Manga for grown-ups

There’s plenty of manga action going on at San Diego Comic-Con this weekend; most of the big publishers are there, although they don’t seem to be announcing huge numbers of licenses as in years past. Top Shelf announced it would be publishing the alt-manga Cigarette Girl, by Masahiko Matsumoto, and Vertical’s new license is Usamaru Furuya’s Lychee Light Club. And while their panel focused mainly on anime, Bandai did announce one new manga license: Kannagi: Crazy Shrine Maidens, the inspiration for the anime of the same name.

Mike liveblogs the Best and Worst Manga of 2010 panel for Anime Diet, and ANN has writeups of the Lost in Translation, Best and Worst Manga of 2010, and Manga for Grown-ups panels.

The Eisner Awards will be handed out tomorrow night, and David Welsh tries handicapping the manga and manhwa nominees.

Jason Thompson gets nostalgic about the horror/action manga BAOH in his latest House of 1,000 Manga column at ANN.

The folks behind OpenManga explain what they are thinking about for their new platform, which is touted as a legal alternative to the soon-to-be-defunct OneManga.com.

Toyopop is looking for interns for the fall.

News from Japan: Weekly Comic Bunch will end with the August 27 issue, but at least one series will outlive it: Tsukasa Hojo says he will continue his crime drama Angel Heart, although he didn’t specify in what format.

Reviews: Melinda Beasi and Michelle Smith discuss several Fumi Yoshinaga manga in the first installment of their dialogue column BL Bookrack, and Melinda also hosts a roundtable on Gerard & Jacques and reviews vols. 1-3 of Ooku at Manga Bookshelf. Other reviews of note:

Erica Friedman on Azumanga Daioh (omnibus edition) (Okazu)
Kenton Smith on Black Blizzard (SEE Magazine)
Kate Dacey on A Drunken Dream and Other Stories (The Manga Critic)
Sean Gaffney on vol. 32 of Eyeshield 21 (A Case Suitable for Treatment)
Sean Gaffney on vol. 23 of Fullmetal Alchemist (A Case Suitable for Treatment)
Sean Gaffney on vol. 6 of Gatcha Gacha (A Case Suitable for Treatment)
Lori Henderson on vol. 6 of Gestalt (Manga Xanadu)
Amy Grockl on vol. 2 of Happy Cafe (Comics Village)
AstroNerdBoy on vol. 2 of Kobato (AstroNerdBoy’s Anime and Manga Blog)
Zack Davisson on vol. 5 of Maid Sama! (Japan Reviewed)
Leroy Douresseaux on Maniac Shorts Shot (The Comic Book Bin)
Maison on vol. 1 of Nodame Cantabile (Manga Jouhou)
Connie on Red Snow (Comics Village)
Julie Opipari on vol. 3 of Sarasah (Manga Maniac Cafe)
Leroy Douresseaux on World of Warcraft: Mage (The Comic Book Bin)