Some time ago I posted some general thoughts on reading comics on a computer screen. A question was posted to the comments regarding my thoughts on comics being read in CBR format, but I had never actually heard of such a thing, so I had no thoughts whatsoever on the subject. Today’s update at The Comics Journal has a bit of an explanation of the whole process, so I decided to investigate the matter myself.
CBR and CBZ files are scanned and compressed digital copies of comic books. Apparently they’re being traded en masse on BitTorrent. These files can be read using a CBR reader, such as Comical, which is available for OS X and Linux. As I said, these files are being traded en masse, although I had little success in my attempts to find a sample file from either BitTorrent or Gnutella. As with most file sharing, persistence is the only way to get anything, and I’m far too lazy for that. Luckily I stumbled across a comics retailer that offers a preview comic in CBR format, so I was able to download that instead.
Using Comical (once I went through the clunky process of installing unrar in order for it to work, as it originally froze every time I attempted to open a file) the experience isn’t half bad. It’s a very bare-bones program, but you can view one or two pages at a time, and zoom to various degrees. I found the lack of an interface a bit off-putting, but that’s just me being weird. I imagine the reason comics are traded in this format instead of PDF is because these files are compressed (using RAR for CBR and ZIP for CBZ), but Adobe’s PDF Reader is a far more full-featured program. But in all, it’s a reasonable format for reading comics.
While I doubt it’ll ever happen, I would love (read: love) to be able to buy my weekly comics in a high-quality digital format. Yes, nothing can compare to being able to hold an actual book in your hand, but individual issues are flimsy, and more importantly, they pile up like you wouldn’t believe. I have stacks and stacks and boxes upon boxes of comics, and it’s just getting worse with each passing year. Being able to pay $1 instead of $3 for each book in a digital format is nice, and with that extra cash I’d be able to purchase a collection for the stories I really like and want in a nicer format.
Why would I consider this to be a viable alternative, while the official CD comics that are out there are mostly just a mildly amusing distraction? Because this is just the comic itself. There’s no animation, no music, no cheesy sound effects, just the comic itself, presented in a straightforward manner. Like I said, it’s doubtful it’ll ever happen, But I would like a way to keep reading comics every week without the annoyance of those stacks of comics
You know what might do it for me? If my monitor were big enough and the images were at a high enough quality that I could display a full page on the screen at a time in a legible format, then push an arrow button for the next page. If I have to scroll down or across through a comic (or, worse, both), then it becomes too annoying. I want to spend more time focused on reading the comic and less on the interface.
Past that, I’m not totally against the idea, tho I do love my paper. I just don’t have enough room to store any more of it anymore. I have to either sell off/give away chunks of my collection, or rent a storage locker of some sort.
-Augie
My screen here at work isn’t large enough to display a 100% zoomed comics page (let alone two) but my nice, beefy LCD at home definitely is.
I’m in a similar boat with my paper pileup. I’m afraid I’m going to have to start selling off large portions of it just so I can reclaim some of my closet space.
CBZ and CBR files are just ZIP and RAR files, respectively, containing JPEGs of each page. An alternative to using a reader is just to extract ‘em and view the JPEGs with an image viewer, like ACDSee, which generally have more flexibility with viewing images (totally full screen, adaptive zoom, easy scrolling, hit spacebar to go to next image).
Ohhhh…okay. That’s actually kinda cool, because Apple’s Preview app has all the right features for this sort of thing.
Dont forget that digitakl paper is coming. And well be able to read comics in devices that are as good as regular paper.
See
http://www.eink.com/graphical/index.html
Right now it only works black and white though :P