I recently got an iPhone. I resisted for quite a while but the time was right. And since I got an iPhone and with the whole comics community going on and on about digital distribution, I figured I'd down load the top two digital apps (I've no interest in single company apps) and give it a go. Both out of curiosity as well as a future avenue for the distribution of my own comics. But first a bit of a disclaimer, I am very fond of print, I like the act of holding a book in my hands, the size of it, the smell of it, and all of that. Also I've never had much love for reading comics on a screen, and despite being a web comic artist, I've never been able to really get into reading them, unless of course it is a trade of a web comic. So there you know my biases.
Comics X by Comixology.
The first comics reader app that got was Comics X. This if all the chatter is to be believed is the most popular comics reader. And it shows their library of comics is extensive and deep. And the shop is easy to navigate taking it's cues from the iTunes mold. And as easily as I could think it, I had found the free sample comics and had downloaded a couple. I downloaded the first Wonder Woman story as well as Chew and Supergirl Cosmic Adventures in the Seventh Grade. These where chosen for their variety as well as being comics I've been wanting to check out. And then came the first hurdle, Guided View. Comixology Has created an interactive feature that guides you through the page, zooming between panels. And I hated it, at first. At times it was so touch sensitive that I’d be going to the wrong panel and other times I wouldn't be able to get it to change, This would not be a problem at all if I was using a tablet, I'd just turn the damned thing off. But without a good magnification function, guided view was the only way to go, on a phone. After a while though I stopped being an old phogey and came to terms with Guided View and am now working it like a pro. As to the reading experience, as mentioned before I don't care for reading from a screen, but the line work was represented well and the magnification that Guided View provided was big enough for a good reading. And the colours where of a richness I am totally unused to in comics. I'd say it was quite good not for me but I can see the appeal, plus I have some cool comics with me all of the time. The only flaw with Guided View is you can't really take in the page as a whole while reading it, but this more of a iPhone screen size problem than a problem with the app. If I was using a tablet, there would be no issue at all I'd turn Guided View off. With the comics I chose, I found that the reader worked best with the old and children's comics, due to their use of a stricter grid. I found many of the nuances of the modern art of Chew to be lost in Guided View, again only a problem on the Phone.
Graphic.ly
I also tried the increasingly popular Graphic.ly. This reader was of interest to me as it is the big time reader for Indie comics (aka me). I'll admit that I haven't really tried out this one as much. Firstly it's a social network as well as a store and I didn't find the search functions quite as user friendly as I'm accustomed to, but after a while of trying to find something good that was free (didn't want to be bothered with signing up credit card info I have no issues paying for comics) and having a hard time finding anything, I remembered my table mate from last year at A.P.E. Tom Ramirez had his first issue on Graphic.ly for free, So I downloaded Fighting Yamako Chan. And well I didn't really like Graphic.ly very much, on an iPhone. To be perfectly honest I loved a lot of things about the app. It presents itself in landscape as two page spreads. But there is no magnification feature other than the iPhone two finger technique. And I just found it a cumbersome read. And since I found it unpleasant on the Phone I left it at that. That said if I was using a tablet I think Graphic.ly would be my preferred app. As it presents comics the way I like to experience them.
So that's my opinion of the top two comics apps (at least as far as I hear about them) I probably won't fully embrace them, but they are good products, if you are inclined to use them. And I probably would if I didn't have access to good comics shops. I also checked them out to see if they where good at representing the comics themselves, and both did that in spades and I would be more than willing to put any of my comics onto either of these apps. In fact after using them especially Comics X, I'm willing to believe the hyperbole that “digital is the new newsstand.
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