Here’s a great piece of holiday reading: Tom Spurgeon and David Welsh discuss Osamu Tezuka’s MW as part of The Comics Reporter’s holiday interview series, all of which makes excellent reading.
Back at Precocious Curmudgeon, David has some manga licenses he’d like to see, and this week he focuses on rescuing licenses that have been dropped by other publishers.
Lori Henderson sums up the week’s manga news at Manga Xanadu, and Erica Friedman reviews the week in yuri at Okazu.
Lori also lists the week’s kid-friendly comics and manga at Good Comics for Kids and gives short takes on seven underrated Tokyopop series at Manga Xanadu. And she shows off her Christmas haul!
Melinda Beasi, Michelle Smith, Danielle Leigh, and Connie C. list their five favorite manhwa of 2009 and discuss what titles they are looking forward to in 2010 at Manga Bookshelf.
Gia and Geekachu present their favorite manga (and manga-ish books) of 2009 via video at Anime Vice.
At Otaku Ohana, Jason Yadao looks at the difference that digital media have made in the manga world, in terms of online manga and the power of Twitter.
At Myth and Manga, Akemi discusses how man and nature interact in Hayao Miyazaki’s stories.
The Christmas edition of the Ninja Consultant podcast includes some interesting conversations on criticism vs. reviews and other literary themes.
John Thomas and the Sci-Guys guys discuss the best manga of the year in their latest podcast.
Congratulations to anime and manga blogger AstroNerdBoy on his third blogiversary!
Reviews: I like Thomas Zoth’s description of vol. 2 of Amefurashi at Mania.com: “Much like a rainbow: Pretty, but follows a standard arc.” EvilOmar winds up the year with a flurry of short reviews at About Heroes. Other reviews of note:
Julie on All My Darling Daughters (Manga Maniac Cafe)
Connie on vol. 3 of Baby & Me (Slightly Biased Manga)
Rob on vols. 1, 2, and 3 of Barefoot Gen (Panel Patter)
Michelle Smith on Black-Winged Love (Manga Recon)
Sesho on vol. 1 of Butterflies, Flowers (Sesho’s Anime and Manga Reviews)
Julie on vol. 2 of Children of the Sea (Manga Maniac Cafe)
Leroy Douresseaux on vol. 1 of Death Note (I Reads You)
Connie on vol. 3 of Eden (Slightly Biased Manga)
Connie on vol. 1 of Happy Boys (Manga Recon)
Diana Dang on vol. 1 of I Hate You More Than Anyone! (Stop, Drop, and Read!)
Richard Cook on vol. 1 of Lone Wolf and Cub (The Hooded Utilitarian)
Julie on Love Skit (Manga Maniac Cafe)
Deb Aoki on vol. 1 of Moyasimon (About.com)
Tangognat on vol. 3 of The Name of the Flower (Tangognat)
Leroy Douresseaux on vol. 1 of Natsume’s Book of Friends (The Comic Book Bin)
Tangognat on vol. 1 of Night Head Genesis (Tangognat)
Michelle Smith on not simple (Soliloquy in Blue)
Loïc Massaïa on Osamu Tezuka – Biographie (in French) (du9)
Patricia Beard on vol. 1 of Oh! My Brother (Mania.com)
Michelle Smith on vol. 1 of Raiders (Soliloquy in Blue)
Connie on vol. 4 of Ral Ω Grad (Slightly Biased Manga)
Connie on vols. 1 and 2 of Slam Dunk (Slightly Biased Manga)
Snow Wildsmith on vols. 1 and 2 of Steal Moon (Fujoshi Librarian)
David Welsh on vol. 1 of The Summit of the Gods (Precocious Curmudgeon)
Connie on vol. 6 of Totally Captivated (Slightly Biased Manga)
Connie on vols. 19 and 20 of Tsubasa Reservoir Chronicle (Slightly Biased Manga)
Connie on vol. 6 of V.B. Rose (Slightly Biased Manga)