Panels Store is a DRM-free digital comics marketplace built by the team behind Panels, the iOS and Mac comic reader used by hundreds of thousands of readers. Readers can discover, buy, download, and read comics without platform lock-in. Creators and publishers keep 80%, stay non-exclusive, and get access to an audience already reading comics every day.
Hey Product Hunt 👋
I’m Victor, co-founder of Panels.
For the last 8 years, we’ve been building Panels as a DRM-free comic reader for iPhone, iPad, and Mac. The app has grown in popularity, but there was always one big problem:
Panels was a great place to read comics, but not a great place to discover or buy them.
Readers had to find DRM-free comics somewhere else, download them, import them, and then read them in Panels. That worked for power users, but it created friction for everyone else. It also meant we were helping people read comics without doing enough to directly support the creators making them.
So we built Panels Store - available via the web and inside the Panels app.
Panels Store is a DRM-free marketplace for digital comics, connected to the reader people already use.
For readers:
• Buy comics without DRM
• Download your files or stream them to read directly in Panels(no need to download full files)
• Keep access to your library without being locked into a closed platform
For creators and publishers:
• Keep 80% of every sale
• No exclusivity
• No DRM
• No technical setup required
• Reach an audience that is already reading comics
We started focusing on indie/independent creators and small publishers. We are now in conversations with bigger publishers that want to join our platform.
We are still early. The store is live, the catalog is growing, and we are now bringing it closer to the Panels app experience. Our long-term goal is simple: make it easier for readers to discover great comics and easier for creators to sell them without giving up control.
Would love your feedback, especially if you read comics, publish comics, or care about DRM-free digital ownership.
Victor
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Does it include all the major comic providers? Including Marvel? I’m not a comics fan, just curious from a business perspective.
@natalia_iankovych No. Marvel/DC and many of the big ones do not offer their comics DRM-free (or only a handful).
We have our doors opened to any publisher/creator that wants to sell DRM-free. For launch we focused our efforts on reaching out to indie/smaller publishers/creators. Importing smaller catalogs is easier. We have recently started working with bigger catalogs and we plan to be announcing bigger publishers in the upcoming weeks/months.
Storybeat
Does it include all the major comic providers? Including Marvel? I’m not a comics fan, just curious from a business perspective.
Storybeat
@natalia_iankovych No. Marvel/DC and many of the big ones do not offer their comics DRM-free (or only a handful).
We have our doors opened to any publisher/creator that wants to sell DRM-free. For launch we focused our efforts on reaching out to indie/smaller publishers/creators. Importing smaller catalogs is easier. We have recently started working with bigger catalogs and we plan to be announcing bigger publishers in the upcoming weeks/months.