Best Comic Reader For Windows 8

[z33dev33l]

I have 24 gigs of comics and comic jolt doesn't load them all. (it loads maybe half and then the other just sit there loading forever.) Is there a better option?

 

[DBDev]

What format is it?

 

[z33dev33l]

What format is it?

mostly cbr, a couple cbz. The format isn't the issue. It's the sheer quantity

 

[WillysJeepMan]

I have 24 gigs of comics and comic jolt doesn't load them all. (it loads maybe half and then the other just sit there loading forever.) Is there a better option?

No.

This is a classic example of how the pitiful selection of quality Win RT apps is hurting the platform. I've given up trying to read cbz/cbr files on the Surface. For those unaware, I specify cbz/cbr because there are books other than comics that are packaged in cbz/cbr. Classic magazines and catalogs are often distributed in that format.

 

[jhoff80]

Personally, I've found that the times ComicJolt has issues loading files are when the extension is one thing but the file type itself is actually the other.

A CBZ is a renamed ZIP file, and a CBR is a renamed RAR file and while many readers can ignore the extension and figure out what type of file it is based on the actual content, ComicJolt had issues with that.

I'd suggest making sure that if you rename it to ZIP or RAR that it opens properly first with that extension (assuming you have something that opens RAR files) and then rename it to the proper corresponding extension (cbz or cbr) accordingly.

If that's not the issue though, then I have no idea. :grin:

 

[z33dev33l]

Personally, I've found that the times ComicJolt has issues loading files are when the extension is one thing but the file type itself is actually the other.

A CBZ is a renamed ZIP file, and a CBR is a renamed RAR file and while many readers can ignore the extension and figure out what type of file it is based on the actual content, ComicJolt had issues with that.

I'd suggest making sure that if you rename it to ZIP or RAR that it opens properly first with that extension (assuming you have something that opens RAR files) and then rename it to the proper corresponding extension (cbz or cbr) accordingly.

If that's not the issue though, then I have no idea. :grin:

They work fine if I cut it down to say just my two gig deadpool folder but I literally can not have the others even on my memory card or else it does not load any of them aside from maybe the first two to 4 comics in a set.

 

[sashlon]

I use Comix. Its free and I have no complaints. Give it a try ��

 

[WillysJeepMan]

I use Comix. Its free and I have no complaints. Give it a try ��

Comix can't handle any of my vintage Sears catalogs in cbz format.

 

[U_M]

Try comicana relatively new but looks promising

 

[Schouffy]

Hi
You should check out Cover, I've been using it for a few days and it works great. There are many others but all had big flaws. This one is not perfect but pretty neat.
Cover app for Windows in the Windows Store

Enjoy

 

[Wayne Alderman]

Cover worked really well for comics. I tried POW reader and the Comic Jolt app, but both were subpar. Cover doesnt do everything cdisplay or creader does with display options, however, this is far more readable then the a fore mentioned apps.

 

[WillysJeepMan]

Hi
You should check out Cover, I've been using it for a few days and it works great. There are many others but all had big flaws. This one is not perfect but pretty neat.
Cover app for Windows in the Windows Store

Enjoy

Thank you very much for this suggestion! I downloaded Cover and lo and behold, it was able to handle my large cbz/cbr files. So far it is the ONLY app that has been able to handle these files.

 

[calfee20]

This thread has led me to download Cover. Wow it really works great. I have not been into comics since before high school so never tried much with them. I had some ender comics around on my PC from when I read most of the ender series. I looked at them last night and couldn't put my RT down. It is perfect for comics. Everyone complains about the Surfaces in portrait mode but I don't see how the experience could be any better. A 4/3 ipad would need to be letterboxed and the image would be smaller so I am sure the experience would suffer.

I was sharing all of my files with my PC so I didn't even have to down load anything............calfee

 

[WillysJeepMan]

This thread has led me to download Cover. Wow it really works great. I have not been into comics since before high school so never tried much with them. I had some ender comics around on my PC from when I read most of the ender series. I looked at them last night and couldn't put my RT down. It is perfect for comics. Everyone complains about the Surfaces in portrait mode but I don't see how the experience could be any better. A 4/3 ipad would need to be letterboxed and the image would be smaller so I am sure the experience would suffer.

I was sharing all of my files with my PC so I didn't even have to down load anything............calfee

Yeah, COVER is great. But I'm curious as to why you believe that 16:9 ratio of the Surface is superior to the 4:3 of the iPad. I examined some scans of the Enders comics, the results are interesting:

Enders: 1.51 : 1
Surface: 1.77 : 1
iPad: 1.33 : 1

The Enders comic pages appears to have an AR that is nearly mid-way between 16:9 and 4:3. Maybe its preferable to have the top of the next page peeking in at the bottom vs. having a letterbox.

Comics (in the US anyways) in general are slightly closer to 4:3 than to 16:9, but vintage magazines and catalogs are nearly at 4:3. The AR and retina display of the iPad makes it my preferred device for those media. But in the end, I'm just thankful that I can read all my cbr/cbz files on the Surface.

If I can track down RT equivalents of the 1/2 dozen iOS apps that I rely on, I could seriously consider replacing my iPad4 with the RT.

 

[calfee20]

I stand corrected. I was using my RT in the dark last night and didn't notice the top and bottom letterboxing. Then I let my anti "all things apple" get away with me. Oh Well!

 

[WillysJeepMan]

I stand corrected. I was using my RT in the dark last night and didn't notice the top and bottom letterboxing. Then I let my anti "all things apple" get away with me. Oh Well!

:grincry:

It all goes to show that there isn't one perfect AR for reading digitized printed media.

 

[MMertama]

I had a similar problem.

First I was thinking to port my Qt based reader (Symbian and Meego at Nokia Store: Download Qmics and many other games, wallpaper, ringtones and mobile apps on your Nokia phone) on WP.

But why I should write that exclusively on Windows?

I live in multiplatfrom/multidevice household and if the application shall be the same then I also shall be able seamlesly share content over my devices? Therefore I ended up to another direction. Now I have a comic book reader that works with any device that supports HTML5 (so far I haven't found any platform it won't be running)

But there is a catch: you need an web server :wink:

I just uploaded it under GNU license (so except some issues with setup and install...):
https://github.com/mmertama/Qmics

 

[onlysublime]

you guys didn't try CBReader? I love that app! Works great in Windows RT and Windows 8/8.1

I choose the tap method also rather than the tap/swipe method because the tap method lets me easily zoom and move around a page. When you choose the tap/swipe method, it's fine for swiping between pages but becomes a big mess when you want to zoom in and out and move around the page.

 

[WillysJeepMan]

you guys didn't try CBReader? I love that app! Works great in Windows RT and Windows 8/8.1

I tried it. It couldn't handle my larger cbr/cbz files. Every time attempted to open one, it closed back to the live tiles start screen.

 

[RajeevT]

Speaking of Cover, has anyone so far done the in-app purchase to unlock the unlimited library feature? I wonder how "unlimited" it really is? Has anyone ever tried pointing it to a folder on a USB HDD (not over the network which will of course be slow) filled with tens of thousands of comics in sub-folders?