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Let’s talk about Marvel Unlimited Subscribtion service.

justin haines

justin haines

Banned
Nov 27, 2018
1,791
I have never bought a comic in my 33 years. I just bought an annual pass from Marvel Unlimited.

This seems like a good deal for 70 bucks. Do people prefer smart comic or full screen? See the full page first or last with smart turned on?

Anyone wants to throw me some great ones for a newbie to start on? What would the wife like? I have a 5 year old son and 3 year old daughter. Where do you start a kid on Marvel?



I'm so excited to read some comics. Subscription services kick ass.
 
Osahi

Osahi

Member
Oct 27, 2017
5,937
Full page for me all the way. I think in good comics the lay out of the whole page can be as important as the individual frames. It also feels like the classic way to read.

When I still had my subscription I mostly read the recent Star Wars series (+ Darth Vader, Doctor Aphra, ...) Ms. Marvel is a great superhero series, as is the Spider-Man series with Miles (not sure which it is, but the first one he gets introduced in) and Hawkeye by David Aja. I think those are my 3 favourite, recent-ish series.
 

Deleted member 9479

User requested account closure
Banned
Oct 26, 2017
2,953
Pages are written and drawn to be read with the whole page (sometimes two pages) showing. Some people seem to like guided reading/smart panel/etc but... it's really not the intended way to read a comic. Outside of accessibility issues for disability, just go with full page.
 
Fireatwill

Fireatwill

Avenger
Oct 27, 2017
368
Full screen is the way to go. Only time I swap to guided view is for the double page spreads with tiny writing that I can't read. Even then, I still view the full page, then read the text, then check the full page spread a 2nd time.
 

TitanicFall

Member
Nov 12, 2017
8,274
If you read on a small device like a cell phone, then guided view is useful. I think anything 9" or above should only use full page view.
 
BrightLightLava

BrightLightLava

Member
Oct 25, 2017
7,331
justin haines said:
Anyone wants to throw me some great ones for a newbie to start on? What would the wife like? I have a 5 year old son and 3 year old daughter. Where do you start a kid on Marvel?
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Unbeatable Squirrel Girl for everyone. It may very well be the only good comic.

Jason Aaron's run on Thor is also spectacular, but slightly confusing to get in to as it bounces across books a few times.

Here's the order.

I'd say skim through the Original Sin stuff, cause it mostly sucks, but it has one bit related to Thor that's very important for the rest of it. (though that's recapped heavily in the other stuff)
 
Sgt. Demblant

Sgt. Demblant

Self-requested ban
Banned
Oct 25, 2017
7,030
France
It's a great service.
I would say full page all the way but just use whichever option feels best for you. The pages are designed for print though, so I think full screen is a more satisfying experience most of the time.

As for where to start... There are thousands of options so it's kinda crazy. For your kids, I would say Moon Girl and look at the Fantastic Four recommendations on the app. They'll have plenty of good suggestions there. FF comics are usually super family friendly. Even more than Spider-Man.

Edit: portrait!
 
Madness80

Madness80

Member
Feb 28, 2018
161
If anyone wants to subscribe to the annual plus, I will buy the Venom Punisher figure off of you for half the price of the whole subscription.
 
mjc

mjc

The Fallen
Oct 25, 2017
5,880
MU is probably the best value in the entire business, with CMX behind it just so.
 
MrLuchador

MrLuchador

Member
Oct 25, 2017
2,486
The Internet
It's fantastic, even if it is missing a lot of early Ghost Rider and Blade issues. That won't be too much of a problem if you're not interested in reading everything in chronological order, but hey..!
 
WascallyWabbit

WascallyWabbit

Member
Oct 25, 2017
10,431
Some of my favorite Marvel books that you can read the whole run of in the last few years or so are:
Uncanny X-Force by Jason Aaron
Fantastic 4 by Hickman
Wolverine and the X-Men by Jason Aaron
Silver Surfer by Mike Allred

This is just fairly recent stuff, the whole of the Marvel catalogue should take you quite awhile, enjoy
 
Username1198

Username1198

The Fallen
Oct 27, 2017
8,123
Space, Man
My favorite sub! Absolutely worth it!

Read Hickman's entire avengers/ff run, and Jason Aaron's Thor. Also read Saladin Ahmed's Black Bolt it's super sad and awesome.

Do this:

In the browse tab, you will see a "comics event" tab that allows you to see entire events all together in order. So it's easy to search and discover.

Great way to discover new stuff in its entirety. 5 years later and I'm still reading new stuff daily.

I'm currently reading the original Exiles and am gonna reread Hickman's entire run in anticipation of his return to marvel!

Edit I also use the smart panel, it's cool, it's like a movie, like cognizant said below. I'm reading on an amazon fire btw.
 
cognizant

cognizant

Member
Dec 19, 2017
13,756
Smart panel is amazing and a game-changer, it feels cinematic the way it flows from one panel to another, and hides big reveals. I love it. Unfortunately it doesn't work on some comics, but only something like (pulls random numbers out his ass) 1 out of every 20 issues that I've read. And I've read a lot since I got my sub almost two years ago. I've rarely used the phone app, but it's gotten some updates recently, hopefully improving it.

Check out Crushingkrisis web page for reading guides on lots of comics.
 
PanzerKraken

PanzerKraken

Member
Nov 1, 2017
15,014
Its amazing deal, how I read my comics pretty much as I wont pay the stupid full price they charge for a tiny issue. They have lot of holes in the back catalog but every week they dump a bunch of old comics onto the service so it's always growing as an archive.
 
Cipher Peon

Cipher Peon

One Winged Slayer
Member
Oct 25, 2017
7,824
When I sub to Marvel Unlimited, I always do guided reading. Yeah it's not the intended way, but it's infinitely more convenient for me on a phone.
 
Duane

Duane

Unshakable Resolve
The Fallen
Oct 27, 2017
6,442
Yeah, I subscribed during a free month special a few years ago, and have never cancelled all this time later. Such great value... damn near every Marvel comic ever, 15 or so new ones every Monday, AND less than the monthly price of two single issues on paper. (one for smart people like OP who paid annually).

And to answer the question, I started out with full page view reading mostly on tablet, but these days read everything on the panel view and on my phone. I've actually grown to prefer it. There are so many times the full view catches your eye down at the bottom of the page, and thus diminishes the presentation.

(but that said, if I AM reading on a tablet, full page only, because I don't like the way some of the smallest panels get pixellated if they get blown up full screen).
 
Lee Morris

Lee Morris

Member
Oct 28, 2017
3,724
I cannot recommend Jason Arran's run on Thor enough. Amazing. If you don't want to try and follow the reading order above, the main series is easy enough and informative enough to follow.

Also Ms Marvel is so fun and the art is great in the first couple of runs
 
ClamBuster

ClamBuster

Member
Oct 27, 2017
4,099
Ipswich, England
i'm 38 years old and up until two months ago i had never read one single comic... i've now got well over a hundred under my belt thanks to MU

in terms of how i read them, it purely depends on the size of the text
 
Duane

Duane

Unshakable Resolve
The Fallen
Oct 27, 2017
6,442
Silver Surfer (2014-2015) and Silver Surfer (2016-2017) - Don't read anything about it first. Just start with issue #1 of the 2014 series and get ready to laugh, cry, and have some unforgettable adventures.

Ms. Marvel (2014-2015), (2015-present) - People love Kamala. You will too.

Note - both of these have a break in 2015 as you can see. You'll encounter this a lot. That's Secret Wars. If you just infer whatever you infer about it from the context in the books, that's fine. It will seem to you like the world ended, but somehow things got kinda back to normal BUT... you're not sure what, why or how. That's fine and actually works within the context of the stories.

There's more I want to suggest, but I ran out of time.
 
MrDaravon

MrDaravon

Member
Oct 25, 2017
1,977
I subbed for a while about a year or so ago and read a bunch of stuff, first time I'd read Marvel in many many years.

The catalog was fairly impressive, but did reading order/search stuff ever get improved? I had problems with finding stuff via the site search and the event page orders/and completion was pretty hit or miss. Like I'd search on the site for something with no results, then would google Marvel Unlimited + whatever and find it that way, and I saw other people complaining about the same thing. Like, not a total dealbreaker but I'd wind up having a reading order from whatever comic website pulled up in one tab while having to do searches in the other tab and it was annoying.

That said I should resub, all of the Jane Foster Thor stuff was just wrapping up at the time so t hat should all be on there now, and I've heard nothing but great things.
 
PanzerKraken

PanzerKraken

Member
Nov 1, 2017
15,014
IrishNinja said:
that does sound like an awesome deal - but damn, 6 months?

the deathgrip retail still has on this industry is crazy. it's gonna be new release parity eventually.
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At that price, no one would buy new comics so they have to put that 6 months backlog. Frankly Im fine with it, and I wont spend a dime on overpriced new releases, I gladly wait for them to hit Unlimited as I was already often just waiting for Trades of my favorite series instead of new issues.

They typically add 35-60+ books a week to the service

MrDaravon said:
I subbed for a while about a year or so ago and read a bunch of stuff, first time I'd read Marvel in many many years.

The catalog was fairly impressive, but did reading order/search stuff ever get improved? I had problems with finding stuff via the site search and the event page orders/and completion was pretty hit or miss. Like I'd search on the site for something with no results, then would google Marvel Unlimited + whatever and find it that way, and I saw other people complaining about the same thing. Like, not a total dealbreaker but I'd wind up having a reading order from whatever comic website pulled up in one tab while having to do searches in the other tab and it was annoying.

That said I should resub, all of the Jane Foster Thor stuff was just wrapping up at the time so t hat should all be on there now, and I've heard nothing but great things.
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Nah their search and organization is still a mess. You have major event catalogs that collect all the issues... at least you think it does but they forgot to include some issues that are on the service but not put in the events category. And yea the search function is kind of shit. If you need to find a book, its often easier to just go to the alphabetical listing and find what you need cause the search is a mess.
 
Mexen

Mexen

Member
Oct 26, 2017
2,930
My free trial came with Spider-Man. Great game by the way. Anyway, I read a few comics but not consistently so I never renewed. If I were less busy, I would subscribe. Some of the viewing options were inconvenient on my PC but it could just be me.
 
Jared

Jared

Member
Oct 27, 2017
279
Also if you have a library card Hoopla has a huge selection of graphic novels for free as well if you'd like to expand past marvel one day.
 
nicoga3000

nicoga3000

Member
Oct 25, 2017
8,975
I wish there were an affordable large format comic book reader. Is there one I just don't know about? I've got tons of digital comics on my computer but I hate reading on my phone or on my PC.
 

Deleted member 17388

User requested account closure
Banned
Oct 27, 2017
12,994
justin haines said:
I have a 5 year old son and 3 year old daughter. Where do you start a kid on Marvel?
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Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur
The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl
Ms. Marvel by G. Willow Wilson

Also Power Pack, not the 80's series but the miniseries starting 2005, like PP and Spider-Man, PP and Fantastic Four, Power Pack: Thor and the Warriors Four are fantastic for both kids :D
 
Jombie

Jombie

Member
Oct 27, 2017
10,392
It's an amazing service, a wealth of great comics at your fingertips. The only thing I dislike is the UI.
 
thepenguin55

thepenguin55

Member
Oct 28, 2017
11,815
I think when I get a tablet again I'll jump back into this. I never really read comics growing up (I had some random issues of Venom, Scarlet Spider and the Spider Man Animated series comics) but I used to love all other non-comic Marvel media as a kid (interestingly enough I never got huge into the MCU). When I had a sub to this it was great as I just checked out all kinds of random stuff.

Some notable stuff for me was Frank Miller's Dare Devil and the complete Maximum Carnage arc. I don't know that I would call Maximum Carnage good but as someone who played the absolute shit out of that game back in the day there was something super satisfying about finally reading through the story arc. Seeing none super pixelated versions of the cutscene art was great.
 
digit_zero

digit_zero

Member
Oct 27, 2017
2,373
nicoga3000 said:
I wish there were an affordable large format comic book reader. Is there one I just don't know about? I've got tons of digital comics on my computer but I hate reading on my phone or on my PC.
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Kindle Fire's can be had rather cheap for a tablet (~$100 depending on skew and sales) and are a solid option.
 
AusGeno

AusGeno

Banned
Oct 27, 2017
1,076
If you're look for a good reader try and find a second hand Galaxy Tab S 10.5, the 16:10 Super OLED screen is magical for reading comics.

Marvel Unlimited is the best thing to happen in comics for me for years.
 
OP
OP
justin haines

justin haines

Banned
Nov 27, 2018
1,791
Ok guys I'm trying to figure out how to read fantastic four by jonathon Hickman but this browser sucks

Can someone tell me what to type for it to give me his books and I just read them all as separate things or in order

Edit is 570 to 611 correct?
 

Deleted member 7279

Banned
Oct 25, 2017
4,553
So I had some credit and a ton of rewards points so I ended up buying a Fire 10 and getting a year sub to Marvel Unlimited

Comics look so fucking good on this thing. I read one on my laptop and it was awful. Did one on my phone and it was just uncomfortable.

But on this thing man it is just so good. Do recommend for anyone on the fence. It wasn't much work to get Google Play Store on it either and I'm usually not very tech savvy.
 
Bufbaf

Bufbaf

Don't F5!
Member
Oct 25, 2017
12,663
Hamburg, Germany
I guess this is the closest to an OT thread so

Am I not understanding reading lists on MU? I'm reading Secret Invasion, I found it has a reading list with all books and tie-ins related to the event. Great, fantastic.

So now in my head I would assume, since I also can easily put the reading list on my home screen, I just open the reading list, open the first book, and after it finished the list will take me to the next chronological entry within the reading list. But no, it takes me to whatever the next issue of the series I was reading is. So I have to quit out, go back to the main page, go back to the reading list, find the comic i was JUST reading, check the comic that comes next and click on it there to read it. Afterwards, do it all over again, being more and more annoyed because I have to scroll further and further while desperately trying not to forget what issue I read last.

I feel like I'm doing something wrong and the lists should make it easier to actually read, well, the dang list. Is there something I'm missing?
 
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