Chunky Comic Reader

If we had to pick just one app on this list, and reading comics on the iPhone wasn’t required, it would be Chunky Comics Reader. First and foremost, comics in any format look great in Chunky. They display quickly and there’s no lag or stutter when you turn pages, zoom in or adjust the zoom. Chunky is also extremely well-designed, sporting a clean, intuitive interface that makes adding, organizing, and reading your comics nearly effortless. Like the best iOS apps, Chunky includes deceptively small touches that enhance the overall experience of using the app, such as: a settings menu that can pop up an explanation of what each setting is and what it does; a parental lock; a viewing option called “tap to pan” that resembles the much-praised “Guided View” from Comixology; and the ability to freely move comics out of the app via the “open in” function. Chunky is very customizable, but it is also intelligent; it will automatically file your imported comics by series, and let you fix any mistakes it makes. The app also makes it very easy to import comics, by including an integrated web browser as well as pre-configured connections to accounts on services such as Dropbox, Google Drive, OneDrive, Box, Mediafire, Pogoplug, FTP, and even Image Comics, with still more connections (such as Windows and Mac shared folders, OPDS/Calibre support, and the ability to act as a web server) available as an in-app purchase. Part of the reason Chunky works so well may be that the developer is very open to user feedback and updates the app with impressive regularity, adding new features and refining existing ones.