If you love comics (or used to) but can't find comic shops in your area, your best bet is to make a bee-line to the web. Comic book guru Moray Rhoda investigates.

Comixology

Although registration is required before you can download, once you do, you’ll have access to a list of recent comic books that serve as good jumping off points for ongoing series. If you don’t have a PC, don’t stress, you can also access your account via iOS or Android devices. Your comics are stored in the cloud, while the download of comics onto your account is close to instantaneous, so you’ll be reading within minutes. 

Comixology also has hundreds (maybe thousands) of international ‘pay-to-download’ comics (including Velocity), while there are also a number of free titles available.  

Amazon Kindle

Amazon also has hundreds of international ‘pay-to-download’ comics, while you’ll also find more than 80 graphic novels available for free. These range from big companies like DC and Marvel, to smaller independent comic producers. The files are prepared for Kindle, so if you have a BlackBerry, Android or Apple devices, you simply download the Kindle app for free. 

An Amazon account is needed, but you can quickly and easily set it up in five minutes or less (go for a US one instead of UK). The process of getting a book delivered to your device is as simple as choosing download and entering the requested information. If you already have an Amazon account, this would be your best bet.

Thrillbent

Thrillbent is without a doubt my favourite comic fix online. They stay true to their motto of ‘comics for the rest of us,’ as all the comics featured on the site are new and specifically created for online delivery. This means there is no need to create an account or to download the files to a device, all you need is a notebook, tablet, smartphone or PC. 

More importantly, the stories were written and designed specifically for online delivery, so panels, pacing dialogue and action flows more cinematically than traditional comics, with each click of the mouse revealing new panels. If you have an internet connection and love comics, this will be your new hangout for a while.

Motion comics:  Find them here...

Motion comics come complete with audio and animation added to them, so they are halfway between a comic book and an animated movie.

www.digitalmotioncomics.com/free-motion-comics
Digital Motion Comics includes some interesting TV and gaming licensed comics such as Dead Space and Dexter. All the comics here are free.

www.madefire.com
Madefire is a reasonably new portal with proprietary software and brand new comics. They have also recently expanded into licensed properties such as Transformers, My Little Pony and Star Trek. Some free comics available, but requires a lot of searching.

www.marvel.com/motion_comics
As expected, this site provides comics from one of the biggest comic companies in the world.

Article first appeared in TechSmart 124, January 2014.