The iPad Pro has been touted by Apple as a productivity tool, and much of the media coverage of it has focused on whether or not it can replace a laptop. Who cares about any of that? One of the best kept secrets about the iPad Pro is that it is simply the best device ever created for reading digital comics.

I've been reading comics since I was a kid, and I've tried reading them on laptops, desktops and even smaller iPads in the past. But none of those other devices even comes close to matching the iPad Pro for reading comics. It's the perfect size and shape to provide a superior comic book experience for any reader.

Amazon's ComiXology app on the iPad Pro

One of the first things I did after getting my iPad Pro was to install Amazon's ComiXology app on my new device. ComiXology was bought by Amazon a while back, and I knew it would be a great way to enjoy comics purchased from Amazon's Kindle store. Although it is not needed on the iPad Pro, ComiXology also has a helpful Guided View feature that can show you a comic panel by panel.

After installing ComiXology, I went on a buying rampage in the digital comics section of the Kindle store. Oddly enough, I don't like buying individual issues of comics. I prefer to get an entire story arc at one time, so I bought a number of graphic novels instead. Here's a list of what I've been reading so far on my iPad Pro:

Green Lantern: Rebirth (New Edition)

Superman: Birthright

All Star Superman

The Death of Superman (New Edition)

Kingdom Come (New Edition)

Batman: The Dark Knight Returns

Batman: The Killing Joke (Deluxe Edition)

Thor: Death of Odin

A screenshot of the graphic novels I have in my collection in ComiXology on the iPad Pro.

And those are just the titles I'm starting with on my iPad Pro. Amazon has tons of graphic novels available and I'll be adding to my collection big time over the coming months. There are so many great stories available to read on my iPad Pro that it's almost overwhelming to browse through Amazon's selection of graphic novels.

The iPad Pro's screen size is just right for comics

I mentioned the screen size of the iPad Pro before, but let me elaborate on that a little bit. One of the things I like about it is that works incredibly well for comics regardless of whether you read them in landscape or portrait mode.

In portrait mode you can easily read all of the dialogue bubbles and you can see the entire page. It's the closest thing to reading a comic in the more traditional way, like you would if the comic was on a printed page.

Here's a screenshot of a page in All Star Superman in portrait mode on the iPad Pro.

Landscape mode is just as good though, but a bit different. You'll see the upper half of the page, and you can scroll down to read the rest. The advantage landscape mode has on the iPad Pro is that it blows up the page significantly when you read a comic. It's hard to see that in the screenie since it's set to the same width as the portrait one above, but you'll notice it when you actually read a comic on the iPad Pro.

Here's the same page in landscape mode on the iPad Pro.

Which one do I think is better? It really depends on my mood and the comic I'm reading at the time. Sometimes I prefer reading in landscape mode and other times I prefer reading in portrait mode.

But the bottom line here is that the iPad Pro's 12.9-inch screen with 2732-by-2048 resolution at 264 pixels per inch is absolutely perfect for reading comics and graphic novels. No other device, including the iPad Air 2, can match it for bringing comics to life in such an amazing way.

And believe me, I tried reading comics when I had my iPad Air 2. It was an okay experience, but I still had to do a fair amount of zooming in and out at times. But the need for that is totally gone with the iPad Pro. Comic books look the way they should by default on the iPad Pro, and I don't miss my iPad Air 2 one bit.

Who cares about productivity on the iPad Pro? It's all about comics!



As I noted above, I really could not care less about "being productive" on my iPad Pro. I have an iMac for when I need to do that (and I'm typing this post on that iMac right now). The iPad Pro is really the ultimate iPad, and it blows everything else out of the water when it comes to digital comics.

Now I know that my sentiments go against Apple's marketing of the iPad Pro, and much of the media coverage of the device. But I think it's very unfortunate that so many people are worried about working on the iPad Pro when there's so much fun and sheer delight to be had with it by reading comics and graphic novels.

So if you're a comics fan, and you're looking for the perfect device to read them on then head out to your local Apple store and get an iPad Pro. Believe me, you won't regret it.

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