MComix is a versatile comic book reader that supports both western comics and manga, in a variety of container formats, including CBR, CBZ, CB7, LHA and PDF. The application is available for Linux and Windows.
Initially started as a Comix fork (app for which development stopped in 2009), with the main purpose of adding bug fixes and stability improvements, MComix has evolved over the years, gaining new features and various improvements, and becoming a a solid comic reader.
MComix features:
- supports most common comic book formats, including CBR, CBZ, CB7, CBT, LHA, as well as PDF, ZIP, RAR, 7Z and LHA archives;
- multiple views: double-page mode, fit image to window width, height or both, manual zoom mode and manga mode (right-to-left comics), all available either in windowed or fullscreen mode;
- library which allows organizing and keeping track of your comics; there's also a library watch feature which can scan a folder and automatically add new comics to your library;
- smart scrolling for easy reading (use the space key to try it out);
- bookmark support;
- configurable slideshow;
- archive editor;
- various image tools, like an image enhancer and options to rotate or flip images;
- extensive list of configurable keyboard shortcuts;
- highly configurable user interface: you can hide any available toolbar, choose what (if any) UI parts to show in fullscreen, change the thumbnail size, background color, scrolling steps and much more;
- remembers last seen page when opening a partially read comic book
- allows adding your own custom commands, in case you want to open certain files in external applications or perform other actions (this is documented HERE);
- many other minor but useful features like a magnifying lens which you can use to zoom in to a portion of a comic, etc.
It's important to mention that while the application can open animated images, it won't play them and you'll be looking at static images instead. There is an open bug regarding this, with no answer from the developer yet, so you can keep an eye on it if this is something you're interested in.
The MComix package from the official Ubuntu repositories hasn't been updated in a while (Ubuntu 15.10 provides MComix 1.00, while the latest version is 1.2.1) and I couldn't find the latest version in any PPA, so I decided to upload MComix 1.2.1 to the main WebUIpd8 PPA, for Ubuntu 14.04, 15.04 and 15.10.
Since version 1.0.0 (version available in the Ubuntu 15.10 - and older - repositories), Mcomix has received quite a few improvements, including:
- keyboard shortcuts can now be edited from the MComix preference dialog
- huge code refactoring and cleanups;
- improved fullscreen handling;
- better 7z support;
- fixed support for tar.xz and LHA archives;
- fixed PDF support with newer versions of MuPDF;
- double page mode respects Exif rotation now.
A complete changelog can be found HERE.
Install MComix in Ubuntu, Linux Mint and derivatives
MComix 1.00 is available in the official Ubuntu repositories. To install it, use the following command:
sudo apt-get install mcomixIf you want to use the latest version (1.2.1 at the time I'm writing this article), you can install it in Ubuntu 15.10, 15.04 or 14.04, Linux Mint 17.x and derivatives by adding the main WebUpd8 PPA. Add the PPA and install MComix using the following commands:
sudo add-apt-repository ppa:nilarimogard/webupd8
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install mcomixTo download the source or Windows binaries, see the MComix SourceForge downloads page.
