Download Free Digital Comics Legally

Remember last week's post about the Japanese courts awarding 11 Manga artists damages to the tune of $175,000 for the unauthorized uploading of their work without permission? Steve Rude wants you to download his latest comic -- Nexus 99 -- for free. And, he's not the only one either...

Rude's perfectionist nature has delayed Nexus 100, chapter 2 of Space Opera, until the new year, according to The Oklahoman. In the meantime, you can sample Nexus, as well as a slew of other comics -- including Alan Moore's Supreme and classic Star Trek stories from the Gold Key era -- for free via WOWIO.

The only catches: WOWIO's archives -- from comics to classic literature, nonfiction and textbooks -- are accessible only to Americans via PDFs (Adobe Acrobat Reader) and only three ebooks can be downloaded per day. As I've said before, viewing comics -- even on a 20-inch LCD -- for the long haul isn't fun... but it is free and allows you to sample a book before investing in back issues or a trade paperback.

And, if you've already bought Nexus 99, get ahead of the game by reading the first eight pages of Nexus 100 via Rude's ComicSpace page.