I’ve been on a TMNT kick lately with the new games, movie and tv show and thought, “You know what? I’m going to go back and read the original comics.” For the first time. I don’t think I’ve actually ever read a comic book from start to finish before. I started things off with Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Ultimate Collection Volumes 1 through 5. These books focus on stories by co-creators Kevin Eastman and Peter Laird. They omit guest issues. For the sake of completeness and curiosity though I wanted to read those too but decided to fill those gaps digitally. That’s where Komga comes in.

Komga

Komga is a media server for comics, mangas, eBooks and more. If you’re familiar with Plex, it’s like that but for reading things. I experimented with running it on my Synology NAS, but it was a little slow since the container data lives on the HDDs. Instead, I switched to my mini PC with an SSD and performance was noticeably faster. Installation was very simple with Docker Compose. My docker-compose.yml file is the same except for adding the Synology share where my books live:

- type: bind
  source: /mnt/books
  target: /mnt/books

Something to be aware of is how libraries in Komga work and if that works with how your files and folders are organized on disk. I have a Comics library which points to /mnt/books/Comics. From there, there is a folder for each publisher, for example:

mnt
  books
    Comics
      DC
      Marvel
      Mirage

And within each publisher folder, are folders for each comic. The comic files are in these comic folders. Komga recognizes each file as a book and the folder they are in as a series. So in the end, it looks something like this:

mnt
  books
    Comics
      DC
        Batman
          Batman #1.cbz
      Marvel
        Spider-Man
          Spider-Man #1.cbz
      Mirage
        Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles
          Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles #1.cbz

In Komga, within the Comics library, you’ll see three books (Batman #1, Spider-Man #1, and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles #1) and three series (Batman, Spider-Man, and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles). Komga won’t show anything labeled DC, Marvel, or Mirage.

One big difference from Plex is that metadata is pulled locally only. You can add metadata manually within Komga or with a ComicInfo.xml file inside the CBZ or CBR file but that’ll get tedious real fast. A better option is automating it with the help of other tools. DuckDuckGo it.

iPad mini

My reading device is an iPad mini 6.¹ I really tried to want the Pixel Tablet because it can run GrapheneOS, but in the end, I went with the iPad mini for the form factor and because it was on sale which made it cheaper than the Pixel Tablet ($379 vs $399). Yes, I’ve seen the rumors of the next gen iPad mini, but that’s going to be $499 or more, which is way more than I wanted to pay for a secondary device strictly for media consumption. That sale price was ultimately the clincher.

A side bonus that I also factored in is getting access to iMessage. If you live in the US, you know how pervasive iPhone usage is among the people you know. I don’t know how practical it’ll be given that I didn’t get a cellular model, but at least it’s kind of an option now. I just have to be at home. I guess people would have to pre-message me via SMS or Signal with, “Are you home?” first if they want to use iMessage. Or leave a message.

One thing that really surprised me was that Apple let me delete apps and not just “hide” them. I deleted all their services that they use to lock you further into their ecosystem like Apple Books, Apple Music, Apple TV, Apple Podcasts, etc. And it actually increased the available storage space. This is a little thing that makes it feel like you actually own the device. A bigger thing would be if they allowed you to install any app you like from any source.

Anyway, back to comics.

Clients

I first tried out Paperback. These docs appear to be outdated since I could not find “External Sources” anywhere. To point it to my Komga server, I needed to go to Settings → Extensions → Paperback → Server Settings. It seems to maintain its own reading progress since it’s not reflected when logged into Komga from a web browser. I guess that’s why this client is not listed here.

Mihon is Android only and CDisplayEx is Android and Windows. That leaves the Komga webreader if you want Plex-style progress tracking, i.e. “Keep Reading” and “On Deck” items to appear on your Komga dashboard as you read.

A native app is nice in that it maximizes the available viewing space instantly. Web browser controls and address bars, take up some space and can get a little distracting. In Brave, the webreader’s full screen button is disabled, but it works in Safari. In Brave, you can’t “Add To Home Screen.” But Safari can. Typical Apple. Thus, the best option if you want progress tracking and the cleanest option to maximize viewing space is Safari after adding Komga to your home screen.²

Here’s a size comparison:

The book diagonal is about 12³/₄". The iPad mini 8¹/₄" and the regular iPad gen 10 10³/₄". The regular iPad is closer to the size of the printed page if that’s what you’re after, but the iPad mini is perfectly usable for the purpose as well.

Mirage

I should’ve jumped into Mirage TMNT sooner. This stuff is cool. My first exposure to the turtles was the 1987 cartoon and these comics are not that. They’re darker, grittier, more violent but not too bad. Reading the original scenes for what was in the 1990 movie was cool. The page above is from the Leonardo #1 One-Shot. One of many good cliffhangers. I wish there was more media produced targeting an older demographic. The kid friendly stuff is ok but the Mirage comics are more my jam. Hopefully The Last Ronin adaptations actually become a reality.³