Comixology

Comixology

A couple years ago, a friend of mine who reads more comics than anyone I know purchased a Nook Color to start reading digitally to save money. I advised him not to, not liking the display of color e-readers compared to e-ink and also not caring for the DRM of Comixology and related platforms. He (wisely) ignored my whining and has been a happy digital subscriber to a number of titles since.

And now, here I find myself with a Nexus 7 and a bookshelf filled with comics to the point that the shelves are starting to bend, looking at the prices of comics on Comixology and realizing what a good solution it is.

I had played with the app for a while on my crappy android phone, and while it was always decent, it never really impressed me. But Nexus 7's HD, large screen, makes the pages really look gorgeous, especially when zoomed in to the panel by panel view. I think I would even go as far as to say I prefer it to reading physical. I'm alternating between reading free comics provided by the app (their “12 Days of Free Comics” promotion is running during this writing and is really worth getting the app for if you haven't yet) and my Grendel omnibuses and Comixology is by far the better experience.

And finally, there's price factor. I was considering getting the Spawn: The Dark Ages complete serieshardcover for about $40, marked down from a list price of $60. But on Comixology, it's $14.99. So not only is the experience better (for me at least, so far) but it's less than half of the cost of even the Amazon price. That's really, really attractive to me. And I understand that single back issues are $1.99 typically. Right now I feel a little like the guy who kept buying VHS tapes after DVDs came out since I thought it would never catch on. (“Who wants to buy an expensive DVD player?”) And now I'm staring at that weighted down bookshelf, remembering how even a couple months ago I thought “Who wants to buy an expensive tablet?” as I went to comics shows in Philly and South Jersey hunting down great deals. A fun way to spend a Sunday, sure, but Comixology is competitive even with those prices.

And they don't charge admission.

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Check out the quality on this screen cap of a page of Wonder Woman:

And this screen cap zoomed into a panel of the same page:

Not bad huh? Highly readable, beautiful really.