A new version of Droid Comic Viewer (ACV), the free comic, manga and image viewer for Android mobiles, was released today. Version 1.3.1 includes lots usability, stability and performance upgrades that make Droid Comic Viewer the best and most popular comic reader for Android.

Some of the new features included in version 1.3.1 are:

• Configurable fling up and down input events
• Configurable corner tap input events
• Double tap to zoom in
• Zoom up to 150%
• Automatically opens next/previous file after moving forward/back from the last/first image
• Next page cache for CBR/RAR support
• 4 new custom actions: fit width, fit height, fit screen and open settings
• BMP support
• Enter the screen number in the Screen Browser for quick navigation

Learn more about Droid Comic Viewer.

Related posts:

1. Droid Comic Viewer 1.3.7 update log
2. Droid Comic Viewer version 1.1.1 update log
3. Droid Comic Viewer breaks the 250,000 mark in the Android Market

A CBZ or CBR file, also known as Comic Book Archive or Comic Book Reader file, is an archive file for the purpose of sequential viewing of images, generally comic books.

A renamed ZIP or RAR file

As the first two letters imply, CBZ or CBR files are normally used to pack comic books. The third letter identifies the archive format: ZIP and RAR respectively.

Comic Book Archive files are, in fact, ZIP or RAR files with their extension renamed. While CBR files are the most common, CBZ files are preferred because the ZIP format is more widely supported.

Inside the archive

Comic Book Archive files are composed by a series of images, tipically JPEG or PNG files. GIF and BMP are also supported by most comic book viewers.

Comic Book Archive files can also contain text files that some comic book viewers display when opening the file.

Adoption

The Comic Book Archive format was made popular by the CDisplay image viewer, which has now been discontinued by its original author. There are now many comic book viewers that support this format.

Because of the simplicity, accesibility and popularity of the CBZ format, Robot Comics joins various publishers and creators that offer their comics in this format.

Related posts:

1. Where to find free CBZ or CBR comics
2. Droid Comic Viewer v1.2.1: now with cbz support
3. New version of the most popular comic viewer for Android

Below is a partial list of free CBZ and CBR comics ready to download from the web. We will publish a tutorial about CBR to CBZ conversion shortly. If you don’t know what’s a CBZ or CBR file, please check this brief introduction first.

Publishers

• FlashBack Universe (download page)
• Oni Press (download page)

Titles

• Cory Doctorow’s Futuristic Tales Of The Here And Now (IDW Publishing, 2008) (download page)
• Misery Depot (Papyrus Comics, 2008) (official site)
• Tales from the Public Domain: Bound by Law? (Duke University, 2006) (download page)
• Therefore Repent! (Jim Munroe, Salgood Sam, 2008) (download page)

Some comics are offered directly in RAR or ZIP. If your comic book viewer does not support these extensions, simply rename the comic to CBR or CBZ respectively.

Criteria

The list doesn’t pretend to be complete. Only high-quality, popular or notable comics are included in the list.

Updates

If there is a free comic book that you think should be included in the list or if you found a dead link, please leave a comment below or let us know at contact@robotcomics.net.

Related posts:

1. What is a CBZ or CBR file?
2. Droid Comic Viewer v1.2.1: now with cbz support
3. Robot Comics launches standalone comic viewer