Marvel Unlimited: Subscription streaming comics on PC/Mac/iPad - Complaints, thoughts, series recommendations

Some recommended series:
Thor the Mighty Avenger by Roger Landgridge
Marvel Boy by Grant Morrison
4 from about issue 1 to 19
Fantastic Four 508 to at least 570; some decent creative teams there
Avengers and Avengers Heroic Age, basically all the Bendis
Armor Wars by Ellis
Spider Man Hooky by Wrightson... i have old love for this

They added over 300 comics this week. Huge runs of Iron Man and Thor, and tons of 70s and 80s Avengers, Amazing Spider-Man and Captain America. Will be revisiting my childhood memories of the Avengers pronto.

Yes, also the iPad app's been updated quite well -- still some glitches though. But the full-screen is almost there and those annoying arrow buttons are gone.

this is the buggiest fucking thing; getting it to work properly continues to be difficult sledding.

also always pissed when i'm in the middle of a run of a storyline and randomly a key issue is missing for no particular reason

Yup. But at least they're acknowledging and acting on need for improvements, which doesn't always happen.

are they? where's that dialogue happening?

Stuff I Want:
- a "books you've read" list
- subscriptions to series with autopush to your queue
- easier navigation in general; what the hell with all the sliding keys to download and tiny view area to browse
- more than six fucking issues offline; i finish that in half a train ride
- accurate artist/writer/year of publication info for each book reflected in series synopsis... lee/kirby for the current issue of FF? really?
- word bubbles not being segmented, missing or filled with gibberish about 10 to 15% of the time
- consistent up time; this thing is inaccessible about 30% of the time I try to use it
- golden age, silver age <<<<URGENT AND KEY
- better series breakdowns; there are like 17 different "Daredevil" runs and no way to read chronologically
- similarly, link events and stories cross book rather than making me hunt and peck
- less gawky interface, thick bars up top and on bottom are ridiculous
- some genuine curation
- mass issue runs as "single issues" so that i can flip through ten issues in one go rather than having to keep stopping and reloading and waiting between issues

am reading sean rowe's marvel book at the moment (is there a thread for this btw?) and getting all excited by the passages on gerber, engleheart, starlin and so on, and seeing as the howard the duck essentials tpb is so out of print and expensive now, it would be AWESOME if this app covered such titles.

i don't have an ipad, but have an iphone and a laptop - is it worth subscribing?

I can't read comics on my phone, but I used it on my computer for about 8 months before the ipad app and totally got my money's worth.

Thanks EZS!

It's moments like this I miss that crazy guy who put every comic in the world up to be browsed on his website a few years back...

I'm probably late on this - but just picked up Comic Zeal for the iPad, for the cbrzzz. It's really good! Been using Cloud Readers until now, and this is a lot more fun to use, and doesn't crash all the time. Until MU works, I RECOMMEND THIS.

oh yeah, i use cloud readers for my bootleggy stuff but the appeal of Unlimited was 1)paying for a thing I'm willing to pay for at a reasonable price 2)ease of use

Everything Forks says above: YES. So I've just signed up - it's fun but super frustrating. Don't think I'll stay beyond my trial month (for reference while I go through the Sean Howe book, which is EXCELLENT). I don't understand how it's so badly managed. I'm sure there's a thousand library studies students who'd intern and catalogue this shit for free, ffs.

Also, just found this list of titles, which is going to be my proxy Instant Watcher for MCDU: http://www.comicbookherald.com/best-comics-on-marvel-digital-unlimited/#Top

Also, jhfc at this "additional information" section of this job advertisement that's still up after 3 months:

https://sjobs.brassring.com/tgwebhost/jobdetails.aspx?partnerid=25348&siteid=5039&jobid=100538

Earlier this month I spent a rainy afternoon rereading Frank Miller's Daredevil run in its entirety on MDCU, which justified the subs this time round. Will immerse myself in the herald list above - thanks Chuck!

Thanks for that resource, lol at that job listing, yes it's insane that they can't get unpaid interns to fix this shit. it looks easy!

I am heavily into peter david's xfactor run at the moment. it's good stuff!

It's amazing until they tell him he has to tie it into continuity. Always a few sketchy issues before and after an "event" before he can get back on track. I'm sad it's ending.

Do they have the Nocenti DD run that followed Miller's on this service? I'd love to reread those...

they only have about a dozen from her run at the moment.

agreed on the xfactor ups and down. Mostly ups though!

Okay, so the bugginess and crashiness has vastly improved somewhere along the way.

IF anyone's on the fence, I just got an email with buy one subscription get one free codes in it. Only valid TODAY.

damn, remender's x-force is awful good.
i've probably read about twenty series front to back and have settled into all the marvel now stuff
still don't know why they don't have a "series subscribe" button

Just found out a woman I sang with in college worked on this:

http://comicbook.com/blog/2014/02/06/marvel-goes-global-with-digital-comics/

Waid's FF run is decent enough reading. Damn the organization on this site though. And especially the lack of continuous runs. I mean, why the hell would you put up Fear itself #2-7, but leave out the first issue?

Its a really unsatisfactory service.

Like - and maybe this is because I don't own a tablet - but I find it hard to imagine using will ever be anywhere as near as pleasurable as reading a comic or tpb.

Believe me, their crappy interface is a huge downer, compared to reading CBRs in my reader of choice (or even simple web archives that just spit out JPGs).

It makes me miss that website from that crazy dude who'd uploaded every comic ever

Cosseyed Cyclops?

agreed on all the above but it's still worth it for the price.

Just realized I have a subscription to this and haven't opened the app in 3 months :/

Yeah, it's totally worth even if the archiving is fakakta. I think I may upgrade from monthly to yearly. I feel like it's good karma for all the CBR-ing I've done.

The Mouse needs your karma.

Yeah, this service is incredibly disappointing. Why would bother doing this kind of thing so half-assedly? I feel like I'm exactly the kind of customer who would pay $10 a month to read complete runs of comics I missed from early in the decade and older, but it's such a ugly mess.

For instance, I somewhat enjoyed the 2006 Agents of Atlas mini by Jeff Parker. There's a short ongoing title of that that came out a year later, but it's missing the first several issues. There's also an Avengers Forever miniseries by Kurt Busiek that's somewhat leads into Agents of Atlas, but again, they're missing several issues. So annoying.

One Year Later, Stuff I STILL Want:
- a complete "books you've read" list
- subscriptions to series with autopush to your queue
- easier navigation in general; what the hell with all the sliding keys to download and tiny view area to browse
- more than six twelve fucking issues offline; i finish that in half a train ride
- accurate artist/writer/year of publication info for each book reflected in series synopsis... lee/kirby for the current issue of FF? really?
- word bubbles not being segmented, missing or filled with gibberish about 10 to 15% of the time this is down to about 2% of the time and i can deal
- consistent up time; this thing is inaccessible about 30% of the time I try to use it generally fixed
- golden age, silver age <<<<STILL URGENT AND KEY... not quite ready to strike this but they do have a much improved selection from a year ago
- better series breakdowns; there are like 17 different "Daredevil" runs and no way to read chronologically
- similarly, link events and stories cross book rather than making me hunt and peck
- less gawky interface, thick bars up top and on bottom are ridiculous
- some genuine curation
- mass issue runs as "single issues" so that i can flip through ten issues in one go rather than having to keep stopping and reloading and waiting between issues

ok, i'll give 'em this: they have all of Ultimate Spider-Man. been catching up where I left off (around Clone Saga). also - wow, Ultimates 3/Ultimatum was truly, truly despicably awful

this is a godsend, I might as well go read everything, as they have most of this stuff up until the last couple of years:
http://www.comicsbackissues.com/comic-book-reading-order/ultimate-marvel-reading-order/

What was Millar's return to the Ultimates like? It looked, well, terrible. But the first two seasons are pretty solid (I imagine they've dated badly though)

Not that far yet, I just finished with Ultimatum/the end of the first Ultimate Spider-Man series. Man, is there an explanation for why Marvel handed the reins to the Ultimate universe to Jeph Loeb for two years? I don't know how much blame he deserves, since the overall arc must've been the work of editorial, and I doubt it's his fault they went with Joe Mad for Ultimates 3, but good God, so much bad in that run.

Need to go back and read Ultimate Power, didn't realize it actually had important effects leading up to Ultimatum. I remember reading the first 12 or so issues of Supreme Power and liking them, but at the same time, I can kind of see where the Ultimate universe started getting super-ultra-gritty now...

I've gone down the rabbit hole with this. I read about 5 years of the entire Ultimate comics line this past week

xp Millar's return to the Ultimates was... ok. Plotwise nothing special, except that he returned Cap to being a foul-mouthed asshole American who hates France, and he introduced a pre-Bruce Banner hulk who happened to be a black ganglord, slightly less racist that than character he made up in Punisher MAX.

The whole Ultimate Enemy/Mystery/Doom and following storylines and ramifications was pretty damn boss, I gotta say

wait, Barracuda was a different writer, nm

I've been ploughing through the new Thor God of Thunder run. It's really great!

Compulsory Marvel Unlimited pedant gripe: the resolution on the MU comics is lower than the CBRs I download! Which seems wrong.

I haven't read anything older than 1998 yet, but so far everything seems pretty high-res

Spent the last month reading the entire Giffen/Abnett/Lanning cosmic run from 2006-2011 (Annihilation, Conquest, War/Realm of Kings, Thanos Imperative). Good stuff, recommended you start with Marvel Universe: The End that takes place a little before hand, by Jim Starlin.

Some sites have been invaluable to helping me figure out the right reading order, particularly this one:
http://www.comicbookherald.com/the-complete-marvel-reading-order-guide/

Also read the Miller/Mazzuchelli run of Daredevil aka Born Again. Man, Miller at the top of his game was truly great, amazing that this was coming out around the same time as TDKR.

Born Again might be my favourite comics ever

flawed as this service is, it has kept me admirably up-to-date (well up-to-date as of six months ago) on the majority of the marvel lines... i'm more knowledgeable about their current universe than i have been since i was in my marvel zombie high school years.

Does anyone know if (and if not why not) DC has any plans to put this kind of service out there? I would happily pay twice what marvel is asking and do the same for DC.

you really want to read DC's all-dismemberment all-the-time current "universe" that keeps resetting every six months?

well not analytically!

Recommendation: miniseries Vengeance (2011). Plot makes no sense, but I love the art and graphic storytelling; makes sense, since the last issues features a note from the editor explaining this book only exists because they got some bitchin' cover art and wanted to publish a book around it, and it barely all fits together. But who cares! Read it because I'm on a Young Avengers kick, and this features a boatload of rando Marvel C-listers. I wonder if this story had any lasting effect.

Ohh the art's from the East of West guy. That totally makes sense.

I love Vengeance. But I'm a Joe Casey apologist.

What else has he done?

Godland, X-Men: Children of the Atom, Butcher Baker, Automatic Kafka, Wildcats 3.0, The Intimates, Dark Reign: Zodiac, Final Crisis Aftermath: Dance, and tons of all-ages Avengers and Iron Man stuff.

Reading' some early Thor...

http://i.imgur.com/bliAAaS.jpg

lol

Their "Spotlight" section is a bit better than it was previously. I do keep getting a weird glitch where I'll click on an issue I should be able to see all of and it'll let me see the first three or four pages, preview-style. I think that's an issue with how they have the book uploaded.

Also, how did I not know this new Cyclops miniseries is written by Greg Rucka?!?

Ha - I assumed he was a DC lifer

he very publicly and explicitly quit DC over editorial/labour issues, started his comics career in B&W indies, has kept doing creator-owned work alongside his superuniverse books, and has been writing for Marvel since 2001

yeah, I know him a lot more for his own stuff and only recently caught up on his DC work

I wouldn't presume to say he's just going Marvel stuff for the paycheck, but Lazarus (from Image) seems to be his real labor of love right now. The new issue of Cyclops isn't by Rucka.

Yeah, it looks like he just did the first six. And Lazarus is excellent.

Should I be reading this Kaare Andrews Iron Fist series? I'm thinking... yes

first 6 issues were a lot of fun and very very different from nearly anything else marvel is putting out right now

Finally did the Kieron Gillen run of Journey Into Mystery, aka the Ballad of Kid Loki. Totally awesome, and built very well on top of the work JMS did on Thor beforehand.

Very much so! Leads into al's very good Loki run.

I still gotta read that Loki run! And catch up on Thor, too. I want to know how he got the Cable arm.

Due to my chronic insomnia reaching new heights, I probably got a year's worth of MU reading done in the last month, probably reading a few hundred issues - just about every X-Men/larger event comic or spinoff from 2008-2014. Good times?

Last week I went through the Jonathan Hickman Avengers/New Avengers run up through Time Runs Out (right before Secret Wars starts). Amazing, truly blockbuster stuff, a lot of fun. Totally get now why he's such a big deal. Will go back and check out his earlier FF run later.

Also love how a million books were doing time travel/interdimensional shenanigans leading up to Age of Ultron/Infinity/Secret Wars during this time, as the stress of every hero being careless with the time-space continuum comes to a head. Much better than Superboy punching a wall!

Seems like in the past three years they split the reins of the big books between Bendis (All-New X-Men/Age of Ultron), Remender (his X-Force run/Uncanny Avengers/Axis) and Hickman (New Avengers/Infinity/Secret Wars). Not counting Spider-Man, I still have to catch up with that - gonna jump into the Brand New Day era (2008-ish?) at some point.

Wacky find: X-Treme X-Men vol. 2 (2012) - a follow up from Greg Pak's arc on Astonishing X-Men, it's basically Exiles 2.0 with a (even more amoral than usual) detached Xavier head in a bubble leading an interdimensional team with 616-Dazzler and a gay Wolverine to murder a bunch of rogue alternative universe Xaviers. Naturally it ends with one or two universes being destroyed.

good god the connectivity on this app on ipad is hot garbage. half the time it works, the other half it sits there spinning and never loads the rest of the pages.

yep

Agreed! I'm cancelling my subscription for a while, I have too many paper comics and GNs to catch up on.

Nhex, the Fantastic Four Run is great, and (I think) much better than the Avengers run.

I liked it at least as well as his Avengers stuff. Certainly the best FF run in ages.

Agreed, the FF run might be the best attempt at having a long game for a title while passing through shorter storylines.

I guess I should say Fantastic Four/FF since "FF" was a separate title for part of the journey