10 Marvel Unlimited Tips for Digital Comic Book Fans
If you subscribe to Marvel Unlimited, these tips and tricks will help you get the most out of your reading experience.
By Jason Cohen
With digital comic books, you no longer need to search the bargain bins at your local comics store for back issues starring your favorite superheroes. And with subscription services, you get unlimited access to thousands of books for one monthly or yearly price.
While Comixology Unlimited offers a little of everything for everyone, Marvel Unlimited is the only service made specifically for Marvel Comics fans. The service-and accompanying app-lets you read your favorite characters at your own pace, without worrying about how much each individual title will cost.
Whether you’re a new member drawn in from the movies or a seasoned reader feeling a bit overwhelmed by the vastness before you, here are some tips and tricks that will help you get started.
Where to Read Marvel Comics
Marvel Unlimited is a digital comic subscription service nestled inside of Marvel.com that you can access from any computer. However, since it’s built into the larger structure of the website, it can be difficult to separate what is and isn’t part of the paid service. While you can browse and read comics directly from your web browser, in this instance we don’t recommend it.
Reading off Marvel’s website is slow, awkward, and confusing. You don’t get that same intimate reading experience you get while reading a physical copy. Instead, turn to the Marvel Unlimited app for Android or iOS. The app is more responsive, offers more features, and allows you to take your comics anywhere, just like if you were buying the real thing.
All Your Books in One Place
Marvel Unlimited does a great job of tracking the titles you are currently reading. While you might be tempted to sit with one title straight through to the end, the app encourages you to read multiple books at once, since that’s what the weekly comic book experience is like.
The Currently Reading section on the home screen allows you to read up to 20 different series at one time. You can obviously read more, but if you do it will kick off the title at the end of the list. Use this section to read multiple books that may have been published around the same time as you work your way through Marvel continuity.
The only drawback to this feature is that there’s no way to manually remove a book from the list. If you finish a title and wish to replace it with a new book, you will have to open each of the other books on the list individually in order to move the finished title to the end so it can be replaced. Other than this harsh level of tedium, the tool is a valuable way to burn through years of releases in an orderly fashion.
Save What You Want to Read
There is so much available on Marvel Unlimited that it’s hard to keep track of everything you might want to read one day. But you can add intriguing titles to your library by selecting it and tapping Add to Library.
Tap the Library button at the bottom of the screen to view your collection at any time, and filter comics by certain criteria. For instance, if you care about continuity, you may want to sort by oldest to newest so you can read them in order. If you’re only interested in the most recent additions to the service, filter by newest titles added to Marvel Unlimited.
One of the first things you should do as a new subscriber is sift through the app and find the books you are interested in reading. Add the first issue of each series to the library and call it a day. Now you get a streamlined list of everything you want to read without all the other books getting in the way. Once you finish a series, go back and find that first issue to remove it from the library.
No Internet? Download Comics
The added benefit of using the Marvel Unlimited app on a web browser is that you can read comics wherever there’s cellular service. The app can even pre-load any comic you are currently reading so if you lose your connection while reading, you can get to the end unimpeded. For everywhere else, there are downloads.
Save a comic to your device by tapping an issue and selecting Download. These books can then be viewed at any time from the Downloads menu. When you try to open the app without an internet connection, the books you have downloaded will automatically display.
The app limits you to 25 downloads, so make sure you clear out old titles when you’re done. Do this by opening the Downloads menu and tapping the pencil icon, select the titles, then tap Remove from Downloads.
Remember What You Read
You will spend a lot of time browsing through the thousands of comics loaded into the app, so it’s important to customize a few key features and make the process more enjoyable. There is so much content to browse through that eventually you will forget whether or not you read something. This is why the app marks comics that have been read with a checkmark.
Make sure this feature has been activated by opening the three-dot menu on the bottom right of the home page and selecting Settings. Make sure the slider next to “Show Mark as Read Icon” has been set to Show. Now when you finish an issue and move onto the next, a checkmark will automatically be shown on the cover. You can also manually add the mark by choose a title and tapping Mark as Read.
Search for Comics
You can find all the comics that Marvel offers by selecting the Browse button at the top of the home screen. From there, you can browse by series, characters, creators, and comic events. Each category has its own search bar, allowing you to find exactly what you are looking for, even if you don’t know what that is yet.
If you want to search by specific publication date, Marvel Unlimited offers that too. At the browse screen, scroll the category bar all the way to the end and select Publication Date. You can then filter by a specific year or a date range.
The iOS version of Marvel Unlimited has a handy feature that saves recent searches. Tap the clock button in the upper right of the browse screen and a pop-up menu will display your most recent searches.
How to Discover New Books to Read
Don’t know where to start reading? Check out Marvel’s extensive collection of reading lists, which are housed on the Reading Lists page, with a regularly changing selection of lists available right on the home page. Reading lists offer spotlights on specific characters, collect all the issues of a comic book event, and offer suggested starting points. You can also get recommendations from popular Marvel creators and more.
If you find a few reading lists you want to keep close, pin them to the home screen. Tap into a list you want to save, then toggle the switch next to Pin to Home at the top of the page. The reading list will appear on the home page under the Popular This Week section and remain there until you unpin it.
The app also suggests new reads in a number of places. Tap an issue and scroll down the page to see a small selection of titles you might like to read next. You can also see suggested books at the top of the browse screen.
Let Marvel Pick for You
If you want to try something new, Marvel can pick a title for you. Tap the Marvel Unlimited logo in the top-left corner on Android or the question mark icon on iOS to open the Random Book Selector. How this feature works depends on the platform you use. On Android, the app will select a group of books you can start reading; iOS users will be shown an issue of a random book with related suggestions below.
Android users can keep looking by tapping the Randomize button to receive another selection. Those on iOS will have to go back to the home screen and tap the randomizer icon again. This is a great way to get a taste for what Marvel Unlimited has to offer without having to wade through every comic listed in the app.
Change the Color
If you find the app’s default white too bright, open the Settings menu and choose between white, black, and red color schemes. While this does not affect the comics themselves, it does change the color of the menu bars on the top and bottom while in reading mode.
Reading Settings
If your screen often goes to sleep before you can turn the page, tap the three-dot menu and select Settings. Tap the slider next to “Keep screen awake while reading” and your device will know to stay active.
Originally published at https://www.pcmag.com on December 23, 2019.
