Devil's food

Quote of the day:

That’s right–the moral of Hell Girl is: “It’s OK to sell your soul for cake, and even more so if the cake is really good.” I never knew damnation could be so delicious.

Isaac Hale, reviewing vol. 1 of Hell Girl at PopCultureShock’s Manga Recon blog

Let’s start with a little shameless self-promotion: At Digital Strips, I interview Claudia Davila, creator of Luz: Girl of the Knowing, a cheery webcomic about a child adjusting to life after Peak Oil. No, really.

David Welsh peers into the future via this month’s Previews and finds plenty of manga competing for his dollar.

Deb Aoki talks to yuri maven Erica Friedman and the editors of the Gothic and Lolita Bible at About.com.

Back home at Okazu, Erica rounds up the latest yuri news and posts a handy manga glossary.

Lots of news at MangaCast: New releases from DrMaster, Pop Japan’s doujin tour, and the gang combs through the week’s new manga. Also: Ed says “Eh??” to Infinity Studio’s announcement that their e-manga is going to be on DVDs. Simon Jones has more thoughts on this at the Icarus blog (NSFW), and Ed chimes in in the comments.

John Jakala wonders what female manga readers think about fanservice.

Magnolia Clark has an interesting essay on the image of vampires in manga and anime at The Llwewllyn Journal.

Sad news: After over two years of covering the heck out of yaoi, Jen Parker and Jordan Marks of Yaoi Suki are hanging up their keyboards. The archive will stay up so the reviews will still be available, but we will miss their extensive coverage of the yaoi world.

Kindle phreaks? Lori Henderson finds the Kindle e-book reader has some hidden capabilities that may be of interest to manga readers.

The Expositor (“Serving Brantford and area for over 150 years”) takes a manga-tinged trip to Japan.

Panties and chainsaws: A winning combination? Canned Dogs takes a peek at Negative Happy Chainsaw Edge, by the author of the Welcome to the NHK novel.

Deutsche Manga has news of American licenses of German titles. And she’s making comics of her own! And another German Blog, Manly Manga and More, is back with March releases and a shopping list.

The deadline for The Original Manga Competition in Malaysia is March 15.

Sakura at Starbucks?

Reviews: Dan Grendell’s Manga Zubon column includes brief reviews of February releases at Comic Pants. And EvilOmar posts more Midweek Manga Reviews at About Heroes. At Precocious Curmudgeon, David Welsh finds plenty to like about All Nippon Air Lines. Matthew Brady checks out vol. 6 of Monster at Warren Peace Sings the Blues. Anime Pulse has an audio review of Once Upon a Glashma and O-Parts Hunter. Kumi Matsumaru enjoys One Piece and Kitty Sensei finds vol. 1 of High School Debut a bit cliched at The Star of Malaysia. At Active Anime, Holly Ellingwood reviews vol. 4 of Somedays Dreamers, Body Language: The Novel, and vol. 3 of Translucent, and Davey C. Jones checks out vol. 7 of Air Gear. Lori Henderson critiques the January and February issues of Shojo Beat at Manga Xanadu. Johanna Draper Carlson takes a look at vol. 2 of Walkin’ Butterfly at Comics Worth Reading. Michelle gives high grades to vols. 2 and 3 of Maison Ikkoku at Soliloquy in Blue. At the MangaCast, Mangamaniac reviews Love Training, Aliera looks at some new shoujo titles, and Ed Chavez has an audio review of vol. 1 of Yozakura Quartet and vol. 7 of Nana. Lissa Pattillo reviews vol. 1 of Invisible Boy and Snow Wildsmith needs a flow chart to follow Party at Manga Jouhou. Lissa Pattillo reviews vol. 1 of Inu-Baka at Kuri-ousity. If you read French, check out Xavier Guilbert’s essay on Lady Snowblood at du9; if you don’t, just wait and hopefully he will translate it soon. James Fleenor checks out vol. 4 of Archlord at Anime Sentinel. At it can’t all be about manga, Cathy can’t resist All Nippon Air Lines. Connie whittles down the stack at Slightly Biased Manga, with reviews of vol. 30 of Dragon Ball, vol. 3 of Bastard, vols. 4 and 5 of Berserk, vol. 16 of Astro Boy, vol. 11 of Phoenix, vol. 6 of Enchanter, vol. 12 of Swan, and vol. 10 of Skip Beat. Kethylia reviews vol. 21 of Berserk.