Infinite.

When I saw a press release announcing that DC Comics was finally expanding their DC Infinite online comic books subscription service on a limited international basis, with the service finally going live in Canada on March 28, I was instantly interested.  Marvel Unlimited has been a frequently visited addition to my iPad apps, and DC's decision to let other countries access Infinite is somewhat overdue.

In order to pull in subscribers, DC Infinite is priced at $59.99 Canadian for an annual subscription* if you sign up within 30 days of the launch date, after which it will jump to $99.99.  By comparison, the Marvel Unlimited service runs at $69.99 USD annually (about $80 CAD), although there's also an exclusive option at $99.99 USD with some additional perks.

Five dollars a month seemed like a reasonable price point - I think it's fair to say that most people spend more than on a daily basis for Starbucks - so I signed up immediately to lock in the introductory price, downloaded the app, and took a look around to see how it compared to Marvel's offering.

The app formats are slightly different, but not in any major way - after all, there are only so many ways to read a comic book on an iPad.  Both companies offer the reader the option of full page or panel-by-panel reading, both have event/storyline reading guides, and so on.  Interestingly, DC's home page defaults to a gallery view of all the available comics, which I found to be a browser's paradise in terms of seeing comics that I had long forgotten and never would have thought to search for.  I'd love it if Marvel took a similar approach, it's just such a great way to find hidden treasures.

As with Marvel , the quality on DC Infinite is excellent, even with old comics like Jack Kirby's original Kamandi series from 1972, the classic Murphy Anderson Superman comics from the 1960s, or Alex Ross' painterly take on Batman.  

Surprisingly, both apps suffer from similar problems in terms of navigating out of comics and managing full page versus panel viewing - perhaps they hired the same programming company.

Regardless of minor navigation issues, I'm very pleased to have added DC Infinite to my subscriptions.  Unlike my mild collector's mania regarding vintage science fiction (Ace Doubles and so on) my interest in comics has always been primarily as a reader, and as such I'm quite happy with virtual access to DC's catalogue of content.

Now I just need someone to digitize all the First! comics from the 80s.  Until then I'll just make sure to take very good care of my Grimjack and American Flagg! comics. Speaking of which, I wonder where that box of comics ended up after the move last year?  Ah well, just another reason for switching to online comics...

- Sid

*Monthly memberships are $9.99.