So you want to read digital comics

 

Today I thought I would do something a little bit different and have a look at the various comics apps that are out there. 

In the last year or so I have got back into reading comics again and have to admit that I am quite enjoying myself. I started reading comics when I was a kid, then as a teen and periodically through my adulthood. Ever since watching the old TV shows like Batman (the Adam West one), Spider-Man (I am old enough to remember the Nicholas Hammond one in the 70’s) and Bill Bixby changing into Lou Ferrigno in The Incredible Hulk, I always read them. I used to swap them with my mates and get them from trips to the market when shopping with my mother (it was a reward for being good when out on those boring trudges around various shops)

As I have been reading more and more comics I have had to look at the way that I consume them, because let’s face it, reading comics is an expensive business. In light of that I started using digital platforms. I started off by buying the odd one on my kindle - well not the kindle per se, but the iPad app. I then got an online library membership for our local library and noticed that there was access to comics via their online app. However, whilst there is a good selection, there wasn’t’t any of the big two and whilst I didn’t mind this I do like reading Marvel and DC, so recently I got theirs too. Now I am reading on a number of different platforms. 

In this little round up I am going to have a look at the various apps and tell you what I think. Now I want you to know that I have no affiliations with any of the apps and this is just my opinion of a person that is currently using these apps, so I will be as honest as I like. 

There are lots of different apps out there and it depends what you read. Viz do one for Manga. There are various Manhua apps, but for the purpose of this article I am going to centre on western style comics as that is what I mainly read. In addition to this, Library apps are different in different parts of the country and vary in different parts of the world.

First up is the Marvel Unlimited app. 

Marvel Unlimited app boasts a library of 30,000 comics, both new and old. First up, as we all know, Marvel is part of the Disney Group and you will need a Disney ID to get started with the app. Secondly, let's look at the price.

The app works on a subscription basis with two tiers. If you want to do a monthly subscription its £8.99 ($9.99) a month, or a yearly subscription of £61.99 ($69). There is also something called Unlimited Reading which is priced at the same as the monthly subscription with the only difference being that the monthly sub will renew automatically every month.

Does Marvel Unlimited do a free trial? The answer to this is YES, but it is only for a period of seven days. In addition to this you can preview quite a number of comics for free, although you do have to subscribe to read the rest of the comic and the series. 

The first page that you see on opening the app is the Home page. This has the main reading recommendations in the form of a splash screen.

The page is then cut into the following sections:

• Continue Reading
• New this week
• Trending Titles
• Recommended Series
• Popular series
• Popular Characters
• Marvel Infinity Comics
• Event Reading Guides
• Reading Guides for you

In addition to this, there is the taskbar menu which has 

• Home
• Search
• My Library 
• Account

Usability - I have only been using this for about a month, and to be fair, not really much at that. In all honesty, I found it pretty cumbersome and difficult to use. When I have been looking for particular stuff, I have found it very difficult to find.

When searching for things I have found the results to be quite confusing, with the app giving numerous different results. One of the things that I like to do in particular is to find particular story lines. Some of these may be collected editions, for instance, the other day I was looking for a particular storyline. I think it was The Origins of The Hobgoblin, but what I got instead was the different comics that Hobgoblin had appeared in. In light of this I tried to refine the search using the filters, but again, this did not yield the results that I wanted. In the end I gave up!

There are other things that I don't like about the app as well, but as I am trying to keep things short I won't go into them here. 

Reading Comics - I tend to read comics a number of different ways. If I have my Ipad with me, I will read on that . However, I do also read on my phone. As you can guess, if you are reading on an Ipad, the comics are rendered pretty well. However, if you read on a phone there are two methods to read, those being the print layout or the panel - panel layout. Mostly, due to me having a decently sized phone, I tend to read in print layout with few problems. Yes I do have to alter the view at times or increase the size, but this is usually when I am in landscape mode for a double page spread. I have used the panel to panel function and it is pretty effective.

Conclusion - The app has a large selection of comics. However, it is cumbersome and takes some getting used to. 

Moving on, the next app to look at is the DC Universe Infinite. In terms of the library, it has 27,000 comic books and graphic novels from DC, Black Label and Vertigo.

Similar to the Marvel App, there is an initial 7 day trial. There are basically two tiers to the subscription platform. There's the basic plan which is charged on both an annual plan at £54.99 or £6.99 per month. Whilst this gives you a large range of comics, but unfortunately it's not everything, that's saved for the Ultra tier.  This is priced at £87.99 annually or £10.99 monthly. 

When you open the app the first thing you see is a splash screen for what is popular at the moment.

The page is then cut into the following sections:

• Dive Back In (continue reading)
• Ultra Latest releases
• DC Go latest releases (if any of you are used to webtoons, this is the DC version of those types of comics)
• Trending Series
• New to DC! Start Here
• Latest Collections
• Community Member of the Month

There are other aspects of the app that the curators think may be interesting. 

Usability. To be honest, this, along with Global Comics has become my main comic reading app. It's usually easy to find something, and you can usually find Volumes and Omnibuses. On the whole it's quite usable, although there are times when the app has crashed. 

One thing that I think it fails on is that there is not the cross platform crossover that I would like. For instance, if I read a comic on my Ipad, it does not automatically carry on on my phone and I have to find out where I got up to.

Reading Comics - On the whole it is similar to the Marvel app in its presentation of comics, page layout etc. One of the things that DC have adopted is the use of vertical scrolling comics similar to Webtoons. And now that DC have got this format, they have moved their comics to the DC GO part of the app. 

Now taking a detour from the big two, let's have a look at new app on the market Global Comix 

Global Comics was founded by CEO Christopher Carter and debuted in 2023. It is advertised as having a digital library of 50,000 comics and manga and has been growing at a steady rate since. What you will find here is DC & (and more recently) Marvel, as well as the rest of the big boys like Image & Dark Horse. Not only that there are a wealth of others such as IDW, Mad Cave and Top Cow, AWA and loads of others. 

There is no doubt about it, when you open the app you are greeted with a whole host of different titles. I would do a list similar to the others but it is just too big to list. 

The pricing is pretty reasonble with a monthly subscription of £6.99 per month or £69.00 per year.

The app has recently changed to give readers the opportunity to buy comics to keep and seems to have taken over the gap that comixology left.

Usability: On the whole, the app is generally quite usable although, personally, I think some of the recent changes have impacted the app. Particularly with the option to buy comics. I feel that this has led to some of the publishers hiding their comics behind a paywall and there is not as much access to some of the comics. 

In addition to this, the recent acquisition of Boom Studios by Penguin Random House has led to some of the big pulls of the app to be removed, such as the popular Something is Killing the Children. However, you can still read the entiriey of the Invincible universe and The Boys. 

Don't get me wrong there is a lot of choice and you can usually find everything you want, but if you are just perusing the app it can be a little busy and overwhelming. You also have a lot of other things like Manga, web comics, Webtoons and publisher owned comics.

Readability: This app functions quite similarly to the others. Similarly to the other apps, you can read comics over different devices with relative ease, with similar options like full page reading and panel to panel. Similarly to DC GO, some of the comics come in a vertical scroll format and function a lot like Webtoons and how they present their comics. 

Global Comix is a great app and has a lot of stuff that the other two don't - variability. This is mainly due to their partnership with a wealth of independent publishers and small contributers. In addition the the traditional western format, you can also find a good deal of manga if that is your bag with Kodansha also being available (although, again, a lot of these are hidden behind a paywall. 

The penultimate app that I am going to talk about is Comics Plus. 

Comics Plus is a really good way to read comics for free as it is usually used by libraries. The app has a variety of comics, mainly from independent publishers. Your are definitely not going to see Marvel or DC on there. Unlike the rest of the apps mentioned here, Comics Plus is the only app that has content for all ages, including children at the younger end of the spectrum to adults. 

When you open the app you will notice that instead of comics curated in the typical manner, the app is designed to hold shelves of different comics in different categories. for instance, there are curated picks such as:

• Silly Reads to tickle your funny bone.
• Spring into reading
• Manga inspired readalikes.
• Must reads for adults
• Young Readers
• Libros de Historietas (comics for spanish readers)

and a variety of others. 

Comics wise, there is a good selection of books that you probably wouldn't find anywhere on the other apps, such as historical comics and comics centring on black voices and history. 

Usability: Unfortunately, this is where the app falls down. This has definitely got to be the jankiest of apps when it comes to reading comics. It's not bad if you have a tablet, but if you try reading on your phone you are buggered. There is no chance. 

In addition to this the app at times has problems rendering comics on both phone and tablet and the finding of comics can be a little tiresome. 

Unfortunately it could do with some money spending on it to bring it kicking and screaming into the 21st century. 

Readability: As I have previously said, the app at times can be basically unreadable at times. I recall when I was reading the Blacksad comics I had all sorts of problems. The pages didn't render properly and it would regularly not bookmark the pages that I was on. And if I wanted to read on my phone, yo can basically forget it, because it is useless. 

The final app that I am going to talk about is Webtoons. 

I have talked about Webtoons previously, but if you want to read in you can find it here. 

Originally founded in 2004 by Junkoo Kim, the app ahs become a powerhouse for Manhwa stories. You will probably be familiar with a number of Webtoon Stories as a number of its comics have been turned into live action or animated shows, such as Kingdom or Itaewon Class on Netflix.

Usability: There is no doubt that this app is slick. The comics are set out as vertical scrollers that are purposefully built for phone use so it is easy. It can sometimes be difficult to find stuff that you like, but again it caters for a number of different tastes. In addition to that there are creator comics from lesser known independent artists. 

Readability: This app works really well. I have barely ever had any difficulties with it. It has changed since I first started using it, and I must admit that I don't like the new daily pass scheme which I feels hampers your ability to get into the story as you can only read a comic on a daily basis. However, if you can cope with that, then have a look at it. 

Whichaver way you go, happy reading.