The inimitable Kate Dacey, who started out blogging as ChunHyang72 at the Tokyopop site and then moved on to become senior editor at Manga Recon, has her own blog: The Manga Critic. Kate is a sharp, funny, perceptive reviewer, and her site will be a mandatory stop for me every morning. Update your RSS feed now so you don’t miss a word! She kicks it off with an account of her own experiences as a reader and reviewer as well as a roundtable of what other reviewers are reading, and a look at vol. 1 of Samurai 7. Welcome, Kate!
Central Park Media, parent company of the BeBeautiful yaoi line and publisher of a whole slew of manga and manhwa, has filed for bankruptcy.
I spent last weekend at Kids Comic Con in The Bronx, where I got to meet a ton of creators and publishers. I didn’t see a lot of manga, aside from Papercutz’ manga-style Nancy Drew and Hardy Boys graphic novels, but con organizer Alex Simmons told me that the manga workshops were among the most popular events. Read all about it in my con report for PWCW.
Del Rey has announced it will publish a series of Secret Saturdays graphic novels, based on the Cartoon Network series of the same name. Del Rey’s other CN properties are Bakugan Battle Brawlers and Ben 10 Alien Force.
And Ryan at Same Hat! has news of two new decidedly less kid-friendly titles from Drawn & Quarterly, The Box Man and Red Snow.
Lissa Pattillo looks at upcoming manga in May at Kuriousity.
Glen Weldon has a longish piece on Yoshihiro Tatsumi and A Drifting Life at NPR.
ICv2 has more on Little Fluffy Gigolo Pelu, the new Junko Mizuno manga to be published by Last Gasp.
The Otaku Librarian has some thoughts on manga for young teens.
You never forget your first one: gottsu-iiyan remembers Teppen, the manga that started it all for him.
Melinda Beasi posts about why she Twitters and the difficulty of assigning a letter grade in a review.
John Thomas has a quick rundown of comics-related events in the Portland (Oregon) area at Mecha Mecha Media.
News from Japan: Author Frederik L. Schodt will receive the Order of the Rising Sun Award from the Japanese government. Japanese Weekly Playboy is spinning off a manga magazine, Man’s Playboy.
Reviews: Carlo Santos treats us to another roundup of short reviews in his latest Right Turn Only!! column. Andrew Wheeler posts short reviews of recent releases at his blog, The Antick Musing of G.B.H. Hornswoggler, Gent.
A Library Girl on vol. 2 of Antique Bakery (A Library Girl’s Familiar Diversions)
Connie on vol. 4 of Aria (Slightly Biased Manga)
Connie on vol. 7 of Banana Fish (Slightly Biased Manga)
Chris Mautner on The Color of Earth (Robot 6)
Connie on vol. 13 of D.Gray-Man (Slightly Biased Manga)
Melinda Beasi on vol. 1 of Her Majesty’s Dog (there it is, plain as daylight)
Snow Wildsmith on Idol Pleasures (Fujoshi Librarian)
Julie on vol. 9 of Muhyo and Roji’s Bureau of Supernatural Investigation (Manga Maniac Cafe)
Melinda Beasi on vol. 1 of Nodame Cantabile (there it is, plain as daylight)
Connie on vol. 1 of Oath to Love and Passion (Slightly Biased Manga)
Alex Hoffman on vol. 2 of Pretty Face (Comics Village)
Greg McElhatton on vol. 1 of Wolverine: Prodigal Son (Read About Comics)
Brigid, as always, thank you for the very kind words and the generous linkage! I owe a lot of my success to your coverage here at MangaBlog, and am honored you featured my site. Now I’m off to read your report on Kid’s Comic Con at PWCW…