Making a Comic Book Archive

Overview

Instructions on how to make a comic book archive file for viewing in a comics viewer app like Comic Zeal.

Process

Creating the archive

The thing to remember is that comic book archives are simply .zip, .tar or .rar archives renamed with a different file extension.

• .cb7 → 7z
• .cba → ACE
• .cbr → RAR
• .cbt → TAR
• .cbz → ZIP

• Select a series of PNG or JPEG image files and create a zip archive.
• Rename the archive with a .cbz file extension.

Extracting images from a PDF

• Open the PDF in Adobe Acrobat (not Acrobat Reader).
• File > Export To > Image > JPEG or PNG
  • (Acrobat automatically appends _Page_[0-9][0-9].pdf to the image file names.)

Importing comics into the comics readers

Chunky

Importing comics files from a LAN is a pro feature, which I have purchased.

• On the iPad, open the Chunky app.
• Tap the cloud icon at the top right of the app.
  • At the bottom of that drop down menu, check if Web server is not activated. (Light gray text will say "Web server off" next to a slider that is not "on".)
  • Turn the web server on, if it is not active, and make a note of the IP address.
    • See Troubleshooting the web server feature is unavailable.
• On Mac desktop, navigate to that IP in a web browser, then drag and drop the comics files (CBZ, etc.) onto the page.

Comics Zeal

Activate the iCloud Drive and other apps option in the Comic Zeal app.

• On the iPad, open the Comic Zeal app.
• Navigate to the Home screen (click the Home icon in the upper left).
• At the bottom of the screen click the Import icon (the cloud with the arrow pointing down).
• Select Activate under iCloud Drive and other apps

With that option selected, on the computer where the .cbr file is located, open a browser and navigate to the local IP of the iPad, or http://ds-propad.local

Drop the .cbr file onto that page and wait for the upload to finish.

Adding the comic to an existing series

• In the comics listings, with your finger on the right side of the comic bar, slide the comic to the right to add it to the "slider". After it's added, the slider will contain a number.
• Tap on the series to which the comic will be added.
• The series will be expanded. The slider will appear on the right with the number of comics that it contains.
• Slide the slider to the position in the series where the new comic will be placed.
• Tap the slider and select Insert Comic.
• (Optionally) tap the "info" icon to rename the comic.

iTunes

The last time I tried this, after connecting an iPad Pro to a Mac, I could not figure out how to access the Apps tab for the iPad Pro device in iTunes. I don't know if this is still a valid method or not.

• Connect the iPad to the computer with a USB cable.
• Devices (left column) > iPad > Apps (horizontal menu towards the top) >>> File Sharing >>> Comic Zeal
• Drag the .cbz file into the Comic Zeal Documents box.
• Comic Zeal will import and organize the comic from there.
• Open up the Comic Zeal app on the iPad and the comic will appear in the library menu.

iPad screen sizes

• iPad Pro 12.9 inch: 2732 x 2048 @ 226 ppi
• iPad 3: 1536 x 2048 @ 264 ppi
• iPad 2: 768 x 1024 @ 132 ppi

Collecting pages from an InDesign project

Scenario

An InDesign project adds things like page numbers and headers to a PDF. The desired comic book archive has only artwork.

Workflow

InDesign

• Open the Links pane in InDesign.
• Select all the pages to export
• From the Links pane options menu > Utilities > Copy Link(s) To...
• This will create copies of all the source files in the document.

Photoshop

• Create a batch that will convert the PSD files to PNG or JPEG.
• Use these files to create the archive.

Troubleshooting

Chunky app

Web server is not available

• The web server feature is a paid feature. I have purchased the pro features.
• When paid features are unlocked, a slider toggle is displayed next to the web server prompt. Sliding this toggle to the "on" position starts up the web server.
• If a "Pro" button is displayed next to the web server prompt, then the app has not unlocked its paid features.
  • Click the Pro button.
  • Within the next dialog, click "restore purchase", which should do just that.
• After restoring purchase, the toggle slider will be displayed next to the web server prompt.

Notes

• [Wikipedia: Comic Book Archive article]