Comics are wonderful things and, to this day, a guilty pleasure of mine. There's a beta starting up soon for a comic reader app on Windows Phone that you might want to join if you too like to read comics.
On Windows Phone, we had some big-name official comic reader apps in the past, but they've since dropped support. DC Comics, powered by ComiXology, was on Windows Phone at one point before support was pulled.
There are some good comic reader apps on Windows 8.1, like Comics by comiXology, POW! Comic Book Reader and others. However on Windows Phone there aren't too many. Comicana is probably one of the better comic readers on Windows Phone, but there's a new app coming that's going to give it some competition.
Cover is a comic reader currently available for Windows 8.1. It's a great app to manage and read your library of comic books in the following supported formats: CBR, CBZ, CB7, PDF and EPUB. Cover presents your comic library in a simple, but elegant, layout. It's a really nice app to look at any DRM-free comic book you've recently purchased.
Not sure where to legally buy DRM-free comic books? Believe it or not, a handful of publishers sell them on their website. For example, Image Comics provides digital issues for a lot (if not all) of their comics. Do yourself a favor and check out their series Saga at imagecomics.com.
Here's a full list of features currently available in the Cover beta for Windows Phone:
- Comic book management with shelves (folders), read/unread, page count, current page, etc
- Add folders to the library or open standalone files
- Supported file types: CBZ/ZIP, CBR/RAR, 7Z/CB7, PDF (beta), EPUB (images only)
- Supported image types: JPEG, PNG, GIF, BMP
- In-app purchase to unlock unlimited library
- Open files directly from Files app
- Indexed library for quick search
- Customizable page layout: single or dual page, fit width/height/page
- Pinch zoom, swipe et tap supported in reading screen
- left-to-right or right-to-left reading (aka Manga mode)
- Change page background color
- Display only recently read, unread, etc
The developer is currently looking for interested users to help beta test an upcoming Windows Phone version of the app. If you're interested in joining, please email your Microsoft account ID to support@frenchfrysoftware.com.
We can't wait to test out Cover for Windows Phone! What about you? Have any favorite comic readers on Windows and Windows Phone?
Don't forget to test out Cover on Windows 8.1!
- Download Cover for Windows 8.1 (Free/In-app purchases)
