After YEARS of fans like myself complaining to Marvel that their Unlimited plan doesn't work on tablets or smartphones, there is finally light at the end of the tunnel. I got an e-mail today, inviting me to sign-up for the Marvel Digital Comics Unlimited (MDCU) plan. I get these all the time, give them a brief scan, and then delete them. Today's e-mail however, included something the others didn't. If I sign-up, I can use their all-new Beta version browser to view stuff on my iPad, and get 30% off with an offer code.

I've been wanting this for so long, I couldn't resist. When it comes to the quality of the comics viewing experience using the beta MDCU viewer, well... it's very obvious that it's just a beta version. You have to use a pair of less than responsive arrows to either side of the screen to navigate, instead of just sweeping your finger across the screen as digital comics from ComiXology work. You can do close-ups of panels, but to do so, you have to manipulate the page with your fingertips instead of just tapping it. Also, for some reason, every once in a while the word balloons don't have any text in them for no readily apparent reason.

As I said, this is just a beta version, so there's no reason to expect it to be perfect. Hopefully, we will see the sort of improvements we've come to expect from a properly done digital comics browser in the final version of the MDCU.

Anybody else tried this thing out?

I logged in today and got the notification. Seems to work alright on my PC. On my iPad (older version, iOS 5) it will login, start to load and crash. I'll try it on my phone later.

If an Android version lands I will be giving it a long look...

On Thursday I got an email notification that the beta test was over and that I would need to use the new Marvel Unlimited app. It has a few new options that the beta lacked, but it's still not perfect. You can switch from full page to panel by panel, but the panel version often cuts off word balloons. You can now go from page to page by sweeping your finger across the page, but the arrows are still on the screen. The best new feature is that you can download up to six issues onto your iPad to be viewed offline at a later time. Unfortunately, this feature is also what is giving me the most problems. Some issues won't download. Other issues will download, but the images sometimes wind up being a black page instead of panels. Even issues which I downloaded and checked to confirm they were okay would later turn up black when I pulled them up again.

Once Marvel gets all the problems worked out, I think this is going to be a great new way to get comics. As of today though, it's still a bit of a mess.

Today I received notification that an Android version is now available, for those who are interested.

As for the Apple version, as of today it is much improved over the disastrous launch version. Most of the serious problems have been fixed. The few difficulties which remain aren't that much of a problem. Some of the comics on the browse screen are still out of order, but at least they are available for download. The system for offline reading has been straightened out.

The only real problem I have at this point is customer service, which is non-existent. Back in March I notified MU that there is a problem downloading The Pulse #11. No answer. I began emailing them regularly about the problem. No answers. At this point, I've probably sent them twenty emails about the problem. Not a single one of them has been answered, and I still can't download the comic.

I've been using this since March on my iPad. I freaking love it.

I'm having a great time finally being able to read my digital subscription on my first-generation iPad. I have an iPad without a mobile data plan so I love that I can download six issues at home (or wherever else there's wifi) and still read whatever story I'm into elsewhere. I'm currently working my way through all of Marvel's cosmic stories of the last few years. I started with Annihilation and I'm currently reading title in the Realm of Kings story. It's amazing stuff that I completely ignored when it originally came out.

I've now read the cosmic stuff up through The Thanos Imperative. Now I'm reading all the comics related to Fear Itself. I know that basics and am looking forward to learning more about our upcoming event.

I'm loving that I can finally use this on my iPad. Hoping they expand the download number to 12 issues so I could have a couple complete arcs to read if I won't have Internet access.

More would be nice but I'm thrilled that they even allow six. Besides, I'm still working my way through all the Marvel first issues that I downloaded into the ComiXology app. If I'm somewhere and read all six of the MU books I have downloaded, I can just change apps and still have plenty to read.

There was a major update to the app this week, so it occurred to me that I might also update this thread.

The big change this week is that the number of downloadable issues has been increased from six to twelve. Given the heavy volume of comics reading I've been doing lately, this is a huge improvement.

After looking over my previous reviews, I think I should mention a few other things. Almost all of the major problems I've had with the Marvel Unlimited app have been fixed at this point. The obnoxious arrows on either side of the page have been eliminated. Downloaded comics no longer show up as blank pages. They also finally fixed The Pulse #11, for what it's worth. They also recently have begun to work on the problem of the gaps they've been leaving in recent comics issues.

Some problems do remain, but these are mostly pretty minor. They still haven't fixed the order which issues appear in, since many of them were entered with the wrong publishing date on them. Lots of comics still have the wrong cover on the browse screen, or no cover at all. Adjusting the screen size is strangely awkward if you want to view your comics with the iPad longways for a larger image. I have to first turn my iPad right side up, and then turn it sideways to get the app to allow me to change the image size. There is also no way to adjust any defaults.

On the whole, I now consider this to be an app worthy of recommendation. If you're interested in reading comics, but aren't so die-hard that you just HAVE to have the most recent issue available right now, the MU app is a fine choice. It's especially great if you're looking to check out some older back issues without having to pay a small fortune for them. It's still not perfect, but updates come about once a month, and the problems are slowly being whittled away.