Is PDF suitable for a comic book?

[Guy Burns]

I have a friend who has put together the start of a comic book on his iPad and wants my help in turning it into a format that can be read on computers, iPads and the like. The images (two-page spreads) are all in PSD format, multilayer,  5000 x 3500 px.

The end result should probably be a series of images that the user scrolls through by swiping horizontally to the next one, the typical movement on an iPad, and the method used by Marvel for their How to Draw Comics the Marvel Way (which mhy friend used to learn how to draw comic-book style). You swipe to the next page, and down the bottom are thumbnails of all the pages.

My first thought was to simply assemble the images in Acrobat and save as PDF – but I don't think this is going to work because how do you scroll horizontally in a PDF?

So, is a PDF the best way forward, or should we be looking at something like iBooks Author, or some other software. The end result will be generated on my iMac running the CS6 suite under OSX 10.9, and should be readable cross-platform.

Any suggestions most appreciated.

[Test Screen Name · Accepted solution]

My opinion, and others may see it differently: PDF isn't software. PDF is a format. It can be viewed in all sorts of software: in some software we swipe to the side or down; in some we use mouse or keyboard, or buttons, or voice control. What we see on screen depends on what the app offers. Some show thumbnails full time or as you navigate, especially on Mac and Windows. You can view PDFs on an iPhone in Safari, or iBooks, download the Acrobat Reader app or many other things. My advice is: don't agonise over the software, the navigation and don't try to design your own. Focus on having a great product (comic book). Give people a PDF. They know how to navigate it. Especially don't specialise in Apple products like iBooks, because not everyone in the world has an Apple product.

[Guy Burns]

Thanks MVP.

Others may well see it differently, but you've made some very good points and turned me away from investigating the iBooks format any further. I think I'll stick with PDF and do some tests on various platforms.