Screenshot by Lance Whitney/ZDNET
Like Thanos, Kang, and Dr. Doom, Amazon seems to be on a mission to destroy superheroes, at least when it comes to providing a user-friendly platform for buying and accessing digital comics. In a new message posted online and in the app, the retail giant announced that as of December 4, its Comixology app will no longer be available and will instead be merged with its Kindle app for iOS, Android, and Fire OS.
Also: The best Kindle readers you can buy right now
After the deadline, you’ll still be able to access and read your existing Comixology comics, graphic novels, and manga titles, but only in the Kindle app. And before the deadline hits, you’ll have to download any Comixology books you were reading into the Kindle app. You may also need to head to your Amazon Digital Content page and send individual comic books to your preferred ebook reader.
On the plus side, any books you’re reading in the Comixology app will sync their progress in the Kindle app, so you can continue where you left off. You’ll be able to read your Comixology books in the Comics section of the Kindle website. And you can continue to buy digital comics from the Comixology area on Amazon’s website.
Using the Kindle app, you will be able to access your entire comics library, sort issues, and hide or unhide specific titles. On X, formerly Twitter, the Comixology account shared a post and video explaining how to manage your digital comics in the Kindle app.
But based on the responses to the post, most people are none too happy with Amazon’s handling of Comixology. Several have even complained that the Kindle app doesn’t lend itself to digital comic reading in the same way as the Comixology app.
“It’s truly incredible how you were able to transform Comixology from my app of choice when reading comics into a service I haven’t thought about in well over a year. It’s pathetic,” wrote one person.
“I don’t want my books and comics mixed together. I wish Amazon never bought you,” wrote another.
Also: The 12 best Echo speakers: How do Amazon’s Alexa devices compare?
“Either fix the Kindle app to work like Comixology USED TO so we can read in a ‘guided view’ that works, or do not merge them. If this merger makes reading comics impossible, several thousands of others including myself will not buy any future comics,” wrote another.
The past few years have been tough ones for those of us who like to read digital comics. In the past, you could buy and access comics from the Comixology app, the DC Comics app, and the Marvel Comics app. These apps were all well-designed and easy to use, letting you directly purchase any single book or graphic novel, browse and sort your collection, and comfortably read them on your tablet or other device.
Following Amazon’s purchase of Comixology in 2014, however, each of the individual apps has slowly been clobbered. The DC app was shut down in 2021. The Marvel app suffered the same fate in 2022. And now the Comixology app is being vanquished.
Instead of providing apps in which you can buy just the titles you like, Marvel and DC both offer subscription-only services. Marvel Unlimited costs $9.99 a month or $69 a year, while DC Universe will run you $7.99 a month or $74.99 a year. Want to just buy and own digital comics directly through Marvel or DC? Sorry, you’re out of luck.
Also: How to access thousands of free audiobooks, thanks to Microsoft AI and Project Gutenberg
As for Comixology, you might think that a company with the might of Amazon would improve and enhance the comic book buying and reading experience. But the opposite has been true.
In a truly clumsy move, Amazon eliminated the in-app buying option, initially just for iOS and then eventually for Android. Discover a comic you like while browsing the offerings in the app? Oops, you can’t directly buy it. Instead, you’ll have to head to Amazon’s Comixology page to purchase it and then head back to the app to read it.
The whole move is not only a slap in the face to digital comics buyers but also seems like Amazon flexing its monopolistic muscles. Buy an app that offers some competition, gradually weaken it, and then finally kill it off. Kang the Conqueror couldn’t have done any worse.