Reading paper comics is fun, but if you want to take a ton of great reads with you on your laptop, or read your favorite titles on your computer's huge display, you need a solid comic reader. This week we're looking at five of the best, based on your nominations.


Earlier this week we asked you to tell us which comic book readers you thought were the best, since our previous picks were getting a little out of date (and our previous champion, CDisplayEx, apparently is bundled with a boatload of malware that many of you have written in to complain about.) You offered up tons of great nominations—and defenses of CDisplayEx—but we only have room for your top five. Here they are, in no particular order:


ComicRack is a free, feature-packed comic reader for Windows. It made the roundup the last time we looked at your favorite desktop comic readers, and it was a popular nominee this time around as well. The app supports and can export almost any comic book file, and also supports image viewing through ZIP, RAR, and 7z archives so you don't have to unpack them first. The app has a customizable, three-paned interface to let you navigate through files and folders inside the app, browse your comics in one pane, and read pages in another. You can even full-screen the app to read in a more immersive view. Another feature that makes ComicRack stand out is that you can collect your favorite comics together in collections, pack them up as a CBZ file, and export the archive so its readable on other devices. ComicRack even allows you to share your comic library over your home network so you can go to another room and pick up where you left off.

Those of you who nominated ComicRack praised it for its library management features, which make organizing and collecting your comics as easy as reading them. The reader can also be used to catalog your paper comic collection, can sync with its Android or iOS apps for on-the-go comic reading, and more. You can read more praise in its nomination thread here.



SimpleComic is a free, simple option for OS X that's easy to install, lightweight, and easy to use. If you're looking for an incredibly simple comic reader that supports both windowed and full-screen comic views, this is your reader. The app scales your pages to the size of the window when not in full-screen, supports quick look in OS X, so you can peek through the comic before you settle in to read it, automatically saves your place when you stop reading, and more. The app also supports translation and other notes left in the metadata, and is completely open source. The app also supports just about any comic book archive format you can think of, along with ZIP, RAR, and 7z archives. You also get translation notes and text notes, and more. It's also open source, so you can contribute and get involved with the project yourself at its GitHub page.

Those of you who nominated and supported the SimpleComic nomination pointed out that it's a dead simple comic reader for Mac, with an easy to use interface, no bloat or unnecessary features. You also noted that the QuickLook plugin that lets you peek through the comic before you read it just by pressing the Space bar is an excellent feature, and the fact that the app has been largely functional and feature-strong for the past several years—without the temptation to add adware or bloat to the app—is a great thing. Read more in its nomination thread here.



MComix is an updated fork of the Comix project, a comic reader that made the top five the last time we looked at the best desktop comic readers. Comix stopped development a few years back, and MComix has been updated with a few new tricks, bug fixes, and stability improvements. It still supports ZIP, RAR, 7Zip, LHA or tar/gz/bz2 archives (as well as any old folder full of plain image files), and it brings tons of great features to the table. The reader was designed to handle sequential images in a simple interface that works really well for comic books. All of the pages run down the left side of the screen, and a large pane on the right shows you the current page. MComix is lightweight, free, open-source, and gets the job done. Comix does require Python, PyGTK+ (or another GTK+ framework), and the Python Imaging Library (PIL) installed on your system before it'll run. Some package managers already include Comix, so installing it may be a terminal command away on your Linux system. Windows users can just fire up the installer and go.

MComix was a pretty popular nominee, with a few of you highlighting the fact that it's the natural continuation of one of the best comic readers available, and it's a great image viewer for other types of files and folders as well. Simple and lightweight, and multifunctional, so you can use it even when you're not reading comics. You can read more in its nomination thread here.



The only Chome app in the roundup, Astonishing Comic Reader is actually cross-platform and works just about everywhere Chrome does. There's also a Windows 8 app, but those of you who nominated Astonishing Comic Reader specifically called out the Chrome app. The reader supports CBZ and CBR comics, there's a beta version in testing in the Google+ community right now that supports PDF comics, a night mode for reading in the dark, offline support (so just because it's a Chrome app doesn't mean you have to be online all the time), and a simpler user interface that lets you use Chrome to read your comics the same way you would use it to browse the web. Astonishing Comic Reader also has an Android app, which also has Chromecast support so you can read your comics on virtually any screen, large or small. Plus, it's completely free, and ad-free.

Those of you who nominated Astonishing Comic Reader specifically highlighted the fact that it's ideal if you want to read comics on a computer where you can't install anything, like a work computer or you're using a locked-down account, but a Chrome extension is okay. One of you specifically mentioned that you carry your comics on a USB drive and like to read at work, but can't install a heavier comic reader. Also, the developer is exceptionally responsive to comments and feature requests, and the app's Google+ community is busy and bustling with users sharing experiences and talking to the developer. You also mentioned that both apps remember your place, and can open comics stored in cloud storage services or on local media. Read more praise in its nomination thread.



MangaMeeya hasn't been updated in a while, but it's still a great option for Windows users looking for a great comic reader. The reader is (and has been) maintained by fans at Manga Underground, although its origins are a little mysterious. Regardless of where the original utility was born, the program works especially well for manga fans, who often have to deal with translation notes and often read from right to left (the way the original manga is published). That isn't to imply that MangaMeeya is only good for manga. The app is a great comic reader and image viewer for all images, and allows you to read multiple pages at once, customize key commands to browse images, and works just fine as a sequential image viewer even if you're not reading comics or manga. MangaMeeya also supports image browsing through RAR and ZIP archives, and can unpack them to a folder as well.

In its nomination thread, some of you noted that MangaMeeya is super-fast, super-lightweight, and runs on just about anything you throw it on. Whether you're reading manga or regular comics, it has all the right features like support for image archives and Unicode support. It's missing library management features, but you noted that it's extremely stable and reliable, and super fast to make up for it. Similarly, even though the app claims to only work in XP and Windows 7, all versions run in Windows 8+ as well, and you can choose from the light version or the "ultra-light" version. Read more in its nomination thread here.


Now that you've seen the top five, it's time to put them all to a flat out vote to determine the community favorite:


This week's honorable mention actually goes right back out to our previous champ, CDisplay/CDisplayEx. Many of you rallied to its defense when we mentioned that we couldn't recommend it anymore—you said that its installer does try and trick you into installing adware, but if you're careful with it, you can avoid it entirely (something we've mentioned in previous posts about it), and that if you download the app from a trustworthy source, you won't get an installer bundled with malware. Similarly, others of you pointed out that you've had the app forever and just never updated it, so it works just fine, gets the job done, and is still one of the best options out there for reading comics in Windows.

We completely agree, and even though we can't put it in the top five anymore, it's definitely a solid, feature-rich option that you should check out if you're a smart and savvy user who can clear that minefield with ease.


Have something to say about one of the contenders? Want to make the case for your personal favorite, even if it wasn't included in the list? Remember, the top five are based on your most popular nominations from the call for contenders thread from earlier in the week. Don't just complain about the top five, let us know what your preferred alternative is—and make your case for it—in the discussions below.

The Hive Five is based on reader nominations. As with most Hive Five posts, if your favorite was left out, it didn't get the nominations required in the call for contenders post to make the top five. We understand it's a bit of a popularity contest. Have a suggestion for the Hive Five? Send us an email at tips+hivefive@lifehacker.com !