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digital comics directly from creators to readers

Frequently Asked Questions

What is Panel Syndicate?

Created by artist Marcos Martin and writer Brian K. Vaughan, Panel Syndicate is a site where we can deliver our original comics directly to a global audience, for whatever price each reader thinks is fair. Our first storyline, THE PRIVATE EYE, was successful enough to allow us to present our newest story, BARRIER and to open Panel Syndicate to Albert Monteys' ongoing series UNIVERSE!, David López’s five issue series BLACKHAND IRONHEAD, Ken Niimura’s new ongoing series UMAMI, Jay Faerber and Michael Montenat’s police mystery series GLACIER CITY, FRIDAY by Ed Brubaker, Marcos Martin and Muntsa Vicente, BAD KARMA by Alex de Campi, Ryan Howe and Dee Cunniffe, PARANOIA KILLER by Victor Santos, CLAIRE’S HAIR by Joe Kelly and Andie Desiderio, MAYDAY and its sequel THE BRANDENBURG SCHOOL FOR BOYS by Alex de Campi and Tony Parker, and our newest addition MARTINE MOON by Darko Macan and Goran Sudžuka.

And thanks to Robert Kirkman's generosity, we are also happy to host THE WALKING DEAD:THE ALIEN, a black-and-white special one-shot issue by Brian and Marcos firmly set in the continuity of Kirkman and Charlie Adlard's comic book series THE WALKING DEAD.

Wait, are these those motion-comic things?

No, sorry, these are just old-school comics -- pictures and words. Our stories are available as PDF, CBR and CBZ files. No DRM, no encryption, just plain files optimised for on-screen viewing.

How soon will this thing be available in print?

THE PRIVATE EYE: The Cloudburst Edition collects all ten issues of the series and is now available as a deluxe hardcover by Image Comics through your local bookshop, comic book store or online at Amazon.

BARRIER has been published as a deluxe five-issue limited series by Image Comics. Printed in landscape format and with cardstock covers these are only available at your local comic book store.

There are currently no plans for a printed version of UNIVERSE!, BLACKHAND IRONHEAD, UMAMI, GLACIER CITY or THE WALKING DEAD:THE ALIEN.

How much does each issue cost?

That's entirely up to you. Here in the States, full-length comics usually cost at least three bucks, but whatever you decide, 100% of your purchase price will go towards helping us complete our stories, so thanks!

Also, in the case you decide to pay anything, you'll be given the choice to include a message to the authors. We may end up using some of those in our letter column next issue, so please, let us know if it's okay to use your real name.

How can I pay?

You can pay by PayPal, and you don't need to have a PayPal account nor do you need to register a PayPal account to complete your purchase [show me how].

Just choose your issue, click on "Buy now", name your price and you will be redirected to PayPal to complete your payment. After that you will be redirected back to panelsyndicate.com to download your comic.

Do I need a PayPal account?

No, full details here.

Can I not pay?

Sure, you can just enter a zero in the "Name your price" box, but you’re making it less likely our stories will ever reach their planned conclusions.

But we won’t glare at you with disappointment, like those subtly judgmental employees at museums on pay-what-you-wish days.

Is there a way I can download multiple comics with just one payment?

Sure, if you want to avoid making a separate payment for every individual issue feel free to enter the price you think is fair for whatever number of issues you want to download when downloading one issue, then proceed to download the rest for free.

Just remember, don't mix series by different creative teams since each one has their own separate accounts. So, if you include an issue of UNIVERSE! when making a single payment for BARRIER and/or THE PRIVATE EYE issues, Albert will never get his part of the money.

Having trouble with PayPal?

Check this for help.

When is the new issue coming out?

Please subscribe to our RSS Feed at the following address for news on future issues:

http://feeds.feedburner.com/panelsyndicate?format=xml

You may also subscribe to our mailing list:

I'm getting an "Access Denied" message whenever I try to download any file. What's going on?

You might want to use a different browser if you have one. Also, check your browser's settings. Here's a bit of info we got from another user:

"I use a Firefox extension called HTTPS-Everywhere which switches web site access for those sites that support it from http to https, giving a bit better security. Important if you are using a laptop from public locations as I do. This extension was switching the download link for your file hosting site (cloudfront.net) from http to https, which was then no longer a valid link. When I switched off the extension the download worked fine. It's quite a commonly used Firefox extension, it got quite a lot of publicity last year, and I believe there is a Google Chrome version of it too."

Thanks to Eddie C. for the tip!

I can't seem to find my downloaded file. What can I do?

Just go back to the homepage, click the Buy Now button and type 0 (zero) in the payment box. You'll be immediately redirected to the download page.