Developer: ComiXology
Price: FREE
Verdict: Comic fans and iDevice owners need to have this on their iDevices
Pros: Fantastic way to read comics on the go
Cons: Could we get a paid subscription service? No DC Comics at this time.
There are a few of us here at Comics are Evil who are horribly impatient. We enjoy taking in great art and engaging story-lines no matter where we are at. We just have a bit of want the it now syndrome. The rise of the digital comic is feeding this habit like no tomorrow. The PSP Comic store and Marvel Digital Comics Unlimited are both great services to feed this lust at home and work. But what happens when you’re traveling and don’t have a laptop with internet to browse the Marvel catalog and your PSP is at home? Grab the iPhone and hit up Comics by ComiXology that’s what! Yup, our ever growing need for instant comic gratification is enhanced even more by this stellar app on the iPhone.
The app can feel a bit slow at first. Keep in mind that it is doing a lot of updating and information pulling upon its first few launches. Patience will bring its rewards though as this reading experience is one of the best on the iPhone. Having a wealth of features at one’s finger tips while on the go is well worth a fraction of your time!
can you say "cover flow?"
Every time Comics is opened, it will do an update. It is looking for updated comics, store offerings, chart changes and more. The first time this happens it takes a minute or so to pull all this information down to the iPhone. Once it is done, the subsequent updates take but a few seconds and don’t really hinder the experience.
The controls are very simple and easy to understand. Tapping on the right side of the screen to move the comic forward, left side will go back, and middle will allow some panning around the current panel. Pinch, or double tap, to zoom in. Reverse pinch, or another double tap, to zoom it. The controls are all very well laid out and work really well. It is nice as one does not need to think about the controls and can pretty well just start using the reader.
Navigating through the app is almost as easy as thumbing through a comic itself. At the bottom of the screen you’ll find the ever familiar home, featured, free, top 25, and browse features. The top of the screen lends to the featured, new, popular, and rating search options. Comics that have been freshly downloaded show up on the home page under Just Downloaded. You can search the store and your collection by Series, Creator, Publisher, or Genre. Comics that are currently being read open up right where they were left off. Overall, the whole process really feels geared towards getting users to the comics they want and into reading them. It is a nice touch.
Comics does a great job on presenting your chosen reading pleasure as well. Different panels will come in portrait or landscape. This reader easily handles those situations with a simple turning of the phone. ComiXology has done a pretty good job of keeping the panels the same orientation to reduce all the flipping around of the phone. We appreciate this….a lot!!
even the tutorial is fun in this app!
A feature we often refer to as ‘flow’ shows up in this app as well. Comic flow makes reading a digital comic very easy; it’s what makes comics like Moongirl #1 as enjoyable as they are. Comic flow simply travels where the eyes would normally travel on the pages of a physical comic. For a digital comic, especially one being displayed on a small screen like the iPhone, this is a huge help. It not only speeds up the reading process, but it helps with navigating through the comic. The PSP and Marvel Digital Comics both use this type of feature and we love it. You do not have to use this feature if you don’t want to, but we recommend you give it a try at the very least.
What is a comic reader without the comics? Nothing, that’s what it is. Luckily, ComiXology has a great variety of comics available to users of this app. We are not just talking small unknown publishers, either (not that there’s anything wrong with unknown publishers). Top Cow, Marvel, Image and many others have offerings available on this digital store. Hopefully we will see more publishing houses taking advantage of this growing market. DC, we are looking at you right now! Very much looking! In your direction!
Prices here are not out of the ordinary for a digital comic. Prices pretty well stick to the $0.99 – $1.99 range. Sure for a dollar or two more you could get a paper printed copy. You can’t do that sitting at the airport though. Besides, most people take their phone everywhere they go. What better way to bring along some great reading material without all that worry about destroying a comic book. Also, as many of us are grown adults, the shame of reading a comic book is ameliorated by “hiding” it behind an iPhone or iPod Touch. Just lookin’ at a spreadsheet, Gus!
he's baaaaaack
There are not only paid offerings here, though. There are plenty of free comics to fill that handy dandy iDevice with as well. Ever thought about checking out Wanted #1 but did not want to pay for it? You can try that free with this app. New free comics get added as well. You could get in a bit of light reading and probably never pay for a comic if you really wanted to.
Purchasing a comic is just as easy as it is buying an app in the iTune store. Find a comic, click buy, and enter your password. Everything is done nicely and easily without having to deal with extraneous extra accounts. Keep in mind that this ease also makes it very easy to spend your paycheck increasing that library!
One of the best features we like is that an account created on the iDevice carries over to the ComiXology website as well. They really thought this through and have made the whole experience pretty simple and painless for users. Why don’t more developers follow this type of thinking?
One of my complaints is that this great app is not on the Android platform. I carry a Moto Droid around and would love to see this on the Android Marketplace. Sure, it might be a smaller audience, but still a bit of an audience none the less. Beside, the screens on some of the newer Android phones are phenomenal. More colors and twice as crisp as the iPhone/iTouch. Just sayin!
you know you want some
Lastly, we at CrE would really enjoy a paid subscription service. Something like what Zune has with their Zune Pass. I’d be more than happy to put out $15 – $20 a month to be able to get unlimited comic downloads. I know I wouldn’t “own” then, but then again I just want to be able to read all the comics my grubby eyes could digest. So what say you ComiXology….could we maybe see this as an option in the future? Please!
Those of you who have an iPhone/iTouch really need to check this out. It has become one of my most heavily used apps on this platform. Sure the iDevice screen might be a tad small, but just think of what this will look like on the iPad! Exclamation point! No matter the device you are using, however, this is a simple and convenient way to read some great comics. Now quit reading this article and go get Comics for the iPhone!
