MangaBlog

The first Manga Moveable Feast begins today: Over the next week, a number of bloggers will be reviewing and discussing the manga Sexy Voice and Robo. David Welsh, who organized the event, provides an introduction to the book at Manga Curmudgeon, and check back there for links to the reviews (including, hopefully, mine).

If you’re reading this early, tune into Tokyopop’s live chat with Benjamin, the creator of Orange and the newly released Remember. It starts at 10 a.m. Pacific Time, 1 p.m. Eastern Time.

Very good, sir! Volume 1 of Black Butler was the surprise number one manga on this week’s NY Times Graphic Books Best-Seller List. And everybody’s reading it—check below for lots of reviews. Yu-Gi-Oh tops the BookScan graphic novel chart for January, but Black Butler shows up in the number 7 slot there as well.

Yuichi Yokoyama, creator of Travel and New Engineering, is posting his latest comic, Outdoor, online. The site is in Japanese, but since Yokoyama’s comics are wordless, it doesn’t matter. And the navigation is in English. (Via Same Hat!)

Lori Henderson posts her weekly manga news digest at Manga Xanadu.

Erica Friedman rounds up the week’s yuri news and offers her opinion on a variety of manga and non-manga topics at Okazu.

David Welsh picks the most interesting books from the latest Previews, announces a winner in his Manga Moms contest, and asks publishers to please license The Life of the Genius Professor Yanagizawa at Manga Curmudgeon.

Jake Forbes offers a sneak peek of the art from vol. 4 of Return to Labyrinth: Bishi Jareth.

Tokyopop is offering replacement copies of the Blu manga Croquis to readers whose copies are partially in German due to a printing error.

Editor Patrick Macias shows off the cover of the March/April issue of Otaku USA, due on newsstands any day now.

Helen McCarthy links to Japanese in Anime and Manga, a site that uses manga to help explain subtle points like the relationship between two speakers.

News from Japan: Alive is coming to an end. The anime Time of Eve is being made into a manga.

Reviews: Yay! Manga reviews are back at About Heroes! Go check it out for short takes on the latest titles. Lori Henderson compares the manga and anime of 07-Ghost at Manga Xanadu. Japanator’s Brad Rice visits About.com to review vol. 1 of Gundam 00 and vol. 1 of Gundam 00-F. Gia doodles her review of vol. 1 of Alice in the Country of Hearts at Anime Vice. Other reviews of note:

Sesho on vol. 1 of Alice in the Country of Heroes (Sesho’s Anime and Manga Reviews)
Sterg Botzakis on vol. 1 of Barefoot Gen (Graphic Novel Resources)
Rob on vol. 1 of Basara (Panel Patter)
Connie on vol. 3 of Black Bird (Slightly Biased Manga)
Connie on vol. 1 of Black Butler (Slightly Biased Manga)
Sean Gaffney on vol. 1 of Black Butler (A Case Suitable for Treatment)
Gia on vol. 1 of Black Butler (Anime Vice)
Kate Dacey on vol. 1 of Black Butler and vol. 1 of Crown of Love (The Manga Critic)
Connie on vol. 9 of Black Jack (Slightly Biased Manga)
Connie on vol. 5 of Black Sun, Silver Moon (Slightly Biased Manga)
Rob on vol. 2 of Bleach (Panel Patter)
Leroy Douresseaux on vol. 2 of Bloody Kiss (I Reads You)
Tiamat’s Disciple on vol. 4 of Cirque du Freak (Tiamat’s Manga Reviews)
Rob on vol. 3 of Flower of Life (Panel Patter)
Johanna Draper Carlson on Garden Dreams (Comics Worth Reading)
Julie on vol. 12 of High School Debut (Manga Maniac Cafe)
A Library Girl on vol. 1 of Higurashi When They Cry: Abducted by Demons Arc (A Library Girl’s Familiar Diversions)
Sean Gaffney on vol. 1 of I Hate You More Than Anyone (A Case Suitable for Treatment)
Leroy Douresseaux on vol. 4 of Ikigami: The Ultimate Limit (The Comic Book Bin)
Scott Campbell on vol. 4 of Inukami (Active Anime)
Ed Chavez on vol. 1 of Kimi ni Todoke (MangaCast)
Vom Marlowe on vol. 1 of Natsume’s Book of Friends (The Hooded Utilitarian)
Diana Dang on vol. 1 of Night Head Genesis (Stop, Drop, and Read)
Leroy Douresseaux on vol. 30 of One Piece (The Comic Book Bin)
Connie on vol. 36 of One Piece (Slightly Biased Manga)
Tiamat’s Disciple on vol. 2 of Oninagi (Tiamat’s Manga Reviws)
Rachel Bentham on vol. 1 of Panic x Panic (Active Anime)
Johanna Draper Carlson on vol. 7 of Pluto (Comics Worth Reading)
Julie on vol. 1 of Rampage (Manga Maniac Cafe)
AstroNerdBoy on vol. 1 of Rin-ne (AstroNerdBoy’s Anime and Manga Blog)
Shaenon Garrity on vol. 1 of Rin-ne (About.com)
Johanna Draper Carlson on Ristorante Paradiso (Comics Worth Reading)
Rob on vol. 1 of Rosario + Vampire (Panel Patter)
Michelle Smith on vols. 3-7 of Slam Dunk (Soliloquy in Blue)
Kristin on The Sheikh’s Reluctant Bride and Word of a Gentleman (Comic Attack)
Edouardo Zacarias on vol. 1 of Ultimo (Animanga Nation)
Andre on vol. 2 of Sugarholic (Kuriousity)
Leroy Douresseaux on vol. 3 of Vampire Kisses: Blood Relatives (The Comic Book Bin)
Johanna Draper Carlson on vols. 1-6 of V.B. Rose (Comics Worth Reading)

Lori Henderson posts this week’s all-ages comics and manga at Good Comics for Kids. And check out our lively roundtable on the Great Graphic Novels for Teens list.

Julie looks at some animal manga she’d like to see licensed at Manga Maniac Cafe.

Here’s an interesting inside look at the business: Dan Copulsky interviews manga letterer and retoucher Sabrina Heep at Question Riot.

Christopher Butcher talks about manga, Japan, TCAF, The Beguiling, and Comics212.net, among other things, in this interview with The Torontoist.

Simon Jones speculates on the possibility of Sailor Moon returning to print sometime in the fairly distant future.

At Comics Worth Reading, you could win six volumes of One Piece. Post a comment to enter! Get your creative juices flowing for The Yaoi Review’s funny dialogue contest, and you might win some free yaoi.

News from Japan: Asumi Hara will draw a shoujo manga about the life of actress and singer Shoko Nakagawa for Nakayoshi magazine. And ANN has the latest comics rankings from Oricon.

Reviews: Carlo Santos subjects another stack of review copies to his quick and witty commentary in his latest Right Turn Only!! column. David Welsh jumps into the water in the middle of a story arc and still finds lots to like about vols. 29, 30, and 31 of One Piece at Manga Curmudgeon. Park Cooper posts some short takes on recent manga at Manga Life. Other reviews that are worthy of note:

Michelle Smith on vol. 1 of Alice in the Country of Hearts (Soliloquy in Blue)
Tangognat on All My Darling Daughters (Tangognat)
Sheena McNeil on vol. 8 of Black Lagoon (Sequential Tart)
Rob on vol. 1 of Bride of the Water God (Panel Patter)
Susan S. on Color (Manga Jouhou)
Karen Maeda on vol. 1 of Crown of Love (Sequential Tart)
Zack Davisson on vol. 1 of Deadman Wonderland (Manga Life)
Todd Douglass on vol. 6 of Fate/Stay Night (Anime Maki)
Carlo Santos on vol. 22 of Fullmetal Alchemist (ANN)
Lissa Pattillo on Jack and the Princess (Kuriousity)
Leroy Douresseaux on vol. 3 of Kimi ni Todoke (The Comic Book Bin)
Danielle Leigh on vol. 3 of Kimi ni Todoke (Comics Should Be Good!)
Lorena Nava Ruggero on vol. 4 of Kitchen Princess (i heart manga)
Sakura Eries on Kitchen Princess: Search for the Angel Cake (light novel) (Mania.com)
Sean Gaffney on vol. 6 of The Magic Touch (A Case Suitable for Treatment)
Johanna Draper Carlson on vol. 2 of The Moon and The Sandals (Comics Worth Reading)
Amanda Tarbet on vol. 47 of Naruto (Sequential Tart)
Greg McElhatton on vols. 1 and 2 of Nightschool (Read About Comics)
Karen Maeda on vol. 18 of Sgt. Frog (Sequential Tart)
Erica Friedman on Shokitan (Okazu)
Wolfen Moondaughter on vol. 8 of Slam Dunk (Sequential Tart)
Scott VonSchilling on vol. 1 of Stolen Hearts (The Anime Almanac)

Yen Press announced a fresh batch of new licenses on their website yesterday, including The Melancholy of Suzmiya-Haruhi-Chan, a 4-koma gag strip based on that other Haruhi manga; another 4-koma manga, this one based on the anime K-On!, about a girl band; Fumi Yoshinaga’s Not Love But Delicious Foods; a novel, Book Girl and the Suicidal Mime; and a children’s book by French creator Émile Bravo, Goldilocks and the Seven Squat Bears. David Welsh expresses his pleasure at Manga Curmudgeon, but Scott VonSchilling dissents on the 4-koma manga at The Anime Almanac.

ICv2 has the scoop on Drawn & Quarterly’s plans for Yoshihiro Tatsumi’s Black Blizzard.

Julie is looking forward to Rampage and Rasetsu among this week’s new manga.

Yamila Abraham writes of her disappointment that the very mild (13+) comic Zesty was not approved for the iTunes store; YP graphic novels are available on Kindle, which means they can be read on the iPhone through the Kindle app, but it’s very tiny.

Gottsu-Iiyan gives us a sneak peek at the latest chapter of Billy Bat.

Shaenon Garrity looks at the many faces of Lum.

Gia unearths what looks like a fascinating book: The daughters of Osamu Tezuka, Shigeru Mizuki, and Fujio Akatsuka have collaborated on a book about their manga-ka fathers, in which many things are revealed, including the fact that Black Jack’s “wife” Pinoko is modeled on Tezuka’s daughter. (I don’t think I’d admit that, myself.) Can Yen Press please license that one?

Akemi has a brief post describing the essence of shonen manga at Myth and Manga.

Tell David Welsh who your favorite manga mother is and you could win a copy of All My Darling Daughters. Also, David is up to the letter Q in his shoujo/sunjeong alphabet, which makes this a shorter entry than most.

Congratulations (I think) to Jonathan Clements, whose Schoolgirl Milky Crisis was nominated for a Diagram Award, which is given to the book with the oddest title of the year.

Giant Robot is looking for donations so they can keep publishing.

Reviews

Danielle Leigh on vol. 1 of Alice in the Country of Hearts (Comics Should Be Good!)
Kate Dacey on The Box Man (The Manga Critic)
Deb Aoki on vol. 1 of Deadman Wonderland (About.com)
James Fleenor on vol. 1 of Deadman Wonderland (Anime Sentinel)
Leroy Douresseaux on Electric Hands (The Comic Book Bin)
Sean Gaffney on vol. 30 of Eyeshield 21 (A Case Suitable for Treatment)
Lorena Nava Ruggero on vol. 8 of Land of the Blindfolded (i heart manga)
Kinukitty on Madness (The Hooded Utilitarian)
Lori Henderson on Make Love and Peace (Comics Village)
Snow Wildsmith on Natsume’s Book of Friends (Good Comics for Kids)
Michelle Smith on vol. 1 of Stolen Hearts (Manga Recon)
Brenda Gregson on vol. 2 of Venus Capriccio (Animanga Nation)

Kate Dacey, David Welsh and Brad Rice look at this week’s new comics.

Danica Davidson talks to Stan Lee about Ultimo, the manga he co-authored, at Comic Book Resources.

Chris Sims counts down the seven most shoujo moments in X-Men: Misfits. It’s an affectionate take on the material; too bad there was so much negativity in the comments.

At PWCW, Calvin Reid and Heidi MacDonald survey comics publishers, including Viz’s Gonzalo Ferreyra, on their plans for the iPad.

Make your own gaming comic and you may win a copy of King of RPGs, Jason Thompson’s new graphic novel.

The Ninja Consultants present part 2 of their Black Lagoon podcast.

Del Rey editor extraordinaire Dallas Middaugh is teaching a course in the graphic novel at NYU, starting this weekend.

Not manga, but possibly of interest: I interviewed Phil Foglio, creator of Girl Genius, for Robot 6.

Reviews: Noah Berlatsky finds not one but three untruths in the title of The Mammoth Book of Best New Manga at The Hooded Utilitarian.

Laura on vol. 3 of Black Bird (Heart of Manga)
Matthew Brady on vol. 1 of Black Jack (Warren Peace Sings the Blues)
Julie on vol. 5 of Dance in the Vampire Bund (Manga Maniac Cafe)
Danica Davidson on The Devil’s Trill (Graphic Novel Reporter)
Danica Davidson on vols. 4-7 of La Esperanca (Graphic Novel Reporter)
AstroNerdBoy on vol. 13 of Hayate the Combat Butler (AstroNerdBoy’s Anime and Manga Blog)
Russell Philllips on vol. 1 of Ichigeki Sacchu!! Hoihoi-San (Manga Jouhou)
Emily on Kokoro Button (Emily’s Random Shoujo Manga Page)
Billy Aguiar on vol. 1 of The Lizard Prince (Prospero’s Manga)
Lori Henderson on vol. 1 of The Lizard Prince (Manga Xanadu)
Connie on vol. 2 of Ludwig II (Slightly Biased Manga)
Sean Gaffney on vol. 3 of Maid-Sama (A Case Suitable for Treatment)
Todd Douglass on Natsume’s Book of Friends (Anime Maki)
Justin Colussy-Estes on not simple (Comics Village)
Ken Haley on not simple (Manga Recon)
Johanna Draper Carlson on vol. 5 of Otomen (Comics Worth Reading)
Danielle Leigh on Our Kingdom: Arabian Nights (Comics Should Be Good)
Connie on vol. 4 of Rasetsu (Slightly Biased Manga)
Lissa Pattillo on vol. 1 of Yellow 2 (Kuriousity)
Erica Friedman on vol. 10 of Yuri Hime S (Okazu)

Looking for a good read for the kids in your life? Lori Henderson has posted a list of all her all-ages comics and manga picks for the past year at Good Comics for Kids.

Deb Aoki checks in with some manga publishers and creators regarding their plans for the iPad.

Robot 6 looks at Del Rey’s plans for 2010, including some interesting new manga.

Oyceter looks back at the comics she read in 2009, with commentary.

ICv2 reports that a second volume of Chip Kidd’s Bat-Manga is in the works.

Jonathan Clements writes about the late Keiko Tobe, her manga With the Light, and the Japanese entertainment media’s view of autism at Schoolgirl Milky Crisis.

Pink Tentacle has some cool illustrations of the robots of the future from a 1969 issue of Shonen Sunday. (Via The Manga Critic.)

Same Hat has another vintage treat for us: Scans of Shinobu Kaze’s Violence Becomes Tranquility, from the March 1980 issue of Heavy Metal.

Reviews: Ed Sizemore takes a quick look at some new titles from Viz at Comics Worth Reading. Other reviews of note:

Connie on B.O.D.Y. (Slightly Biased Manga)
Dave Ferraro on vol. 1 of Butterflies, Flowers (Comics-and-More)
Julie Opipari on vol. 5 of Comic (Mania.com)
Jaime Samms on Dark Walker (Kuriousity)
Snow Wildsmith on Dog x Cat (Fujoshi Librarian)
Johanna Draper Carlson on vol. 13 of High School Debut (Comics Worth Reading)
Leroy Douresseaux on vol. 47 of Naruto (The Comic Book Bin)
Sean Gaffney on vol. 34 of Oh My Goddess! (A Case Suitable for Treatment)
Connie on vol. 13 of Ouran High School Host Club (Slightly Biased Manga)
Julie on vol. 8 of Shaman Warrior (Manga Maniac Cafe)
Katherine Farmar on vol. 1 of Shinobi Life (Comics Village)
Sean Gaffney on vol. 1 of Stolen Hearts (A Case Suitable for Treatment)
Kate Dacey on vol. 1 of Ultimo (The Manga Critic)
Tangognat on vol. 1 of What a Wonderful World (Tangognat)

J.L. Bell winces at the lettering in the Twilight graphic novel and explains why it matters.

Erica Friedman rounds up the latest Yuri Network News. Melinda Beasi notes the end of Infinity and some worthwhile reviews in today’s Manhwa Monday post, and Lori Henderson ably sums up the week in manga at Manga Xanadu.

Following Joy Kim’s footsteps, Oyceter lists some manga that feature female friendships.

David Welsh’s latest license request is Dobutsu No Oishasan.

Erica Friedman looks at Rakuen Le Paradis, a manga magazine that is less demographically targeted than most.

Technique talk: At the Manga University blog, Atushisa Okura (Moe USA, 50 Things We Love About Japan) explains how to draw backgrounds. Jonathan Moo presents an intro to inking at Manga Journey, and Narutaki discusses the use of screentone in global manga at Reverse Thieves.

Julie notes that Yen Press is looking for artists.

News from Japan: ANN reports that Shueisha was the top manga publisher in Japan in 2009, with 11% of the market. Also, according to Oricon, manga accounted for 23.4% of the entire book market by yen paid and 38.3% of the books sold.

Reviews: Sean Gaffney’s review of vols. 1-4 of Higurashi When They Cry is also a good introduction to the basic idea of the series, although there are some mild spoilers. Adam Stephanides follows up the Hooded Utilitarian’s roundtable by reading all of xxxHoLic. The Manga Recon folks have posted a fresh set of Manga Minis to start off the week. Other reviews of note:

Lori Henderson on vol. 7 of 20th Century Boys (Manga Xanadu)
Sterg Botzakis on vol. 1 of Barefoot Gen (Graphic Novel Resources)
Leroy Douresseaux on vol. 1 of Biomega (The Comic Book Bin)
Connie on vols. 1 and 2 of Blade of the Immortal (Slightly Biased Manga)
Greg McElhatton on vol. 1 of Bokurano: Ours (Read About Comics)
Julie on vol. 1 of Deadman Wonderland (Manga Maniac Cafe)
Michelle Smith on vol. 1 of Deadman Wonderland (Soliloquy in Blue)
Tangognat on vol. 1 of Deadman Wonderland (Tangognat)
Tiamat’s Disciple on vols. 00 and 01 of Dogs: Bullets and Carnage (Tiamat’s Manga Reviews)
Connie on Electric Hands (Manga Recon)
Susan S. on vol. 1 of Great Place High School Student Council (Manga Jouhou)
Andre on vol. 1 of Hero Tales (Kuriousity)
Connie on vol. 8 of Honey and Clover (Slightly Biased Manga)
Julie on Jack and the Princess (Manga Maniac Cafe)
Sophie Stevens on vol. 2 of Kimi ni Todoke (Animanga Nation)
Melinda Beasi on vol. 3 of Kimi ni Todoke (Manga Bookshelf)
Tiamat’s Disciple on vol. 1 of Laon (Tiamat’s Manga Reviews)
Connie on vol. 17 of Lovely Complex (Slightly Biased Manga)
Shaenon Garrity on vols. 1 and 2 of Ludwig II (About.com)
Alexander Hoffman on Oishinbo a la Carte: Japanese Cuisine (Comics Village)
David Welsh on Oishinbo: Izakaya: Pub Food (The Manga Curmudgeon)
Connie on vol. 35 of One Piece (Slightly Biased Manga)
Joy Kim on vol. 13 of Ouran High School Host Club (Joy Kim)
Julie on vol. 28 of Red River (Manga Maniac Cafe)
Michelle Smith on Sand Land (Soliloquy in Blue)
Sean Gaffney on vol. 5 of Sayonara Zetsubou-Sensei (A Case Suitable for Treatment)
AstroNerdBoy on vol. 18 of Sgt. Frog (AstroNerdBoy’s Anime and Manga Blog)
Leroy Douresseaux on vol. 8 of Slam Dunk (The Comic Book Bin)
Johanna Draper Carlson on vol. 1 of Stolen Hearts (Comics Worth Reading)
Bill Sherman on vol. 1 of Stolen Hearts (Blogcritics)
Isaac Hale on Take Me To Heaven (Manga Recon)
Michelle Smith on vol. 2 of Tegami Bachi: Letter Bee (Soliloquy in Blue)
Phil Guie on vol. 1 of This Ugly Yet Beautiful World (Manga Recon)
Julie on Valerie (Manga Maniac Cafe)
Leroy Douresseaux on vol. 9 of Vampire Knight (The Comic Book Bin)
Laura on vol. 8 of We Were There (Heart of Manga)

Lori Henderson rounds up this week’s all-ages comics and manga at Good Comics for Kids.

After Twittering with fellow bloggers David Welsh and Sean Gaffney about female friendship in shoujo manga, Joy Kim posts a list of manga that feature female friendships in a positive light.

Karen Gellender responds to fan snobbery about Twilight at Japanator.

Sad news from Japan: With the Light creator Keiko Tobe has died.

Gia looks at the One Piece phenomenon in Japan at Anime Vice.

Blogging about blogging: This is not specific to manga, but Heidi MacDonald’s The Beat is one of the top blogs in the comics biz, and Heidi has been a good promoter of manga (and of MangaBlog!), so it’s big news that she’s moving to a new location. Reset your bookmarks and RSS feeds accordingly.

Reviews

Michelle Smith on All My Darling Daughters (Manga Recon)
Lissa Pattillo on The Apartment (Kuriousity)
Eric Robinson on vol. 1 of Bamboo Blade (Manga Jouhou)
Kevin Church on vols. 1 and 2 of A Distant Neighborhood (About.com)
Sean Gaffney on vol. 3 of Kimi Ni Todoke (A Case Suitable for Treatment)
Erica Friedman on vol. 2 of Kimochi no Katachi (Okazu)
Connie on vol. 34 of One Piece (Slightly Biased Manga)
Julie on Only By Chance (Manga Maniac Cafe)
Emily on Sensei Datte Otoshigoro (Emily’s Random Shoujo Manga Page)
Lorena Nava Ruggero on vol. 1 of V.B. Rose (i heart manga)
Snow Wildsmith on vols. 1-5 of Very! Very! Sweet (Good Comics for Kids)
Lori Henderson on Voices of Love (Comics Village)

Can you handle one more best manga of 2009 post? This one is from manga expert (and banned author!) Paul Gravett, so you know it’s good.

Melinda Beasi ponders the larger significance of the Twilight graphic novel at There it is, Plain as Daylight.

Myth and Manga looks at the monkey king, the literary ancestor of Dragon Ball, Naruto, and many others.

Julie is looking forward to Alice in the Country of Hearts at Manga Maniac Cafe.

The shoujo-sunjeong alphabet reaches the letter P at Manga Curmudgeon.

Manga Views profiles blogger Lorena Nava Ruggero.

Not manga, but fun: The Manga Critic plays test kitchen with Vertical’s Worry-Free Bakery.

News from Japan: Canned Dogs gets word of a doujin opera adaptation of Higurashi When They Cry. My first reaction was “That’s a great manga to adapt into opera,” but my second thought was “Doujin opera???!?!!”

Reviews: Park Cooper tells us what he has been reading lately at Manga Life. Other reviews of note:

Rob on vol. 1 of 11th Cat (Panel Patter)
Danielle Leigh on vols. 6 and 7 of 20th Century Boys (Comics Should Be Good)
Noah Berlatsky on vol. 1 of Biomega and vol. 4 of Ikigami (The Comics Journal)
Charles Webb on vol. 1 of Biomega (Manga Life)
David Goodwin on The Box Man (Eastern Standard)
Connie on vol. 4 of Bride of the Water God (Slightly Biased Manga)
Connie on vol. 31 of Case Closed (Slightly Biased Manga)
Leroy Douresseaux on vol. 1 of Crown of Love (The Comic Book Bin)
Connie on Darkside Blues (Slightly Biased Manga)
Simon Abrams on vols. 1-3 of Dororo (The Comics Journal)
Katherine Farmar on vol. 1 of I’ll Give It My All… Tomorrow (Comics Village)
Joy Kim on vol. 1 of The Lapis Lazuli Crown (Joy Kim)
Leroy Douresseaux on Love Hurts (The Comic Book Bin)
Christopher Butcher on not simple (About.com)
Nina Stone on not simple (The Factual Opinion)
Connie on vols. 32 and 33 of One Piece (Slightly Biased Manga)
Ysabet Reinhardt MacFarlane on vol. 4 of Otomen (Manga Life)
Sean Gaffney on vol. 1 of Portrait of M&N (A Case Suitable for Treatment)
Sean Gaffney on vol. 2 of Rin-ne (A Case Suitable for Treatment)
Connie on Saber Tiger (Slightly Biased Manga)
Susan S. on vol. 1 of Sea View (Manga Jouhou)
Dan Polley on vols. 23 and 24 of Tsubasa (Comics Village)
Lorena Nava Ruggero on vol. 2 of We Were There (i heart manga)
Lissa Pattillo on vol. 2 of Yokaiden (Kuriousity)
AstroNerdBoy on vol. 7 of Yotsuba&! (AstroNerdBoy’s Anime and Manga Blog)

At PWCW, Kai-Ming Cha talks to author and translator Fred Schodt. There’s lots of interesting commentary here, including Schodt’s take on unflipped manga:

It preserves the idea of original manga but disturbs the flow of the reading. Because it is in a hybrid, unorthodox format, it’s harder to get people not in the manga scene or part of the fandom to read it. This will probably be solved by a virtual or e-reader where people can read manga page by page on the computer.

Schodt’s current projects include translating Pluto. Also at PWCW: Michael Fitzpatrick looks at the popularity of manga on e-books in Japan.

David Welsh, Gia Manry, and Brad Rice look over this week’s new manga. Ryan Sands goes over some recent purchases at Same Hat! Same Hat!

Deb Aoki notes that the Twilight graphic novel shot into Amazon’s top ten—not just graphic novel, top ten bestselling books, period—on the strength of preorders alone.

Kristy Valenti concludes her analysis of Fruits Basket at comiXology.

Manga Curmudgeon David Welsh will be organizing the first round of the Manga Moveable Feast: During the week of Feb. 8, a bunch of us manga bloggers will be reviewing Sexy Voice and Robo. David will track the posts and even host reviewer who don’t have a blog of their own.

Same Hat! Same Hat! has some comics and covers to look at (some are quite NSFW): Desert Eyeball, by Maki Sasaki (in Japanese), more Shintaro Kago gag cartoons, and the covers to vols. 1-4 of Kazuo Umezu’s My Name is Shingo.

Deb Aoki posts the results of her best manga of 2009 polls at About.com. Deb, Jason Thompson, and JD Banks also discuss manga and comics in the latest Anime 3000 podcast.

Manga University will debut a new online manga next week, based on the game StepMania.

ANN sums up a Mainichi interview with Tetsuya Chiba, the creator of Ashita no Joe.

Hey, someone wrote a book about yaoi manga!

At Rocket Bomber, Matt Blind has the graphic novel rankings (online sales) for the week of Jan. 10, as well as a report on new releases and preorders.

Blogging about blogging: Coffeeandink accuses the bloggers and commenters at The Hooded Utilitarian of sexism; Noah Berlatsky responds.

Matt Blind has some tips for would-be podcasters.

News from Japan: Big news: Yuu Watase has ended Sakura-Gari and resumed work on Fushigi Yûgi Genbu Kaiden, which she had set aside in 2008. The last chapter of Tsukihime has been delayed, and the creator of Kōshokuaika Moto Volleyboys has put that series on hold while he recuperates from cancer surgery. On a lighter note, Michio Ueyama, the creator of Zoids, has posted a Doraemon/Loveplus crossover comic. According to Asiajin, the first manga has arrived for Kindle. At MangaCast, Ed Chavez posts Taiyosha’s manga rankings for last week and this week.

Reviews: The Ninja Consultants devote their latest podcast to Black Lagoon.

Sean Gaffney on All My Darling Daughters (A Case Suitable for Treatment)
Greg McElhatton on All My Darling Daughters (Read About Comics)
Julie on The Apartment (Manga Maniac Cafe)
Julie on vol. 1 of Black Butler (Manga Maniac Cafe)
Danielle Leigh on vol. 1 of Black Butler (Comics Should Be Good)
Amy Grockl on vol. 1 of Happy Cafe (Comics Village)
Chris Zimmerman on Haridama: Magic Cram School and vol. 1 of X-Men: Misfits (cbs4.com)
Rebecca Bundy on vol. 18 of Hikaru no Go (ANN)
Lori Henderson on vol. 1 of Jack Frost (Manga Xanadu)
Eric Robinson on vol. 2 of Maximum Ride (Manga Jouhou)
Danica Davidson on Only One Wish (About.com)
Julie on vol. 1 of Portrait of M & N (Manga Maniac Cafe)
Lissa Pattillo on vol. 2 of Rin-ne (Kuriousity)
Michelle Smith on vol. 2 of Rin-ne (Soliloquy in Blue)
Kinukitty on Sense & Sexuality (The Hooded Utilitarian)
Oyceter on vols. 1 and 2 of Shitsuren Chocolatier (Sakura of DOOM)
Johanna Draper Carlson on Solfege (Comics Worth Reading)
Julie on vol. 1 of Stolen Hearts (Manga Maniac Cafe)
Lorena Nava Ruggero on vol. 1 of Stolen Hearts (MangaCast)
Ng Suat Tong on Town of Evening Calm, Country of Cherry Blossoms (The Hooded Utilitarian)
Carlo Santos on vol. 25 of Tsubasa (ANN)
Erica Friedman on vol. 1 of Ultimo (About.com)
Brenda Gregson on vol. 1 of Venus Capriccio (Animanga Nation)

Christopher Handley may be heading for a plea bargain after pleading guilty to possession of obscene materials (manga) last year.

Kate Dacey checks out this week’s new manga at The Manga Critic.

Lissa Pattillo rounds up the latest contests and other news at Kuriousity. (Don’t forget to check out the big post-Christmas giveaway at The Manga Critic.) And Erica Friedman has all the yuri news at Okazu.

Reviews: The Manga Recon team posts short takes on recent titles in their Manga Minis column. Jog critiques quite a few manga in his weekly comics roundup.

Tangognat on vol. 1 of Alice in the Country of Hearts (Tangognat)
Dave Ferraro on All My Darling Daughters (Comics-and-More)
Erica Friedman on Aoi Hana Official Book (Okazu)
Tangognat on vol. 2 of Karakuri Odette (Tangognat)
Snow Wildsmith on vols. 1-4 of Kashimashi: Girl Meets Girl (Fujoshi Librarian)
Michelle Smith on Live for Love (Soliloquy in Blue)
Snow Wildsmith on Love Skit (Fujoshi Librarian)
Jen Dunbar on Mr. Flower Bride (A word is a unit of language)
Erica Friedman on Otome Senshi Lovely 5 (Okazu)
Shannon Fay on vol. 7 of Sand Chronicles (Kuriousity)
Tangognat on vol. 1 of St. Dragon Girl (Tangognat)
Andre on Toxic Planet (Kuriousity)