Monday news and views roundup

In a lengthy but very readable post at Okazu, Erica Friedman explains how manga are sold and why the system is often frustrating to readers and retailers alike.

ICv2 talks to Viz VP Marc Weidenbaum and senior editor Eric Searle about Viz’s plans to publish original comics. It sounds like they are open to a variety of concepts and formats at the moment.

Ed Chavez, who has a unique vantage point as someone who both works in the industry and writes about it, weighs in with his thoughts on the manga market at MangaCast. And he interviews Glenn Kardy of Manga University for his latest Side Dish podcast.

Deb Aoki interviews Surt Lim and Hirofumi Sugimoto, the creators of Del Rey’s new global shoujo manga Kasumi, at About.com.

Lori Henderson laments the passing of Kindaichi Case Files at Manga Xanadu.

At Rocket Bomber, Matt Blind looks at the top 500 manga (online sales) for the past week and then crunches the numbers a bit. Also, he has started posting reports on the various manga publishers and their sales figures; so far, ADV, Aurora, and CMX are up.

To flip or not to flip? Drawn & Quarterly chose the middle ground with Red Colored Elegy, as they did with their Yoshihiro Tatsumi titles (The Push Man) and Adam Stephanides doesn’t like it.

Herve St-Louis asks “Are Yaoi Manga the Future of Gay Comics?” at The Comic Book Bin. He doesn’t really answer the question, and his admission that he hasn’t actually read any yaoi undercuts his arguments a bit, but there’s some material for conversation there.

For those who like to think ahead, DrMaster will be releasing vol. 6 of Lunar Legend Tsukihime in February 2009. Mark your calendars!

Reviews: Jog applies his considerable talents to analyzing vols. 1 and 2 of Cat-Eyed Boy. At Soliloquy in Blue, Michelle reviews vol. 2 of Honey and Clover, I.O.N., and Seduce Me After the Show. Lissa Pattillo checks out vol. 3 of Zombie Loan, vol. 1 of Kieli, vol. 1 of Very! Very! Sweet, vol. 8 of Love Mode, vol. 7 of After School Nightmare, and vol. 12 of XXXHolic at Kuriousity. The Henderson family is busy at Manga Xanadu, with mom Lori posting a review of vol. 16 of Kindaichi Case Files and daughters Jenny and Krissy giving their takes on Pokemon: Rise of Darkrai. On a completely different note, Julie checks out Caged Slave at the MangaCast. Ken Haley reviews vol. 1 of The Last Call at Manga Recon. James Fleenor gives his impressions of vols. 28 and 29 of Naruto at Anime Sentinel.