A new app called Comic Social wants to become the go-to platform for comic readers looking to rate, review, track and discuss what they’re reading, drawing an explicit comparison to the film-tracking app Letterboxd.
“Like many comic readers, I found myself using multiple websites and social media platforms to review and engage in conversation about comics,” Humphries said. “There was no dedicated app built specifically for comic readers. Comic Social was created to change that.”
Humphries said she’s also a frequent Letterboxd user herself, and other platforms already offer some of this functionality for comics, but it isn’t their main focus.
“I wanted something that worked similarly but specifically for comic books,” Humphries said.
The app is the work of Tasmin Humphries, who also serves as editor in chief of Aspiring Kryptonian, a Superman-focused blog she started in 2017 after wanting to share her Superman collection with readers online. Her collection dates back to 2006, and her connection to the character runs deeper than the blog. Her son is named Kal.
“I’m a huge comic reader, I own over 2,000 comics and read almost daily,” Humphries said. She described herself as a big DC fan and said the first comic she ever read was “Superman: Red Son,” calling it a strange place to start.
Humphries said that personal bias hasn’t carried over into how the app itself works or what it recommends. But her own habits as a reader shaped which details show up on each entry, including creators, volume numbers, release years and synopses.
“There were certain bits of information I wanted to show within the app,” Humphries said. “I want it to be a place where readers can share their opinions and discover new comic books and likeminded people.”
At launch, Comic Social will offer star ratings and written reviews, personalized discovery through friends and other community members, customizable profiles that let users spotlight favorite issues, reactions and discussion threads on individual comics, and dedicated industry news pulled from publisher feeds.
Reviewing currently works on a per-issue basis, with some collected editions supported as well, pulling data from the Grand Comics Database.
“Currently, it’s per issue and also features some collected editions,” Humphries said. “Reviewing per arc or per story is something I want to introduce in the future though.”
The app’s reading tracker logs issues in the order they were reviewed.
“The reading tracker shows what you have read in a list, ordered by the time of your review,” Humphries said. She said she also plans to add the ability to check off entire story arcs or reading orders as completed.
Recommendations are built primarily around who a user follows, showing what those people have read and how they rated it. The homepage separately surfaces new releases and popular titles based on broader review activity across the app. Creator-level recommendations aren’t live yet, though Humphries said that’s planned as well.
Spoilers are handled through a tap-to-reveal system, users can mark a review or comment as containing spoilers, and other readers have to tap a button to reveal the hidden text before it displays.
“I think Comic Social will serve all readers, regardless of which comic publishers they read or prefer,” Humphries said. She added that DC fans specifically will see the publisher’s news, new releases and most popular books surfaced directly, along with recommendations from people with similar taste.
Comic Social will launch free for all users, with ads and a 10-review monthly cap on the free tier. A paid PRO version removes both restrictions, allowing unlimited reviews with no ads. The company said additional features are planned for both tiers after launch. The app is coming to iOS and Android, with no web version currently planned.
There are no publisher partnerships or local comic shop integrations in place yet. Humphries said the app is reader-facing for now, but she’d be open to partnering directly with publishers once the platform is established, and said she’s also considering an “official reviewer” feature down the line that would let news outlets covering comics appear as trusted sources within the app.
Comic Social entered beta testing in mid-September. Humphries said she plans to run that testing for about a month before collecting feedback and making adjustments, with a public release targeted for November. Readers can register interest ahead of launch at comicsocialapp.com.
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