author of comics in the French language. This puts him just behind the author Rene Goscinny and Herge.

Early years

He was born Alberto Aleandro Uderzo. His parents Silvio and Iria were immigrants from Italy. His name comes from a village located in Italy called Oderzo. Despite having immense talents in art at an early age, his aim was to become an aircraft mechanic. He officially became a French citizen in 1934. Those were the times of the Second World War. Uderzo was a teenager during those times.

Career as an artist

After the Second World War, Uderzo began pursuing comic art as a career in Paris. He started off with the creation of some interesting comic characters such as Flamberge and Clopinard. By the mid-20th century, he had created a few other comic characters. Among them were Belloy and Arys Buck. In 1951, he met Rene Goscinny and the duo soon became good friends.

The very next year, they decided to work together at the Paris office of World Press. This was a new office of the Belgian company. While working together at this office, they came up with their first creations. They were Jehan Pistolet, Oumpah-pah, and Luc Junior. In the comic magazine Tintin, they adapted Oumpah-pah for serial publication.

In 1959, Goscinny and Uderzo were working on Pilote, which was a new magazine for older kids. With the first issue of this magazine, Asterix was introduced to the French world. It was an instant success.

The Asterix series

Asterix le Gaulois was first published as an individual volume in 1961 after serializing it in Pilote. By the year 1967, the comic was already enjoying massive popularity. During this period, Uderzo and Goscinny decided to dedicate themselves completely to the Asterix series. After the early death of Goscinny in the late 1970s, Uderzo took up additional responsibility of writing.

In the years that followed, he continued writing and illustrating the Asterix comic books. The pace was significantly slower. The books averaged one volume every three to five years. When he was working with Goscinny, the average was two volumes every year. The cover credits of these books still read ‘Goscinny and Uderzo’.

In 1985, Albert Uderzo got the Knight of the Legion of Honor. He was inducted into the Eisner Award Hall of Fame, United States, in 2005. Two years later, he was awarded the Knight of the Order of the Netherlands Lion.

Death

After suffering a heart attack, Uderzo died in his sleep on the 24th of March 2020 at his home. Bernard de Choisy, his son-in-law, said that he felt very tired for several weeks before he died. He also said that COVID-19 had nothing to do with his death.

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