Digital Comics

I have come to appreciate the benefits of digital comic books. The only reason I'm not a hard-core subscriber to the Marvel Unlimited app is because I don't have the hardware to run it on a tablet. I will read on my laptop, but I prefer not to. My current favorite book, Girl Genius, is a web/digital comic first and paper edition second.

With my Marvel.com account giving me fits at the moment, I thought I'd see if there was any other digital love out there. Uh... digital comic love.... um... this is not getting better.....

I use two digital comicbook readers: Comixology and ComicGlass. I use DC's and Marvel's (and other publishers') apps as well, but only to buy and I then go back to the Comixology app to read.
I used to buy everything through the Comixology app, which is connected to my iTunes account, which was all very convenient. But ever since Amazon bought Comixology, you can no longer buy from the app and they refer you to the Comixology website instead. Once there, you have to go through some Paypal hassle and then download them to your comixology app. But I refuse to participate in that nonsense, so I switched to all of the publishers apps to buy (1 click with my iTunes account), and then read them from the Comixology app because I do want to have all my comics together and not spread out over multiple apps. I'm really annoyed with Amazon for making me go through all this and creating such a drag.

Anyway, I own an iPad Air, so the reading experience is awesome. The only improvement I can think of, is for Apple to create a LARGER iPad (there are rumours that they might…)

I noticed the "Buy" button had disappeared from my Comixology app, but I didn't know why. Aha. My iPad G1 serves just fine for reading comics right now. My biggest complaint is that I don't like paying full price for digital goods. You'd think the overhead savings at least would be passed to the consumer, but not so much..... There are savings to be had, but you have to hunt for them.

Have you looked at Marvel's "Infinite" imprint? They have designed the books for horizontal reading instead of vertical, panels overlap each other to create visual depth, word balloons trade places and there is a small amount of animation. I'm very impressed that they are taking the time to utilize the dynamic presentation possibilities of the tablet without making it seem like a slideshow or "motion comic".

mindspike wrote:

Have you looked at Marvel's "Infinite" imprint? They have designed the books for horizontal reading instead of vertical, panels overlap each other to create visual depth, word balloons trade places and there is a small amount of animation. I'm very impressed that they are taking the time to utilize the dynamic presentation possibilities of the tablet without making it seem like a slideshow or "motion comic".

Now THIS is what I've been waiting to hear about. When the digital comics format started up I said to myself (and any nerds who would listen) that I wouldn't touch them until they embraced the medium artistically (not just financially) and created something that can ONLY be experienced in the digital format. This sounds like a step in the right direction!

Well there are several for free download if you have a Marvel.com or Comixology account. Might be worth checking out.