More from Viz on digital comics and plans for next year

I talked to Viz executive vice president Alvin Lu and the head of Viz Labs, Gagan Singh, at New York Comic Con, and a lot of what they said is particularly relevant this week, as the news came out that Shonen Jump Alpha will go to simultaneous releases with Japan.

Kevin Hamric, director of publishing sales and marketing for Viz, talks about what’s hot and what’s coming in 2013; the Nausicaa box set has sold out, the simultaneous release of vol. 13 of Neon Genesis Evangelion in Japan and the U.S. was a success, and more Pokemon manga are on the way. Overall, Hamric expects the distribution of manga across the different imprints to stay about the same, but they are looking at doing more omnibuses and collecting stories that are serialized in Shonen Jump Alpha, such as Barrage.

News from Japan: 2001 Nights manga-ka Yukinobu Hoshino has begun a manga adaptation of J.P. Hogan’s science fiction novel Thrice Upon a Time.

Reviews: Ash Brown looks at the past week’s worth of manga reading at Experiments in Manga.

Leroy Douresseaux on vol. 1 of 07-Ghost (I Reads You)
Leroy Douresseaux on vol. 16 of Bakuman (The Comic Book Bin)
Lesley Aeschliman on vol. 1 of Chi’s Sweet Home (Blogcritics)
Lori Henderson on vol. 1 of Clair Voyance (Manga Xanadu)
Kate O’Neil on vol. 1 of The Infernal Devices: Clockwork Angel (The Fandom Post)
Manjiorin on vol. 3 of Itazura Na Kiss (Organization ASG)
Svetlana Fedotov on vol. 13 of Kurosagi Corpse Delivery Service (Fangoria)
Laura on vol. 8 of Library Wars (Heart of Manga)
Leroy Douresseaux on vol. 1 of Loveless (2 in 1 edition) (I Reads You)
Drew McCabe on vols. 64 and 65 of One Piece (Comic Attack)
Lesley Aeschliman on vol. 6 of Pokemon Black and White (Blogcritics)
Sean Gaffney on vol. 1 of Thermae Romae (A Case Suitable for Treatment)
Lesley Aeschliman on vol. 1 of Trigun Maximum (omnibus edition) (Blogcritics)
Lesley Aeschliman on vol. 1 of Vampire Knight (Blogcritics)
Kate O’Neil on vol. 15 of We Were There (The Fandom Post)
Chris Beveridge on With a Dictionary and No Skirt (The Fandom Post)

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