Here’s your must-read for the weekend: Christoph Mark interviews Naoki Urasawa and his editor, Takashi Nagasaki, about their collaboration on Billy Bat. Great quote:
“People often think he’s the pitcher and I’m the catcher, but in our discussions for this story, I was the pitcher, he was the batter,” Nagasaki explains.
There’s plenty of interesting background, so go, read. (Image of the Billy Bat cover swiped from ANN.)
Tina Anderson, who was planning on submitting a comic for Viz’s original comics line, says that it has been put on hold and also that Marc Weidenbaum, who spearheaded the line in addition to being top editor for Shonen Jump and Shojo Beat, is no longer with the company. (Via Kuriousity.)
At Rocket Bomber, Matt Blind brings us the latest online sales numbers for the week ending Feb. 8: rankings summary, new releases and pre-orders, emerging trends report, and top 500.
The Manga Recon team has a roundtable discussion of their manga creator dream teams.
At Kuriousity, the very curious Lissa Pattillo has found some new Blu listings on Amazon. Ed Chavez posts the Japanese covers at MangaCast. Ed has covers of the new Yen Press titles and updates on Fanfare/Ponent Mon and Bandai—now there’s an odd couple—as well.
The Electric Ant zine blog is posting anything anyone can find on the upcoming AX anthology.
Reviews
Tangognat recommends some manga for an 11-year-old girl.
Leroy Douresseaux on vol. 1 of 20th Century Boys (The Comic Book Bin)
Connie on Bambi (Slightly Biased Manga)
Connie on vol. 23 of Berserk (Slightly Biased Manga)
Tiamat’s Disciple on vol. 5 of Black God (Tiamat’s Manga Reviews)
Robert Harris on vol. 9 of Hayate the Combat Butler (Mania.com)
Briana Lawrence on vol. 4 of Hell Girl (Mania.com)
Connie on vol. 1 of Kikaider Code 02 (Slightly Biased Manga)
Emily on Koi ja nai no da! (Emily’s Random Shoujo Manga Page)
Aspi on The Manga Guide to Databases (Blogcritics)
Julie on vol. 7 of Muhyo & Roji’s Bureau of Supernatural Investigation (Manga Maniac Cafe)
Lissa Pattillo on Necrataholic (Kuriousity)
Casey Brienza on vol. 1 of Otomen (ANN)
Michelle Smith on vol. 1 of The Palette of 12 Secret Colors (soliloquy in blue)
Billy Aguiar on vol. 1 of Pixie (Prospero’s Manga)
Jeremy Shepherd on The Reformed (Advanced Media Network)
Charles Tan on vol. 2 of Slam Dunk (Comics Village)
Michelle Smith on vols. 1 and 2 of Two Will Come (soliloquy in blue)
Connie on Where Has Love Gone? (Manga Recon)
Erin Jones on vol. 1 of Yonen Buzz: Plastic Chew (Mania.com)
Tiamat’s Disciple on vol. 5 of Zombie Loan (Tiamat’s Manga Reviews)