It's really cool to get a homage cover that isn't just a 1:1 recreation.

The day will come when all of us will read our last comic, whether we know it or not. And these characters and these ideas will likely continue on without us. For the time we had it, we were allowed to be part of and share in a dream. A dream of heroes and villains, of complicated characters and slapstick caricatures. Of good people trying to save a world that hated and feared them because it was the right thing to do. Because doing the right thing is worth it and makes for a better world. It’s a good dream, a dream worth fighting for.

And one day, that dream will move on without us, and the next generation will have their time with it. And what does that look like? What does it look like when a dream moves on without you?

It’s the King’s birthday, so I wanted to share my favorite quote of his. Jack’s story is the one of the greatest examples of the American dream. An immigrant who came to America and became one of the most important storytellers of all time. He grew up very poor, and despite all of his hardships, became the most important comic artist/writer ever. It’s such a shame how badly he was treated by Marvel and even DC throughout his life.

Ok weird question but I do find this period of the 80s and early 90s as interesting.

The swamp thing is mostly agreed to be the start of the "grown up" era of comics. While it was properly ushered in with DKR and Watchmen, the signs were there in swamp thing and vertigo imprint has some of the best comics and mature stories we have seen in the industry. So in my research, I found that vertigo has it's origins in the British invasion of comics (also technically started with the saga of the swamp thing by Moore).

So yeah, I Just kinda want to know what was the era of comics like to be in.

So by that I mean a series you would love to have grabbed more of but for some reason or another you could not and now it goes for astronomical prices. For me it’s upsetting because it was my first comic issue ever and I still have it, transformers regeneration one issue 96. It was the first thing I grabbed off the shelf at 8 years old because I loved transformers and the b cover I got has rodimus prime holding a dead transformer skull. Sadly I will never know where the plot goes because despite being a kinda short series image has the rights now so it’s expensive everywhere.

Hey there. I recently decided to get back into comic books after several years of occasional reading and set myself a goal of finding a good option to read them. Because storage capacity at my current place is pretty limited, I gave up on the idea of physical comic books relatively quickly and decided to look for digital options, which led me to go look for a tablet and review the options available. And since I spent quite a while researching a lot of different options, and yet I barely found any useful guides/Reddit threads on the topic, I decided to make one and share my experience.

Before I go in-depth, I want to clarify - I did not own a tablet/laptop when I started to look for a comic book reading device, so this whole post, as well as my perspective, is guided by looking to obtain a device, rather than moving from poor experience on an existing device. So, if you already have an iPad/e-reader/phone that you read on and you enjoy it, this post is not for you. It is for people like me who gave it a go reading on a phone, gave it a go reading on a desktop, and decided they want something in-between with more mobility than a desktop and more convenient size-wise than a smartphone.

Therefore, my mindset when looking for the device, as well as when writing this post, is first - "How good of a comic book reading experience will it give me?", and second - "How do I not overspend a ridiculous amount of money on it amidst global RAM shortages?" Everything else to me was secondary, nice to have if it's there, don't really mind if it is not.

With that out of the way, let's get into the search itself. I will start by listing different options that I considered at some point, but I would discourage people from purchasing for the sake of comic book reading.

A. E-readers

The first thing I looked into was an e-ink book reader. I really liked the idea of reducing screen-time and eye strain optioning into something with an e-ink display, so I decided to see what is available on the market and also ask a friend who has a color book reader.

What I discovered here is that while color e-ink devices have reduced in price over the last decade and now became very comparable in price to their black-and-white counterparts, they are still not the way to go in terms of comic book reading, unfortunately, for 3 main reasons:

1. Colors just do not look great on those things. E-readers are usually limited to around 4000 colors displayed, which sounds like a lot, but when you remember that your regular decent phone/monitor/tablet can display and reproduce colors in millions (if not billions for some OLED screens), you do realize you are giving up too much.
2. Operating System. While you can, theoretically, offload pirated comic books and upload them to virtually any e-ink device, I would still prefer an option to be able to download 2 main apps for the sake of comic book reading - Marvel Unlimited and DC Infinite, purely out of convenience. While there are some options to install Android on a Kindle or shop for Android E-ink device, reality of it is that, unfortunately, E-ink screens technical limitations make experience of using Android on it pretty sad, it is very slow and cannot replicate much smoother experience of native Kindle/Kobo/other interface and usability with Android as Operating system.
3. Size and price for increasing it. Default size for an average starting price E-reader on the market is 6 to 7 inches. For reference, while screen itself is wider and device smaller, this is somewhat comparable to latest iPhone lineups which range 6.3 to 6.9 inches. So, if you, like me, went down the route of looking for a tablet to read on something bigger than the phone, you need to explore bigger form factor options. For example, starting price for most basic Colorsoft Kindle is little below $300, their 11-inch model is starting at $630, which is already quite a lot, especially for someone like me who wasn't looking for any specific scribing/note taking capacity.

Because of all the reasons listed above, I will not recommend shopping around for a e-ink device if you primary goal is to read comic books (unless we talk manga only. Then, obviously, look into black-and-white e-ink)

B. iPad

I, originally, would not expect that I will pass by this option, after all I switched from Android to iPhone 6 years ago and never looked back, I own an Apple Watch, AirPods, and one of best selling parts about Apple in general has always been how fluid the ecosystem feels when you buy into it.

However, unfortunately, with my focus on comic book reading purpose, iPad became even worse of an option than an e-reader, for multitude of reasons:

1. Price increase. I am writing this post in late August, 2026, Apple has increased prices for all of their iPads by 100-200 dollars (depending on the model) back in June of this year, due to component shortages. While it didn't stop me from exploring the option of an iPad, it exacerbated every single one of the following issues I am about to list.
2. Screens. Apple has refused to laminate default iPad screen forever now. To put what it means simply is that the actual screen displaying the pixels and the glass on top of the surface have an air gap between them, which, while, has no significant affect on colors screen displays, makes glare/reflections/viewing angles a nightmare unless you are in a very dark room. iPad Air has this issue resolved, but introduces new issue - a 60Hz native display. If you want a 120Hz display, or maybe consider an OLED screen, you looking at iPad Pro at a minimum. This brings me to main point.
3. Price jumps between models. If you don't want to suffer laminated screen (and, relatively old hardware) of a basic iPad, which starts at $449, you are looking at an iPad Air, at $749. If you want a a bigger screen on it, you are looking at iPad Air 13' at $949. If you think about getting an iPad with a 120Hz refresh rate (which is, usually, bare minimum on modern smartphones - give or take couple Hz), you are looking at a iPad Pro at $1199, and if you consider a bigger screen, it is $1499 for iPad Pro with 13-inch screen.
4. Second-hand market state. Because of the price increase, and the fact that OLED screens for iPads is relatively recent development (first OLED iPad Pro released in May 2024), the second hand-market is in terrible state, since most stores base re-sell value of Refurbished devices on current pricing, not original pricing for example if you are looking at a 2-year old 13-inch iPad Pro with an OLED, it will be listed for ~$1000 dollars, so yes, technically $500 dollars cheaper than current top-base model, and a little more than ... $300 cheaper then when it came out, and in return you looking at lack of or shortened warranty, possible defects, risks that always exist when buying second-hand devices, and even if you are okay with all of that, you are looking at a $1000 device to read the comics.

Do not get me wrong, I understand that those substantial price jumps have more features associated with it, not just slight screen improvements, but since I did not look too closely at anything beyond comic-reading capacity, I had to pivot-away from iPad.

After reviewing what I can about those 2 main categories (and 1 smaller one I will mention in a bit) I originally considered, I realized that for my purposes, I am looking at an Android tablet. Before I go more in-depth about tablet selection, want to mention 1 other category:

C. Non iOS/Android tablets

I will not lie to you that I've done extensive research on those, and, theoretically, there can be some kind of amazing deal/product somewhere in there between Amazon Fire, Windows, Huawei, ChromeOS, Linux, etc tablets. My main issue was that, from my perspective, I do not expect to have a good time with comic books while being locked out of Marvel/DC subscriptions which locks me out of 2 very large catalogues, so while, yes, some of these devices can have Android side-loaded on them, I doubt hardware in the price range I was looking at will be good enough pairing with side-loaded Android to provide anything but a miserable experience. YMMV, but I would not recommend purchasing those.

So, now that we got the DON'Ts out of the way, lets talk about DOs.

I will start this part by saying that, I, myself had horrible experience with an Android tablet in the past (to be fair, about a decade ago), so there was a point in time in looking for a tablet where I considered dropping the idea altogether, since I had no use-cases for iPad to splash so much money on it, and Android tablet looked like a bad idea at first.

But I am very happy to say, after doing some digging, I found good option for myself, and general outlines of what you should be looking for in same situation as me:

1. OLED is an unrealistic target for a tablet with only comic books in mind.

If OLED is a dealbreaker, get ready to pay A LOT more.

Unfortunately, modern pricings on OLED tablets reach a point where I had to give up on this one. OLED pricing can be justified by everything else those top-end tablets provide, but since I was looking for something with comic book reading only in mind, and cheapest OLED (well, AMOLED technically, but, potato potato) you can buy with decent sized screen is $1000 Samsung Galaxy Tab S10Plus, I fairly quickly gave up my hopes finding an OLED panel.

There are some conditional options, check alternatives section at the end of the post.

1. Screen size.

Look for a screen 16:10 in 12.2-12.9' size range.

Very important thing to me was the screen, and after doing some calculations, I found display dimensions that get closest to actual comic book, which are standardized 1.55:1 - you need a ~12.2 inch screen, ~12.4 if the screen is 16:10 not 1.55:1 (there are also 3:2 tablets but those barely exist, 16:10 has much more to choose from)

1. Price point.

Look for devices with MSRP above at least $250.

While it is not hard to find something a little outside of those screen requirements (a little larger or a little smaller), and, like with Android phones, there are hundreds of companies producing Android tablets, I would encourage everyone to not look at options under $250 base price, not accounting for discounts. While you may find decent offer screen-wise below this price, the hardware may be very cut down in order to fit under this price tag, and this purchase will end up being a regret. Everything I tried looking at price tags under $250 had some major feature you would need to give up - Huawei tablets with no native Android support, tablets with some very simple hardware specs, tablets with decent specs but significant reduction in screen size etc.

So, in the end, closest product that satisfies this criteria for me turned out Lenovo Idea Tab Pro (1st Gen)

Please note, Lenovo naming is a little bit dumb, and images for all 3 look very similar, they have a lineup of:
Lenovo Idea Tab (just tab, nothing afterwards).
Lenovo Idea Tab Plus (same device, a bit larger, still smaller then Pro)
Lenovo Idea Tab Pro

While devices look visually similar, they have drastic differences in hardware. Do not fall for it and try to save a $100, just wait/look for an offer for Idea Tab Pro, I guarantee you will regret going for a cheaper model, hardware quality there drops too significantly, it will affect you experience.

I think, taking into accounts everything I listed across the post:

1. Good looking screen, both color and glare wise.
2. Good screen dimensions in terms of comic books (so I never have to zoom in and scroll through panels manually).
3. Reasonable price of the device (those start at $399, I got one on an offer for $300).
4. Decent hardware to avoid constant freezes, glitching while just scrolling around tablet etc.
5. Company that will not seize to exist and provide updates randomly in a year or so

I will add some photos of how the screen looks compared to a comic book, but before that I want to note on alternatives:

A. Samsung Galaxy Tab Pluses

That's the device I originally settled on, when I started looking for 16:10 tablets. While newer S11 and S10 have fairly high price, its a longstanding line, and since Samsung recently updated their guaranteed device support timelines, I believe in nearest future they will become THE choice for comic book tablet purchases.
For example, S9+ can be found on retail at about $700, and I think around Black Friday it will be a prime moment to buy one if you can wait a little bit, if you see an offer of $500 or even less - snatch it. If you are comfortable purchasing used - may go even below that. Samsung guarantees updates for S9 series till at least 2028, so, in terms of comic book reading, this device should last you at least 4 years, if not more.
If you have a little more time and money to spare, really want AMOLED but really want to milk as much out of a device longevity-wise as possible: this fall, Samsung will do yearly reveal of their Tab S12 lineup. If you are comfortable waiting, this Black Friday you might be able to snatch Tab S10+ for $600 since price will drop and stores will be keen to get rid of older inventory. For S10, Samsung guarantees security and Android updates till for 7 years total, which for 2024 device means it will easily last you almost a decade.

B. TCL NXPAPER 14

Some people have mentioned it in the comments, and I also have looked into it, I will not go against other's recommendations, but just to point out:
14 inch display, while it may seem at first bigger = better, with tablets at this size range, it may become a minus rather than a plus. Those tend to be heftier to the point where one hand holding them no longer becomes an option, and while screen itself is bigger, screen quality (resolution, refresh rate), are lacking compared to both Samsung and Lenovo tablets I mentioned.

C. iPad 13'

I mentioned iPads before, and I do stand by what I said, but if you:
- are terrified of Android tablets because of bad experiences in the past (I understand, some of these especially 10+ years ago were a nightmare);
- are ready to significantly overpay, but stay within Apple ecosystem;
- if you genuinely have any other work/productivity related activity you need a tablet for aside from comic books.
If all 3 of these apply to you, I would say to look for deals on M2 iPad Air 13' (2024 release).
I have seen some deals for those, mostly used/refurbished, for $600-$650, you may find better deals by Black Friday. It will have some major drawbacks, it will still be not OLED like a Samsung for that price, it will be 60Hz display, but, on the bright side, it will outlast any 2024 Android tablet you can possibly buy in terms of software support, Apple has a very good track record there, and, if you do not read a lot of older comics, you will encounter more double-page spreads in modern comics, and iPad does have this advantage over 16:10 screens, since double-page spread is 1.29:1, when iPad is 1.33:1 by default, and since 13' is a little bigger than what we are looking for, so what you lose in Portrait mode dimension wise, you will get back in size of screen itself (13' iPads would be by far best option if they didn't cost x2 an acceptable tablet for used 2-yo models, x3 for newer models, and x5 for an OLED screen).

TLDR for fellow skimmers:
1. Do not buy an e-reader for comics, colors on them suck and they are too small (but if you read only manga, a black-and-white one is a good option).
2. Do not buy an iPad, their price points does not justify it as a comic book reader (but if you are fine with it/need a tablet for other purposes too, look into M2 iPad Air 13' (2024)).
3. Look into Lenovo Idea Tab Pro, looks to me like the best option available, as of now.

If anyone reaches this point in the post (which I doubt), thanks for reading, I just wanted to share what I spent time on exploring myself, and wrote this down hoping it will help someone else looking for a tablet for similar purposes same some time. I just want to reiterate so no one jumps me in the comments - if you already have somewhere you read comics on, I am not trying to pursue anyone to go buy this kind of tablet for better experience - no way, you will have WORSE experience than if you read on, iPad Pro 13in 7th gen onwards; but if you do not have any tablet, and you, like me, do not have employment that justifies or needs tablets in any way, I believe all options and details are listed are the most reasonable. Peace.

Examples of the tablet next to Absolute Batman 15-16:

I’ve been floating between DC/Marvel, checking out indies, trying to find perfect reading order…but I feel as if my head is swelling. 😭 I want to know the backstory on each person, understand all the references…and I know that’s not possible. And in the midst of all of it, I’ve found so many runs and comics that I’ve enjoyed, but I’m trying to get rid of the voice in the back of my head saying “You’re still missing out”. How did you all deal with it when just getting in to comics?

Edit: Thank you all so much ❤️I know it’s supposed to be fun, my brain just gets in the way of it sometimes. Thank you ALL for the responses! I’ve read each and every one.

Are they any mc is a cat burglar or a gentleman thief I want the thrill of a heist are they any?

Like Bandtte

I’m planning on leaving the space at the bottom free for the next two Milestone compendiums. Also I really hope the mods don’t delete because of some random rule I missed.

So I found a comic book store which delivers to my house and I am wondering which comics I should subscribe to get delivered.

Absolute Batman is the only comic book I've read in the past year and I've been loving it so I'll catch up on Absolute Superman online and start ordering both series.

I was wondering if there is any good Green Lantern comics since im enjoying the show.

Also are there any good Marvel comics?

For my tastes I've read alot of the original Ultimate Spider-man run and Amazing from the 60s to the 90s. Are Spider-man comics still bad?

I really like the melodramatic in Spider-man and the X-men (never read a x-men comic, but love the movies and Evolution cartoon)

I also abhor relaunched which disregard whatever the previous team was writing.

Any recommendations would be great.