Everybody’s talkin’ manga

Vol. 4 of Black Bird was the top-selling graphic novel in bookstores last month, according to BookScan, and 14 of the top 20 were manga.

David Welsh finds a few manga of interest in this week’s new releases.

Johanna Draper Carlson and Ed Sizemore discuss whether manga has a digital future in the latest Manga Out Loud podcast.

In a new feature, Off the Shelf, Melinda Beasi and Michelle Smith have a conversation about a number of shonen and shoujo titles at Manga Bookshelf.

The Reverse Thieves have a spoiler-y discussion of the geopolitical side of Pluto.

New blog alert: Andrew, who used to blog at Hige vs. Otaku, is back at it with a new blog, Manga Desu. He kicks it off with a look at the girls of shonen manga (starting with Sakura from Naruto) and reviews of Taiyo Matsumoto’s Blue Spring and GoGo Monster.

News from Japan: ANN has the best-seller list for the first half of 2010 as well as the most recent comics rankings.

Reviews: Librarian Tangognat reviews vol. 1 of Library Wars and shd liked it so much, she is giving away a copy.

Todd Douglass on vol. 2 of Biomega (Anime Maki)
Leroy Douresseaux on vol. 1 of Fairy Navigator Runa (The Comic Book Bin)
Zoey on Haru Hana (Manga Jouhou)
Erica Friedman on Liquorice (Okazu)
Greg Hackmann on vol. 2 of Natsume’s Book of Friends (Mania.com)
Kate Dacey on vol. 1 of Neko Ramen (The Manga Critic)
Bill Sherman on vol. 1 of Otodama: Voice from the Dead (Blogcritics)
Sean Gaffney on vol. 2 of Portrait of M & N (A Case Suitable for Treatment)
Julie Opipari on vol. 1 of Raiders (Blog@Newsarama)
Michelle Smith on vols. 1-3 of The Record of a Fallen Vampire (Soliloquy in Blue)
Ysabet Reinhardt MacFarlane on vol. 9 of Vampire Knight (Manga Life)