Without a doubt, the easiest way is to buy them in the Amazon store, as you do with any other electronic book. For a while now, Kindle is able to read the comics panel by panel, in a guided and kinematics, as they sometimes call it.
This makes the reading experience more immersive, as the author of the comic intended, and compensates, at least in part, for the fact that you’ll have to read it in black and white.
That there are already color electronic ink readers, but, for now, the Kindle line does not have any and we will have to settle for seeing them as on an old TV.
Of course, many well-adapted comics present gray scales that they make the experience pretty decent. In the same way, panel-by-panel reading means you don’t have to be with the entire page on the screen, enlarging because the dialogs and vignettes are small. Without it, reading comics on the Kindle becomes a horrifying epic.
However, in order to have that reading experience, the comic must be in a special format. Usually, we find comics for digital readers and apps reading in .cbz, .cbr or pdz formats, but your Kindle does not understand them and you will have to pass them to .mobi first
What can we do for that?
How to convert your comics to an e-reader format
Let’s go first with the official solution from Amazon, although it is not really made for that.
If you have Windows or Mac OS, you can convert your comics to a compatible format using the Kindle Comic Creator tool. You can download it from its official page on Amazon.
It’s in Spanish, but keep in mind that, is a tool for comic creators, which means that you have to work image by image.
Of course, it allows you to define what the bullet points are and what the reading and browsing experience should be, panel by panel. But nevertheless, the application does not serve to convert comics directly in cbz or cbr format, for example.
How to get the images of a comic in cbz or cbr format
Luckily, these formats are nothing more than compressed files that contain a multitude of ordered images.
Because, you can unzip those files with applications like Winrar or 7zip, able to work with them. In the folder in which you unzip you will be able to see the images they contained and you can work with them and Kindle Comic Creator to convert it to a compatible format.
Once finished, you can pass the comic to your reader by USB, for example, as you do with any other book.
The downside is that obviously it will take you a lot of time and work. Comic Creator is made for comic artists, not for converting formats.
What can we do then? Various things, but Amazon is making it difficult.
Comic Kindle Converter: Why It Doesn’t Work Anymore and How to Fix It
Until now, the basic way to convert comics to read on your Kindle was use the Kindle Comic Converter app. It’s great apps It’s for Windows, Mac and Linux, but it has had a problem for some time.
You need KindleGen installed on your computer and Amazon no longer allows its download from 2020. This has made it difficult for anyone who doesn’t already have a copy of KindleGen on their computer to use it.
We warn you that this is an Amazon software and its distribution is not allowed. Some websites say they have it, but be very careful with the downloads you find out there. If you really need it, this is what you should do to get it and, incidentally, be safe from suspicious websites.
How to Download KindleGen from Archive.org
The solution used by many users is download version 2.9 of KindleGen from Archive.org, the enormous web that the Internet keeps and what it contains.
The page to download KindleGen from Archive.org is this. Of course, we cannot guarantee how long it will be operational, although, for now, it has lasted a long time.
There you have all the versions, install the corresponding one and Comic Kindle Converter should work for you. Convert the original comic you have in cbr or cbz and transfer it via USB to the Kindle to be able to read it.
Calibre: How to use it to convert and read comics on the Kindle
If you’re a user of the phenomenal Caliber tool, this is great for eBooks, but out of the box, it doesn’t do a good job of out of the box converting comics to read on your Kindle.
However, to correct that you can use the plugin Caliber Kindle Comics.
Just like Comic Kindle Converter, you need to have KindleGen installed. This is where we again put the warning that Amazon no longer supports it and that everyone must face the consequences of their actions.
In this way, just as you manage and convert your collection of ebooks with Calibre, you can do it with your comics and read them on the Kindle.
As you can see, if you are a big fan, now you know how to read comics on your kindle and how to fix errors that will give you the traditional programs that are used to convert said comics.
