Free and Legal Comic Books?
What would you say, if I told you there are ways to read and download comics for free? What if I told you there are legal ways to do it?
When I started collecting comic books they were $0.65 an issue. As a teen my monthly stack of comics was easily supported by an allowance that was used for school lunch and the occasional date.
Fast forward to 2012 comic prices were at least $2.99. I found myself having trouble reading text in print comics. Before I could get a new eye prescription I found digital comics. I could zoom in and read the diminutive text. The price of new digital comics were the same as print.
I know there were ways to get them for free. But I have this thing about not stealing.
What was a cheapskate with an aversion to dishonesty to do. I learned about public domain comic books. They were "classics" waiting to be read online. Free to read and Free to download.
Comic Book Plus, and the Digital Comic Museum are two sites that serve the same mission of preserving these forgotten gems. Both are still going strong to this day. Let's take a look at them. After the table of stats I'll share some final thoughts.
Please note that both sites are active and my information may be out of date sooner than expected.
| Details | ||
| URL | https://comicbookplus.com/ | https://digitalcomicmuseum.com/ |
| Content Types |
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| Number of Comic Books and growing | 42,941 reported on site | 22,842 (calculated by hand) |
| Download requirements | Registered User | Registered User |
| Download Limit | None at this time | None at this time |
| Download format(s) | .cbz, .cbr | |
| Online Reader | Yes | Yes |
| Online Reader Rating | 4/5 | 3/5 |
| Support/Community |
Forum based No personal experience to share. |
Forum based No personal experience to share. |
My Final Thoughts
The existence of two similar sites is wonderful. As far as I can tell the community of visitors and contributors are largely the same. I have found some issues on one site that were missing from the other. Which should be expected.
The reading experience for downloaded comics will depend on what device and software you choose to read with. I prefer to peruse comics on Comic Book Plus. The interface is more user friendly and the ads are fixed on the page. Digital Comic Museum's online reading is frustrating due to pop up advertisements that interrupt my experience.
Both sites are supported by advertising and donations. As far as I can tell neither site is making money beyond what they are using to support the sites.
As a fan of the sites, I hope that they both continue to thrive and that there is more than one person involved with their longevity.
If you are looking for new things to read, try reading something old. It might just surprise you how much fun you will have.
