Comic Express is the latest app from Not A Basement Studio, the developer that brought us the excellent Manga Rock set of applications. However, Comic Express doesn’t feel like it hits quite the same sweet spot as Manga Rock did. There are already several great comic readers on the App Store, and I’m not convinced that this one really brings anything new or significant to the overall picture.
That’s not to say that comic express doesn’t get a lot of things right, though. Like Manga Rock, Comic Express is a universal application that can be used on the iPhone and the iPad and it reads a wide variety of file formats (RAR, CBR, CBZ. ZIP). The reading experience is also very similar to Manga Rock’s, allowing you to swipe through your comics by turning the pages, or by simply laying the entire comic out as a vertical strip that you simply scroll right through. This can be a little cumbersome on the iPhone, but it’s awesome on the iPad.
Empty Library
Comic Express doesn’t have any tie-ins to popular comic stores, and it doesn’t provide any hints as to where you might find more comics to download to your device. So while the app does allow you full freedom to import and organize the comics you do have into collections, I found it a little underwhelming to start off with such an empty library (featuring two low resolution comics). It’s also probably a bit of an oversight that the instructions in the app simply assume you have content already.
Stanza vs. iBooks
Back in the earlier days of the iPhone I really loved using Stanza to read ebooks, but then Apple came out with iBooks and I found I enjoyed their more ornate interface and seamlessly integrated bookstore far more than Stanza’s. There was a major difference in the level of polish and user-friendliness between the two apps, and that’s really what made me use one over the other. Comic Express reminds me very much of Stanza, which is unfortuante in this case, since I already have my “iBooks” in an app called Comic Zeal. The latter not only features a gorgeous UI with innovative gestures, but it provides me with the option to import my own content, or download a couple of free comics right from within the app. I believe little touches like this make all the difference, and I think Comic Express could use a few more of them.
Conclusion
I dislike writing reviews where I draw direct comparisons between two similar competing apps, but it makes sense to do so in this case. I don’t fault Comic Express for a lack of functionality, but I do think it was a little late to the party this time. I also believe the app would be a lot friendlier to newer users if it gave them a few suggestions for comic websites or vendors to visit, since (legal) comic files are not exactly the easiest thing to find on the net.
Comic Express has made a decent start here at just $3.99, but it will need a few more killer features to really put it on the map – especially since the competition (Comic Zeal and other comic readers) have enjoyed such a head start.
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Comic Express was provided by Not A Basement Studio for review on iSource. For further information regarding our site’s review policies, please see the “About” page.
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TAGS: comic reader, ipad comics
