UPDATE 01.10.13: There is a new version of this app out which raises the version number to 1.1.I have an updated review here. I suggest reading it before updating it if you have the older version. You may not like what has been done to it.
ComicFlow is a comic book reader from developer Pol-Online. I supports comic books in .cbr, .cbz and pdf file formats. Lately I’ve been on a major art kick, whether it be photography or art in comics and because of the latter, I was in search of a new comic book reader app. I was using another app before but I did not like the fact that I had to either transfer files over using iTunes or upload them first to DropBox and then redownload them again on the iPad. I found it to be quite time consuming. That’s when I found ComicFlow. With ComicFlow, I was able to transfer files either using iTunes or with WebDAV. Now, I had never heard of WebDAV before and had to do a little research first on how it worked. Basically, you need an app that supports WebDAV in order to transfer files directly to ComicFlow. One such app is Cyberduck and it works on both Mac and PC. It’s also free.
Once you have Cyberduck set up, it’s quite easy to transfer files over to your iPad. It is similar to transferring files over FTP. Just set the server to 192.168.1.152, Port 8080, with a quest account and the password it gives you and that’s it. Once connected, just drag your files over to Cyberduck and it’ll automatically start transferring.
In ComicFlow, your comics will now show up in the main library. That can be arranged in 1 of 4 ways. New comics in the library will show up with a “new” yellow postie on it while comics you are in the middle of reading and haven’t completed will show up with a red bookmark. completed issues will only show the cover. Reading issues is also quite simple to do. swipe left or right to change pages or tap on the left or right side as well. You can also pinch to zoom in or out. Tap in the middle to bring up the menu and you can switch to any page by using the index at the bottom or you can go back to your library up top.
I have to say that ComicFlow is a great comic book reading app. It’s one of the easiest I’ve used and has a really clean layout. I like the fact that the library shows each cover clearly and they can also be arranged into directories. Some people might be turned off that you need a separate app to in order to connect to ComicFlow instead of just being able to upload using your web browser like some other apps. Other than that though, ComicFlow is an awesome app that is everything I’ve been looking for in a comic book app.
ComicFlow is available now in the App Store for free. It is compatible with iPad.Requires iOS 4.2 or later.
Description
Finally a comic reader for iPad done right! ComicFlow was designed with one goal in mind: providing the best experience for comic fans with large collections.
Features:
– Polished interface
– Can handle very large comic collections (1,500+ comics and dozens of GB) without crashing or becoming unusable
– Imports new comics in the background
– Doesn’t need to pre-process comic files before you can read them
– Supports .cbr, .cbz and pdf filesImporting Comics (iTunes):
– Connect your iPad to iTunes
– In the Applications section, select ComicFlow in the list at the bottom
– Drag and drop comic files or directories of comic files into the Documents area
– If ComicFlow is already running, display the settings window (upper-right button) and tap on “Update Library”Importing or Organizing Comics (WebDAV):
– Launch ComicFlow
– Display the settings window (upper-right button) and enable WebDAV server if needed
– Connect to the displayed IP using your favorite WebDAV client (Transmit recommended on Mac OS X): the login can be anything e.g. “guest” but you must enter the random 6 digits passwordManually Marking Comics as New or Read:
– Tap and hold on a comic thumbnail or a series thumbnail
– Choose the appropriate option in the pop-up menu that appearsRestrictions:
– Renaming comics or reorganizing then in directories can only be done through WebDAV at this point
– Directories inside directories are not supportedCurrently Supported / Tested WebDAV Clients:
– Mac: Finder (Go > Connect to Server)
– Mac: Transmit (http://www.panic.com/transmit/)
– Mac: Interarchy (http://nolobe.com/interarchy/)
– Mac: Cyberduck (http://cyberduck.ch/)
– Windows: Cyberduck (http://cyberduck.ch/)If you are having problems uploading comics through WebDAV, please send a report to info@pol-online.net with your OS, WebDAV client as well as any reported errors (otherwise, this issue can’t be investigated or fixed).
ComicFlow is also the first (and only?) open-source comic reader for iPad: get the full source from http://code.google.com/p/comicflow under GPL v3 license.
[via App Store]
The Gamer With Kids 
[…] 04/22/12 Update – Just reviewed ComicFlow and actually really like it despite having to use WebDAV. Check out the full review here. […]
How do you sort them into series? I can’t figure that out.
You have to do it from Cyberduck. Just create folders in Cyberduck and drag each series into their designated folders. That’s the only real way to do it from what I can see.
Thanks for your help. Too bad there’s no easier way to do this. Taking forever to sync everything up through WebDAV. Documentation is really poor for the app in general. Hopefully it all works.
Yeah. It’s a pain sometimes having to fire up Cyberduck just to do something little like delete a comic or to rename something. Hopefully they release an update to it that allows you to do some of those things from within the app itself.
I’m having problems loading cbr’s into the app. I go through iTunes, some issues are not going onto my ipad. They are definitely CBR file. Exactly the same as the others.
Can anyone help? I cannot find anywhere that has any info on this problem.
Any help would be amazing.
Thanks
There are times when they don’t seem to transfer over even if it looks like they do. My only reasoning here is that they are either corrupt or there is something different about the file that keeps ComicFlow from reading it or recognizing it. This has happened to me a few times as well.
What exactly is a “quest account.”
[…] comic books in .cbr, .cbz and pdf file formats. I had reviewed the previous version of the app here if you want to take a look at it. This update brings the app to v1.1 now with a few new features, […]