The big news out of Yaoi-Con this past weekend was the launch of Viz’s yaoi imprint, SuBLime. Deb Aoki was live-tweeting the panel, and Lissa Pattillo rounded it all up with some good commentary. Viz rescued one title, Love Pistols, which had previously been published by Tokyopop under their BLU imprint. What’s particularly interesting is that they are publishing some of the books digitally as PDF files that can be downloaded and kept on a variety of e-readers. Digital books will be priced at $5.99 and will be available worldwide, not just in North America. Viz is working with the Japanese retailer Animate (which has been publishing yaoi manga for the Kindle for a while now) and the publisher Libre, but they can license books from other publishers as well.
The other news out of Yaoi-Con is that Digital Manga will be running Yaoi-Con, starting next year, and will move the show to Los Angeles.
Deb Aoki asks the tough questions in her interview with Viz digital guy Brian Piech; she covers piracy, adult manga, and the possibility of expanding Viz’s digital reach beyond North America.
Animemiz posts her interview with Hiro Mashima at Anime Diet.
Ed Sizemore files a very thorough and manga-centric con report from NYCC: Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, closing the last part with a good summary of the event. At Manga Therapy, Tony Yao posts his con report and some photos. Animemiz thinks NYAF is being swallowed up by NYCC at Anime Diet.
Lori Henderson has the list of this week’s all-ages comics and manga at Good Comics for Kids.
Erica Friedman posts the latest Yuri Network News at Okazu.
Tezuka expert Helen McCarthy discusses the importance of his Princess Knight.
Erin Finnegan posts a video of her Unusual Manga Genres panel from Otakon.
Jason Thompson looks at Alien Nine, a disturbing manga about girls who fight aliens with aliens, in his latest House of 1000 Manga column at ANN.
At Slightly Biased Manga, Connie continues her discussion of the world of From Eroica With Love with a look at the sons of Eve.
The title of Paul Gravett’s book 1001 Comics You Must Read Before You Die is a bit ambitious, but Ash Brown winnows it down for manga fans with a spreadsheet of the manga from the list.
Matt Blind compiles the latest list of manga best-sellers, based on online sales.
David Welsh reaches the letter H in his alphabet of manga favorites, and his latest license request is appropriate to the Halloween season: Junji Ito’s josei manga.
News from Japan: Moto Hagio has adapted Yū Nagashima’s short story Jū Jikan (10 Hours) into a two-part manga that will run in Kobunsha’s Shōsetsu Hōseki magazine. Arina Tanemura is bringing her idol manga Fudanjuku Monogatari to a close. Four series ended in the latest issue of Young Gangan magazine, but Yuto, the creator of Hanamaru Kindergarten, has already announced a new one. A chapter of Sayonara, Zetsubou-Sensei that ran in Weekly Shōnen Magazine has been left out of the tankoubon, perhaps because of the negative comment caused by its eerie similarity to a Doraemon story. At the Official Schoolgirl Milky Crisis Blog, Jonathan Clements reprises the story of the manga-ka who thought she was too good for Fractale. And can we ever get enough GTO? Apparently not: A new, three-chapter GTO story will start in Weekly Shōnen Magazine‘s November issue.
Reviews: Melinda Beasi and Michelle Smith chew over a trio of new offerings from Digital in their latest BL Bookrack column at Manga Bookshelf.
Lesley Aeschliman on vol. 1 of Animal Academy (Blogcritics)
Rebecca Silverman on vol. 7 of Arata: The Legend (ANN)
Kristin on vol. 16 of Black Jack (Comic Attack)
AstroNerdBoy on vol. 1 of Codename Sailor V (AstroNerdBoy’s Anime and Manga Blog)
Sean Gaffney on vol. 1 of Drifting Net Cafe (A Case Suitable for Treatment)
TSOTE on vol. 1 of Future-Retro Hero Story (Three Steps Over Japan)
Kate Dacey on vol. 1 of Gate 7 (The Manga Critic)
Zack Davisson on vol. 1 of Gate 7 (Japan Reviewed)
Lissa Pattillo on vol. 1 of Gate 7 (Kuriousity)
Erica Friedman on Girls Love -strawberry milkshake (Okazu)
Zack Davisson on vol. 7 of Happy Cafe (Japan Reviewed)
Jocelyne Allen on vols. 2-8 of IS (Brain vs. Book)
Carlo Santos on vol. 3 of K-ON! (ANN)
Kristin on vols. 5 and 6 of Kurozakuro (Comic Attack)
James Fleenor on vol. 1 of Laddertop (Anime Sentinel)
Julie Opipari on vol. 1 of Laddertop (Manga Maniac Cafe)
Kris on vol. 1 of Maiden Rose (Manic About Manga)
Erica Friedman on Mizu-Iru Ether (Okazu)
Rebecca Silverman on vol. 1 of Monster Hunter Orage (ANN)
Kristin on vol. 4 of Nura: Rise of the Yokai Clan and vol. 4 of Grand Guignol Orchestra (Comic Attack)
Leroy Douressaux on vol. 6 of Rosario + Vampire: Season II (The Comic Book Bin)
Michelle Smith on vols. 1-10 of Sayonara, Zetsubou-Sensei (Soliloquy in Blue)
A Library Girl on vols. 5, 6, 10-15, 17, 18, and 20-23 of Skip Beat! (A Library Girl’s Familiar Diversions)
Kristin on vol. 18 of Slam Dunk and vol. 1 of Psyren (Comic Attack)
Andrew Smith on Stargazing Dog (Scripps News)
Voitachewski on Tank Tankuro (in French) (du9)