You can’t log into Marvel’s website to access Unlimited unless you turn off adblock, and the reader is laggy and unwieldy. The best way to find a specific issue is to search through Google, because the actual Marvel search function is abhorrent. The desktop experience for MU isn’t good, though. This isn’t very useful if you’re on a long plane ride, but if you want to read an arc or two of a book when you’re gonna have a bad connection, it’s a pretty solid feature. The app also lets you download up to 12 issues at a time. You can add issues to your “library,” but there’s no real way to organize them in a specific reading order, and you don’t have multiple libraries. Unfortunately, there’s no mechanism for user-defined reading lists. It’s a good way to get some exposure to corners of Marvel Comics you’re not familiar with. The app also has a bunch of reading lists made by Marvel for specific characters, events or popular stories.

Some folks report that when they try to open issues they’ll get stuck on a loading screen, but I haven’t had this issue. Bug-wise, the app mostly works fine, but sometimes it’ll crash or just close the book I’m reading and force me to reopen it. The guided reading mode works relatively well on modern issues, but the further back you go, the worse it works. For example, on Android, the Back button doesn’t take you to the home page, it opens the previous issue, marking it as unread and setting it as your most recently read issue. When it’s working, I only have a couple quibbles. And for about $10 a month (or $70 a year), it ends up being a really great deal. The only exceptions seem to be some of their graphic novels and mature-line books, since they want to make sure the app continues to not be rated mature on the app store. Marvel Unlimited, available worldwide, offers an incredible selection of Marvel’s library - pretty much everything that’s available digitally, at a delay of three months. With DC Universe Infinite launching this week and shifting to a comics-specific service, it seems like a good time to dig into what each service offers, from their library to their user experience. And they’ve become a pretty big deal in comics, too, with Marvel Unlimited, comiXology Unlimited, Hoopla and DC Universe among others. Subscription services are everywhere, from Spotify to Netflix to Xbox Game Pass and so many more.

Comixology unlimited free