App Review: ComicZeal
Category: Entertainment
Publisher: Bitolithic
Size: 9.4 MB
Price: $2.99
There have been many book readers on the app store lately, but it’s been hard to find good comic readers. ComicZeal brings this functionality to your device in a very nice package.
When you first download ComicZeal, it is preloaded with some samples of Golden Age comics. If these aren’t appealing to you, just swipe you finger across the one you want to delete. You can add more Golden Age comics from the app itself, or you can add your own comics. More on that later.
ComicZeal does a great job of organizing all your comics. First of all, the comics are placed on individual shelves. If you have more than one of the comics in a series, all the issues of that series are placed in a bin. When you’re in the middle of reading a comic and exit, the next time you come back, there will be a bookmark holding your page. Finished comics are placed in a plastic sleeve, so you get that feeling of collecting them.
Now, to add your own comics, you have to install ComicZeal Sync on your computer. You can add .cbr, .cbz, or PDFs and the application will convert them to work with ComicZeal. To sync, you have to open up ComicZeal while your device is connected to your computer. The computer software is not perfect at all. The UI could use a little work and it could be made a little more stable. However, it does get the job done the majority of the time, so you will be able to read your favorite comic on the go.
Now, when actually reading a comic, you can choose either portrait or lanscape mode. You can pinch and zoom, and you can swipe left to right to change page or swipe down to go back to your shelves.
Overall, ComicZeal itself is great for viewing comics. It has all the functionality you need, and a great layout. It’s a shame, though, that the sync application is not as good as it could be. I’m not saying the app itself is not good; I think any comic reader should have it. But the truth is, the sync software is holding it back. 4/5
