Odds and ends from a long weekend

Gia reports on the Dark Horse panel at Kumoricon, where she picks up some interesting tidbits but no big stories. John Thomas was there as well.

Speaking of JT, here’s his first round of summer recommendations at Mecha Mecha Media.

The Anime Today folks talk to Yen Press director Kurt Hassler and senior editor JuYounLee in their latest podcast at the RightStuf site.

Is Go!Comi preparing to jump into the light novel pool? They just put up a fiction forum on their site, and were spotted by sharp-eyed Lissa Pattillo.

Ed Chavez shares a page from Clamp’s mahjong manga at the MangaCast. Also: Japanese manga rankings from Taioysha.

At Animanga Nation, editor Edward Zacharias becomes a character in a manga—and he’s thrilled.

Canned Dogs scans a few pages of Saint Young Men, a manga I’d love to be able to read (but for obvious reasons it’s unlikely to be licensed here). It’s a comedy about Jesus and Buddha taking a break from their deity duties and sharing an apartment in Tokyo. Check it out for the art and the gags.

Speaking of manga we can’t read just yet, Anna at Manga not Anime is still not impressed with Bakuman, the newest manga by Death Note creators Takeshi Obata and Tsugumi Ohba. After three chapters, she’s still not sure what’s going on and the sexism is starting to grate.

The September issue of Japanese manga magazine Bessatsu Margaret includes a stand-alone booklet with a Cat Street side story by Boys Over Flowers creator Yoko Kamio, ANN reports.

New blog alert: MangaBlog reader Alexander Hoffman has started his own site, Manga Widget, and he has some thoughtful reviews up already, of vol. 1 of Kiichi and the Magic Books and vol. 1 of S.S. Astro, as well as some thoughts on 4-koma manga in the American market.

Reviews: Hey! Katherine Farmar, one of my favorite writers, is doing reviews for Comics Village! Check out her review of the BL title Lover’s Flat. Bill Randall feels that Eddie Campbell’s review of Red Colored Elegy is the one to read, so go to it! Be sure to check out the Manga Minis at PopCultureShock, where the team gives their take on a variety of recent releses. Andrew Wheeler reviews vol. 1 of Nightmares for Sale, vol. 1 of Sola, and vol. 1 of S.S. Astro at ComicMix. D.M. Evans reads vol. 1 of Kaze no Hana at Manga Jouhou. Connie checks out vol. 2 of Aria and vol. 1 of Nui at Slightly Biased Manga. Oyceter likes vol. 1 of Mixed Vegetables way more than she should at Sakura of Doom, and she also posts a brief and spoilery review of vol. 2 of Forest of Gray City. Sesho reviews vol. 10 of Hikaru no Go and vol. 9 of GTO. At The Star of Malaysia, Kitty Sensei looks at vol. 1 of Me and the Devil Blues and Kurogane reviews vol. 3 of Full Metal Panic. Lori Henderson reviews the first issue of Yen+ magazine in two parts: Japanese and Korean/OEL stories, at Manga Xanadu. Michelle is not too taken with vol. 2 of Azumanga Daioh at Soliloquy in Blue. Julie reads vol. 12 of Nana and vol. 8 of Love*Com at the Manga Maniac Cafe. Erica Friedman reads Last Friends, in Malika Magazine, at Okazu. Tangognat checks out vol. 1 of Minima! Lissa Pattillo reviews A Strange and Mystifying Story, Red, and vol. 5 of Kurosagi Corpse Delivery Service at Kuri-ousity. At Active Anime, Scott Campbell reviews vol. 1 of Bobobo-bo Bo-bobo and Holly Ellingwood reads vol. 1 of Jyu-Oh-Sei and vol. 7 of Kurohime.