ComicRack 0.9.177

Overview

eComic fans will love this program, as it makes reading and managing your digital comic and manga books as easy and enjoyable as it can be. ComicRack has hundreds of features that let you customize it and read your comics in any way you want, as well as organize them by creating and editing lists. It actually resembles a modern media player and manager, only that it allows you to read comic books instead of playing music and videos.

Installation

When installing ComicRack you are asked to select which additional features you want to install along with the main program. These include associating eComic file extensions with ComicRack, installing language packs, adding graphical extensions and optimizing the program for faster execution. When you reach the installation step, you will be asked if you want to download and install Microsoft .NET Framework 4, if you don’t have it already installed. You can choose not to download it, and although the installation will finish you will not be able to execute it until you get .NET Framework 4. A Windows XP/Vista/7 operating system is required for ComicRack to run properly, but there is also a version available for Android devices.

Interface

The main window is divided in 3 main areas. The one in the center is the reader window, where you read any comic book that you open. When no book is open, its place is taken by thumbnails of the most recent books you have read. On the bottom left area is the sidebar; there you can create lists and folders in order to keep your collection organized. Finally, on the bottom right area is the browser window, where you will find all the books that exist in your library. There are also a lot of toolbars with buttons that change how everything is displayed, for example there are many options for viewing a variety of comic layout styles in the browser window.

Pros

With the library feature, you can manage all you eComics in different ways, for example by grouping them, stacking them and arranging them. By doing that you can also change the view and adjust it to look differently. The environment is very customizable, so you can fiddle around with the options to find the style that suits you best.

Another unique feature is that you can edit a lot of things in your comic books. You can edit their pages’ color or sharpness, you can rotate them and even change their order. And if you want to convert your eComics to another format, ComicRack can do that too. It supports many output formats (like .cbz, .cbt, .cb7 .pdf), and the conversion process is fast without interrupting you from your reading since it works in the background. In addition, scripts can be imported to the program and extend it with even more features.

Cons

While this is one of the best applications to use for reading comic books, it might seem too complicated and heavy to some people. It’s reasonable since with so many options and features it certainly is too much sometimes.

Alternatives

YACR (Yet Another Comic Reader) is another popular choice for Windows, Linux and MacOSX, much lighter and simpler than ComicRack. YACR also comes with YACReaderLibrary, a tool for exploring your comic book collections. Comical, while it hasn’t been updated since 2006, remains a top pick among comic book readers as well. Like YACR, it is supported by Windows, Linux and MacOSX.

Conclusion

With so many options available, you can definitely say that ComicRack holds the title for the best eComic reader on Windows. A lot of time and effort has been put in this project and if you decide to check it out it will not disappoint you, that’s for sure.