Webcomics are a genre of comics that has grown in popularity by leaps and bounds since the early days of the internet. While the earliest webcomics felt a bit like newspaper comic strips, today's writers and artists really take advantage of the medium in ways that make them completely different from how they began. Webcomics are becoming increasingly popular among those who spend time reading online, as they provide a great break from traditional eBooks while being far more accessible than more traditional comics.

There are a few different apps that allow users to read webcomics, but the WebComics app itself is one of the more popular. A unique app that allows users many different ways to read comics online, the app is praised by users for the sheer amount of content that's available even as it's often derided for the many ways that it seeks to get users to pay for content that has traditionally been free.

Features and Benefits

WebComics acts as something between an aggregator and a storefront. On one hand, it definitely gathers together many different types of comics in one place, many of which are unique to the app. On the other, though, it requires users to sort between comics that are free, comics that seem to be time-gated in how they can be read, and comics that are merely offering free chapters in order to entice readers to buy subscriptions. The app itself functions as a reader for all of these types of comics, allowing users a chance to view them all in one place.

The major benefit of this app is that it gives users access to a fairly wide range of comics. While most of these comics are virtually unknown outside of the app, that doesn't mean that they aren't worth reading. With multiple genres and styles available, there is probably something here for virtually anyone who enjoys webcomics. The app also gives users the chance to sample a fair variety of different styles of comics without having to pay anything, which can be quite the benefit for those who typically like to try out new things before they actually spend money on them.

Pros and Cons

Pros

• Access to thousands of different comics
• Many different genres available, some of which aren't well represented elsewhere
• A good variety of free comics that you can read at your own pace
• A good number of comic previews that allow you to try before you buy

Cons

• This app is heavily monetized, with far too much of the content walled off
• Manages to time-gate reading comics, which is definitely not a fantastic move for the genre

Conclusion

There's a lot to like about this app, but it's hard to recommend it due to how heavily monetized the app has become. Though there are definitely comics that you can read for free here, there are far too many of them that require money for this app to represent itself as something that provides free content. Instead of thinking of this app as something like a Netflix for webcomics, you might be better served by looking at it as something more akin to a Redbox - a service that puts everything where you can get it, but that requires you to pay for each individual unit of content that you consume.