Panels Store

Panels Store is a new way to buy and read digital comics—an attempt to fix the fact that most digital comics come with DRM locks that mean you don't really own what you "bought." If a platform shuts down or changes terms, your library disappears. Panels Store skips that entirely: buy comics, they're yours forever, and they open instantly in the Panels reader app with no activation codes, no waiting, no hassle.

The idea is simple but the timing is everything. Digital comic sales hit $1.8 billion globally in 2024, yet readers are stuck with files they can't move, can't backup, and can't truly own. Panels Store is betting that the next wave of comic buyers—especially younger readers who've grown up with digital media—will care about ownership the same way they care about streaming versus owning music. It's anti-DRM, pro-reader, and pretty boldly anti-industry status quo.

Where this goes depends on whether independent creators and readers actually care about digital ownership enough to switch. The big publishers aren't budging on DRM anytime soon, so Panels Store is starting with indie comics where creators own the rights anyway. It's a small foothold, but the argument is compelling: why should buying a digital comic feel less like ownership than buying a physical one?