Comics Plus offers unlimited, simultaneous access to thousands of digital comics and manga from dozens of publishers including Dark Horse, Image Comics, Tokyo Pop, and more. The “My Shelf” feature allows users to track which titles they've read and pick back up on titles they have not finished. Comics Plus is only available to COD students, faculty, and staff.
After signing in with COD credentials, a redirect to the Comics Plus homepage will occur. From there, titles can be searched by category, publisher, popularity, or recent additions. In the top right, My Shelf displays read and saved titles, along with the reading progress for each.
In this example, The Tea Dragon Society is explored. After selecting the title, the landing page will display the summary, author, publisher, and categories. The release date refers to when it was added to Comics Plus, not the publication date. If the title is part of a series, related titles will appear below, so it's important to check them to determine if they need to be read in chronological order.
Click the play button to start reading. The default setting is one page, but it can be changed to two-page or trifold reading using the top left dropdown menu. Also located in the top left are the zoom in and out buttons, or alternatively, the up and down arrows on the keyboard can be used. To navigate through the comic, use the right arrow to go forward, the left arrow to go back, or click the pages on the navigation panel. Clicking anywhere will hide the navigation screen. Once finished, click the X in the top right to exit the title. Reading progress will be automatically saved.
Searching in Comics Plus is simple. Begin on the home screen by browsing through various categories and covers or select a tab from the top menu.
Search by Publisher: In this example, results for the publisher Dynamite are displayed, showing all titles available from that publisher, grouped by series. Results can be sorted by popularity or alphabetically.
Search by Category: This example shows results for the "webcomics" category. Webcomics are originally created and published online, but some have been turned into print collections available here.
Search by Series: This example displays results for a dinosaur series. These books belong to a set but are not intended to be read in chronological order. They are linked together to indicate related material.
Search by Series: When selecting a dinosaur book, the rest of the series will appear linked below, allowing easy navigation back to the series without needing to search for it again.
Search by Series (Manga): This example shows results for the Delicious in Dungeon manga. All available volumes are grouped in one place, and this series must be read in chronological order. Note that the volumes may not appear in order on the results screen, so it's important to select the correct volume before reading.
Search for Spanish: Comics Plus offers some titles in Spanish. These can be found by filtering language options to "Spanish" and sorting by popularity or alphabetically for the best browsing experience. Alternatively, titles in Spanish can be searched directly in the search box and will appear in the results.
My Shelf keeps a record of all books read and planned for reading. Items can be added or removed at any time, but once removed, they are gone until revisiting the title and starting it again.
My Shelf displays reading progress for each title through a green bar below the cover image. This same bar appears under the cover art when exploring the database, making it easy to track titles that have been read or started.
Manga and traditional comics have distinct reading styles, and like any interface, Comics Plus has its own approach to setting up the manga reader. Let's take Soul Eater Vol. 1 as an example.
When the title first opens, the cover image appears as the first page, but the liner navigation panel shows that the first page is actually the last page of the book. Since manga is read right to left and top to bottom, the story begins at the end, and the left arrow must be clicked to scroll forward.
Click anywhere to hide the navigation panel and use the arrow keys to read. The display can be switched to two pages per screen, but it's important to remember that reading still follows the right-to-left, top-to-bottom format, starting on the right page.
One way to tell if the wrong end of the book is open is by spotting the title page verso. If this page with the publication information appears, it's a sign that the book is at its end, not the beginning. Additionally, the page counter at the top can help determine whether the story is moving forward or backward.