CLAMP, AWA, and lots of Death Note

David Welsh interviews Katherine Dacey-Tsuei about her love of CLAMP for this week’s Flipped column.

LJ’er Kylandra reports on the Dark Horse panel at Anime World Atlanta, including some manga release dates and a conversation with Carl Horn. (Hat tip: Erin F.)

Can’t get enough Death Note? John Jakala has good news: a fan guide, the mysterious 13th volume, and maybe even a boxed set with figurines could be coming our way.

ComiPress reports that Rose of Versailles manga-ka Riyoko Ikeda is working on a manga adaptation of the Korean drama “Story of the First King’s Four Gods.”

The Japan Times reports on a move to “purify” the Japanese language of foreign words. The perceived problem is that these loanwords are written in katakana (i.e. phonetically) rather than with kanji (which convey meaning as well), so people don’t know what they mean. There’s an interesting list of “incomprehensible” examples. (Via the Marvel of Manga blog, which notes that “manga” is problematic because it is increasingly written in kana rather than kanji these days.)

Job board: Go!Comi is looking for an art director. Tokyopop has three positions open: marketing coordinator, copy editor, and junior editor.

Onward and upward: In other Tokyopop news, Lillian Diaz-Przybyl has been promoted to senior editor. Every creator I have spoken with who works with LDP has raved about her, so I’m sure this is well deserved. Meanwhile, DC has promoted John Nee to senior vice president of business development; CMX will remain part of his portfolio. From the press release:

In 2004, he spearheaded the launch of CMX, DC’s manga imprint; in 2007, he was instrumental in securing DC’s investment in Flex Comix, a newly established company for manga production and digital/print distribution in Japan. Nee is also a Director and sits on the Board of Flex Comix.

Reviews: Michael Aronson reviews vol. 3 of Junk for Manga Life and finally gets to use the line “At last, Junk lives up to its name.” Ariadne Roberts gives a mixed review to vol. 1 of Kon Kon Kokon at Anime on DVD. At Authentic Mango, qshoe138 has a review, with scans, of Fumi Yoshinaga’s Don’t Say Anymore, Darling. Anime on DVD’s Danielle Van Gorder gives her take on the same volume. Christopher Seaman is a busy guy today, posting reviews of vol. 10 of XXXHoLic, vol. 13 of The Wallflower, and vol. 7 of Kagetora at Active Anime. At the Manga Maniac Cafe, Julie enjoys the art in vol. 1 of Aqua. Tangognat, always on the hunt for some good josei, enjoys vol. 1 of Walkin’ Butterfly. Cornerofmadness checks out vol. 20 of Bleach at Manganews. At Slightly Biased Manga, Connie orders a copy of an Overlooked Manga Festival title, Domu. About Heroes posts a flurry of brief reviews.