The Daily Cartoonist

Industry news for the professional cartoonist

Another Comics Kingdom Update

D. D. Degg166 mins

Don’t know how many click on the “News” button in the Comics Kingdom banner running at the top of their pages. I do most every day, and a couple of days ago Alex Garcia provided us with another site update. Which gives us an excuse to once more rage against the machine – or at least throw spaghetti at the wall and see if anything sticks.

Before we get to the updates I’ll unleash a pet peeve about the site.

Yeah I’m adjusting to the black background, not happy about it but adjusting.

I grew up reading comics on a white sheet of paper (sometimes green, occasionally pink) not black.

But the above image illustrates my new major pet peeve – the lack of credits above each individual comic.

Above each comic at the top left should be the title of the comic with cartoonist credits, but Comics Kingdom has the date there with the title off to the far right, in smaller print, with no creator credits.

My preference is they switch the date and title positions, add cartoonist credits, and enlarge those credits to the size of the “Jump to” menu heading. As seen below they do credit the creators at the top the comic’s individual page, as seen above not on the “favorites” pages.

This matters, first, because the artists deserve the notice (or notoriety, your choice) and second when adding a new comic to your favorites it reinforces the title and cartoonist in your mind. I do not automatically know The Saga of Brann Bjornson is by Stephen Webster or Suburban Fairy Tales is by Francis Bonnet. I need the daily reminder to get it engrained.

They do claim to want there to be a creator/reader connection. That would help.

On to the updates:

… here’s what’s new and improved!

Comic Reader Enhancements:

  • Expanded Reading View on Desktop: Click or tap on a comic strip, and voilà, you’re in the expanded reading view! Bigger, better, and more fun.
  • “Copy Link” Option: Sharing your favorite strips with friends is now easier with the “Copy link” option in the social share menu.
  • No More Sizing Errors on Mobile: We’ve tackled those pesky horizontal/landscape sizing issues for multi-panel strips. Enjoy seamless reading on the go!

Expanded Reading does nothing when I click on the comic. Maybe because I already have the strips filling the width of my screen? Like the copy link thingy (if it works, haven’t tried it yet). I don’t read comics on mobile devices.

Account Dashboard Updates:

  • Revamped Manage Favorites List: All your cherished comics, old and new, in one place.
  • Vintage Ribbon: Spot vintage comics easily in your Favorites, thanks to the new vintage ribbon.
  • Favorites & Bookmarks on Top Nav Bar: Quick access means more time for fun!

Yeah, they finally got the vintage and new comics run alphabetically on my favorites page. (Pages – but I only have to click “load more” three times to get them all. A major improvement over loading more every three comics.)

I spot the vintage strips easily as they are in black and white versus the new strips in color (most of the time). That “vintage” flag is, like the comic titles barely visible.

Yeah, that favorites heart button is convenient and quick.

Daily Favorites Email Perfection:

  • Duplicate Comic Issue Fixed: Say goodbye to seeing the same comic twice.
  • Vintage Favorites Delivery: Now, vintage comics will land in your inbox without a hitch.

I have no idea since I have tried multiple times to get the comics and newsletters to my inbox without success. Maybe I’ll give it another try.

There is more from Alex about the most recent updates and earlier ones..

16 thoughts on “Another Comics Kingdom Update”

  1. The Expanded Reading View displays the comic strips without the black vertical stripes in the strips between som panels. It’s good to be able to view the comic strips as the artists have drawn them.

    1. It works in Google Chrome. In Firefox, nothing happens when you click or tap on the comic strips.
      Tested on Windows and Android.

  2. Clicking on the comic does nothing, either in Favorites or when viewing an individual strip. Doesn’t matter if the strip is already large (paid sub full screen window) or not (free sub). Firefox on Windows.

    They’ve fixed almost all of my complaints about the launch configuration. As far as I can tell the paid subscription does nothing except make the strips somewhat larger. Since it looks like paid will be something like $50/year (up from $20) I expect to convert entirely to free when my current paid subscription runs out. (I’ll choose a cartoonist to contribute $20/year to in penance.)

  4. I had my favorites in a specific order. I spent time doing that. The e-mail I get still has them in the proper order, but it seems hit or miss what will actually show up. The other day only 8 of the over 20 were in the list.
    I completely agree with you on the black. What on Earth were they thinking?

  5. But you still can’t pick the order you want to read the comics in. Which you were able to do. Why would an “upgrade” removes options and functionality?

  6. I’m finally able to get all my strips in the daily email (though not in my preferred order). I read them on an iPad usually by clicking ‘view in browser’ so I can enlarge them. The daily emails DO have the creators’ names by the names of the strips. Weird! And it’s good to read them on a white background.

    However, since my daily email began working properly (without the constant reruns or missing strips), 3 GoComics strips are appended at the end of the email! Dick Tracy, Gil Thorp, and Gasoline Alley (which I get from GoComics and its daily email). Why in the world would that happen?

    1. It was the newspaper groups (Gannett, McClatchy, Lee, etc.) we were unhappy with not King Features.
      King has women doing Mary Worth for the first time since Martha Orr stepped away from Apple Mary, they handed Mark Trail over to Jules, they have Alex Hallatt, Sandra Bell-Lundy, Hilary Price with Rino Piccola, Susie MacNelly, and six women working on Six Chix. All are syndicated offerings for newspapers to take. Only the Susie MacNelly produced Shoe is part of The Gannett 34. And McClatchy and Lee have not signed any of them for their comics pages.

  8. I wrote them about some missing strips, that were on the prior site, before the update. Plus asked about bringing in some old strips in the Vintage section. Here was their response.

    1. What’s up with Judge Parker vintage, the vintage disappeared? There are missing strips, will you continue to fill in the strips that are not on the site?

    Hello Rob, thank you for your inquiry. To answer your questions…

    1. Judge Parker. Yes, the Vintage dates of Judge Parker and current dates of Judge Parker are found under the single Judge Parker heading. Under the Manage Your Favorites in your Account Dashboard, you can select Judge Parker and/or Judge Parker Vintage to receive each as Favorite online and/or via email. As for the missing dates from 1981-1996, those dates aren’t currently available in our Comics Kingdom archive, but we are adding years of various vintage comics. I am not sure of when more vintage Judge Parker comics will be added to the Comics Kingdom archive.

    What’s up with the Rex Morgan strips? One the prior site, before the update, it went back to 1998. Now, it stops at 2019?!?

    2. Rex Morgan. Our programmers are looking into Rex Morgan. Archives should go back at least to 1996.

    Can you please consider adding “Steve Roper & Mike Nomad” to the vintage selections?

    3. Steve Roper and Mike Nomad inquiry is being sent to our editorial team.

    Can you please consider adding “Secret Agent Corrigan (X-9)” from the Al Williamson/Archie Goodwin years?

    4. Secret Agent Corrigan by Archie Goodwin and Al Williamson inquiry is being sent to our editorial team.

      1. I’m not sure the overlap is as big as they might think it is. My budget is not infinite, and I’ll pay CK or GC to read strips that I wouldn’t pay hardcover prices to do for one strip.

  9. I would be happier if it would load all my favorites instead of having to go back and find individuals comics. Everyday is an adventure. Looks like I’m still running out my subscription.

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