This week we saw ComiXology unveil a new version of its app and web store, and as big fans of all things digital  comics we couldn’t wait to discover the new features. With news that that this update was set to bring Comixology closer into the fold of the Amazon parent company, surely this would mean a better service for customers and publishers alike? And could this finally mean the introduction of Comixology Unlimited in the UK via Amazon’s prime reading. Alas no.

Although it promises much, in actual fact the new app and services on offer feel like a real backward step for both users and publishers alike. Having spent the last week using it we feel this is as huge a retrograde step as when the Comics app stopped taking purchases via Apple devices as a result of a dispute over fees!

But what is the problem? Surely if Comixology is now much more of a part of the Amazon megastore experience then that is better for everyone? Well for a start, just ask a small retailer on Amazon’s Marketplace how they cope when battling for attention against a million and one competitors! But ultimately this about comics readers being treated as just another consumer on Bezos’ super platform!

New webstore

The main thing you will notice in the new world order is that instead of going to comixology.co.uk it now links through to a sub page of the Amazon site. While this may sound great, it offer a very generic store front which prioritises those titles available on Kindle Unlimited along with their Comixology originals line up, rather than those from mainstream comics publishers and certainly no indie publishers are any where to be seen.

While you might say ComiXology Originals is an ‘indie’ publisher – and I guess you would be sort of correct – it is really just the superstar writers like Scott Snyder (We Have Demons) and Chip Zdarsky (The All Nighter), who get prominence. Where are the likes of The Pride or Double Walker?

For indie comics fans like us, this feels like a long way from the days of the dedicate Comixology Submit page, as genuine indie comics are now lost in the labyrinth that is the Amazons megastore. This feels very much like a homogenisation of digital comics shopping, rather than treating them as something special.

While new releases are signalled prominently, this is mainly big two/three titles, and there is no longer the option to browse indie books on the home page, or even browse by publisher, so even mid level companies like Boom or IDW are missing out as well. But most important, gone is the carousel at the top advertising new titles and sales, all of which makes this feel like the most boring and generic landing page imaginable – not one for a highly visual medium!

What about the app?

But this isn’t the only major change – the app has been updated as well. And again, not for the better. The main thing you’ll notice is that Smart Lists are gone, and replaced with an all encompassing library of titles (which you will have to re-download by the way!). This feels more akin to reading on a Kindle and from looking at the Kindle app it feels much closer to that than the previous incarnation. However, comics and books are very different beasts and the new reading experience is not as seamless as it once was. Features like Guided View are hidden away, and the ability to check page numbers sees you leap out of a page and view it as a page in a series. Also gone is the process of leaping from one issue to another if you are binging a series – instead you have to to come in and out of the series rather than it following on. Again this feels like something more akin to a book reading experience and for graphic novels will work fine, but not for multiple issues of digital floppies.

The purchasing function is also, even more clunky – as if such a thing could be possible. Finding the dedicated Kindle reading page on the Amazon home store is fine if you have a shortcut set up for ComiXology and can redirect, but if you try and find it via the main Amazon home page – let alone via the iOS app it is nigh on impossible!

This lack of thought for comics readers is reinforced by the fact subscriptions no longer seem to be being supported. We have heard reports from publishers that this has happened overnight and that links to their titles have been broken. And while some of our existing Subs appeared to be being honoured, there seems to be no option to be able to set up new subs. Issues are now treated as individual items in a store, rather than part of a series. As such, the option to no longer be able to create a digital pull list goes against one of the core elements of comics culture which Comixology was able to replicate in digital form and which they now appear to have lost.

All of which basically sums up this update – it is a move away from being a digital comics platform to become a digital content platform. Treating comics in the same way as you would a paperback book or a novelty gift from China. While comiXology are often a maligned force online, we have reluctantly accepted their ways as long as we could get access to our comics in a logical and manageable way. However with this update, they have taken yet another step away from the medium we love and created an under whelming and joyless user experience for a medium which brings joy and life to so many people. A massive missed step!

UPDATED FROM COMIXOLOGY:

Clearly we’re not the only who is disappointed by the ComiXology app update:

1/ Update from the team on the Comixology 4.0 rollout:
🧵 ⬇️

— Comixology (@comiXology) February 24, 2022