Local Comic Reader Web Application

A lightweight, purely local web application for reading comics. Place your .cbz or .cbr files into organized series folders, and the application instantly builds a beautiful, interface to read them on your localhost server or mobile device on the same network.

Features

• Zero-Extraction Storage: Comics .cbz files are opened entirely in browser memory using JSZip, saving you massive amounts of hard drive space.
• Smart Metadata & Search: Automatically generates config.json files for series. Add characters, genres, and creators to dynamically search through your library.
• Binge Mode: Natively detects when you are near the end of an issue and prompts you to jump into the chronological next issue.
• Persistent Reading Tracking: Uses browser local storage to remember which issues you've finished, graying out their covers and giving you a custom Right-Click context menu to manage read states.
• Mobile Friendly: Fully responsive UI, including the ability to scroll through pages using your phone's physical Volume Keys.
• Custom Theming: Use preferences.json to swap CSS styles globally.

How to Use

1. Inside your root directory, create a directory called ./collections. Inside this directory, create subdirectories for any comic series (e.g., ./collections/Thunderbolts/).
2. Drop your .cbz or .cbr comic files into that directory.
3. Double-click the RunReader.bat file to start the application.
4. The script will automatically:
   • Run UpdateLibrary.ps1 to scan directories, extract cover images, and update libraryData.js with your latest issues.
   • Boot a lightweight Python HTTP server.
   • Open your default web browser directly to the reader.

Requirements

• Windows / PowerShell 5+ (for dynamic library building)
• Python 3 (for the lightweight localhost server)
• A modern Web Browser

Architecture & How it Works

The application is entirely self-hosted. Instead of relying on a heavy database like SQL, UpdateLibrary.ps1 runs on startup to scan raw directories using Regular Expressions, pulling out issue dates/names and injecting them into a static libraryData.js object.

Python simply serves the directory over HTTP to bypass standard browser CORS limitations. All the heavy lifting—from sorting, searching, URL routing, and in-memory zip extraction—is handled natively by Vanilla JavaScript and HTML5 on the frontend!