ComiX is free comic strip browser that downloads and displays more than 150 comic strips browsable by their publication date.
An interesting little gem that puts many of your favorite comic strips at your fingertips for quick browsing.
Here are some notes on this program:
- Available comics: the version I tested supported 156 comics including well known entries such as Garfield, Doonesbury, Fox Trot, Ziggy, Andy Capp, Dick Tracy, Gil Thorp, etc; however, some of my favorites were conspicuously absent, such as Dilbert, The Far Side, Peanuts, and Calvin and Hobbes. A quick peek into the INI file seems to suggest that the source for these comics may be http://www.ucomics.com/.
- How to use: select your desired strip from the dropdown, then click on the “back” or “next” buttons to scroll backwards and forward in time (the button in the middle is “today’s comic”). Alternately you can select the date you want from the date dropdown and zoom straight into the comic strip for that particular date (note: not all comics have a daily edition, and if you choose a day for which no strip exists there will be a bit of a lag as the software tries to download a nonexistent entry before it finally gives up).
- Slide show: this one is a bit easy to miss. Click on the little “slide show” icon in the bottom right and then set the direction for the slideshow (backwards or forward in time, using the “back” or “next” buttons).
History: what is truly amazing is that you can go back in history to the very beginning for these comics (although I’m not sure if this applies to all of them). For example I was able to view the first Garfield strips dating back to 1978.- No install: simply unzip this program and run. All comics will be downloaded and stored locally inside the program folder.
- Offline browser: when offline, ComiX can still browse any strips that you were viewed previously that it saved locally.
Wish list (or how this program can be even better)
- The ability to bookmark comic strips as “favorites” for quick access.
- Adding the following comics would be cool: Dilbert, The Far Side, Peanuts, and Calvin and Hobbes.
- A description and/or a Wikipedia entry for each comic strip that tells something about it would also be supercool.
The verdict: this program that can be a lot of fun especially if the comics you like are amongst the ones supported. Although all of the comics are available online and you could look them up on Google if you chose to do so, it is nice to have them all in the same place, which is also especially conducive to exploring/discovering comic strips that you previously were not aware of.
Version Tested: 0.2.1.24
Compatibility: WinAll.
The program page no longer exists, but you can download ver. 0.2.1.24 of the program here.
