DC Comics—the company that birthed Batman, Superman, Wonder Woman, and other iconic characters—has a robust digital comics mobile store in its self-titled, Comixology-powered Android app. DC Comics (free) transforms your Android tablet or smartphone into a digital comic book shop from which you can purchase new titles, as well as numerous back issues. DC Comics lacks a handful of features—such as the excellent shopping cart found in Comixology's own Comics Android app—but those who dig DC's larger-than-life heroes will like this app.
The Origin Story
This may be an obvious statement, but it's one that may be needed: DC Comics (the app) only lets you purchase and read DC Comics (the comic book line). If you've used Comixology (either the browser-based store or the Android or iOS mobile apps) to purchase books from IDW, Image, Marvel, or other publishers, you won't be able to download them to your Android tablet or smartphone using this app. That said, if you bought DC Comics titles via Comixology's app or site, you will see them under this app's My Comics section.
When you find a book that interests you, tap the issue or trade paperback icon to see the synopsis, creator credits, pricing, rating, and sample pages. Making a purchase is as simple as tapping a book's price icon, completing the buy in Google Play, and waiting for that issue, collection, or graphic novel to download. That said, DC's app lacks Comics for Android's killer feature: a shopping cart. It's not a huge loss in the grand scheme of things, but the cart's omission means that you buy titles one at a time instead of making mass purchases—it's mildly frustrating.
New digital comics such as Green Lantern ($2.99) are priced exactly the same as their paper-and-ink counterparts, which from a consumer's point of view may seem ludicrous. Still, there are some extra costs for making a digital book that offset the fact that DC doesn't have to buy paper and ink and pay shipping costs. A more unequivocal complaint: There are still many pre-2000s books that are conspicuous by their absence. For example, there are huge holes in the original Batman book—the issue count leaps from #25 to #159. If you want those books, you must take a trip to your local comic book shop (and possibly carry a lot of cash).
There are numerous freebies and 99-cent issues in DC Comics' catalog, but the $2.99 price point is the norm (collections, naturally, command more cash). DC Comics also lets you add books to a wish list, so that you can purchase them at a later time. As with any Comixology-powered app, DC Comics lets you sync comic books across multiple devices (and keeps your place in your books across all your devices, too).
Should you ever feel the need to pick up a print comic, clicking the Buy In Print option lets you find the nearest brick-and-mortar comics shop by keying in your ZIP code.
The Character Arc
DC Comics lets you scroll through a digital comic page by page as you would with a print comic, or you can use Comixology's patented Guided View technology. Activated by double-tapping a digital comic page, Guided View simulates the flow of reading a comic by guiding you from zoomed-in panel to zoomed-in panel. It's a useful feature that makes reading digital comics on smartphones an incredibly enjoyable experience, despite their small screens. Dark Horse Comics and Marvel Unlimited's apps offer competing panel-by-panel flows, but they don't match Guided View's well-placed camera.
In fact, there are a handful of digital comics created with Guided View in mind. These books are similar to motion comics, minus the more annoying aspects (voice work, forced panel movement). For example, Batman '66 uses Guided View to fade images into the panel, or pan toward objects just off-screen.
Like Comixology and Marvel's Android apps, DC Comics has HD comics support and Fit to Width. The former is self-explanatory, but Fit to Width resizes comics so that you can easily read pages when holding a device horizontally.
The Resolution
DC Comics fans who want the convenience of buying titles without visiting a comic book shop can do so with this well-designed app. Comixology's Comics Android app remains our Editors' Choice due to its wide array of publishers (Marvel, Dynamite, IDW, and more) and killer shopping cart that lets you purchase multiple titles at once. Still, DC Comics for Android is a terrific offering that demonstrates the advantages of comics going digital.
If you want to learn more about digital comics, check out Everything You Need to Know About Digital Comics, and 10 Digital Comics You Should Read Right Now.
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