Did you used to enjoy reading comics and would you like to do so again? Which can! And that’s nice and easy on your iPhone or iPad. We tell you how!
Read comics and comic books digitally: easily on iPhone and iPad
Admit it: sometimes it’s quite fun to immerse yourself in a comic strip. It doesn’t matter whether you follow the adventures of a wealthy duck, the man of steel or… four turtles from New York.
No matter what you think of it, there is a comic about it. In the past, you could easily walk to the store if you wanted to read a new adventure from your favorite superhero. But nowadays that has become a bit more difficult, because in many places comics are no longer for sale or the supply is very limited. Fortunately, there are now better alternatives: you can now easily read (and buy) comics digitally on your iPhone and iPad. Moreover, there is plenty on offer and something for everyone!
You actually don’t need to download anything extra for this on your iPhone or iPad. Because the app you use for this is probably already on your iPhone or iPad. It is the Books app, which not only allows you to read written adventures. Because you can also use this app for audio books and your own PDF files, among other things.
Searching for comics in the Books app…
The Books app is packed with comics and strips, but they are a bit more difficult to find than the enormous range of reading books. The reading books are very prominent on the ‘Book Store’ tab of the app. Comics are hardly to be found here.
The easiest thing to do is to use the search function and enter the name of the comic hero or comic. For example, if you search for ‘Superman’ you will immediately see a whole list of comics, books and even audiobooks in the results. You must keep in mind that the comics are generally only in English.
…and then buy comics
The prices of the comics vary considerably, and the price tag often depends on the age of a comic and how many pages the booklet has. To find out the number of pages, tap the comic, scroll down until you see “Genre” and swipe left.
Have you found a comic or strip that seems interesting to you? Then you can first view a fragment (a number of pages) for free. You do this by tapping on the strip and choosing ‘Fragment’. You can then immediately see whether you think the quality is good enough and whether you enjoy reading it. Here you can also put a comic on the ‘Want to read’ list. So that you can easily find the comics later if you don’t want to buy them now.
If you actually want to buy the comic, you can immediately tap the price in the overview. It is also possible to first open the comic and then select ‘Buy’. You then pay with your Apple ID, just as if you were purchasing an app from the App Store.
Read comics in the Books app
Once you have purchased a comic, your purchase will end up in the ‘Library’ folder. You can start reading right here. You open the comic by tapping on it.
When you tap on the right side of an open comic (left if it is a Japanese comic) you go to the next page. By tapping on the left you go back a page.
If you tap in the middle of the page, a few options will appear. By tapping the arrow at the top left you return to the library. At the bottom of the window you can quickly scroll through pages. The hamburger menu (the three lines) gives you an overview of all pages in the comic.
Other apps to read comics
Do you already have digital comics as files on your Mac? And would you also like to read it on your iPhone or iPad? Then you can also use the Books app, but this is especially useful if you have PDF, EPUB or iBooks files of books.
Comics that you buy digitally are often in a special format ‘.CBZ’ or ‘.CBR’. The easiest thing to do is to use an app that is specially made for comics. One of the better apps is YACReader. Just remember that you have to send the files to the app first. This can be done via AirDrop, for example.
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