Kodansha Comics has licensed a new title: Sherlock Bones (Tanteiken Sherdock), the story of a crime-solving boy and dog team. First volume is due out in September. The creators are Yuma Ando (the pen name of Shin Kobayishi, whose other credits include Kindaichi Case Files and Drops of God) and Yuki Sato (Yokai Doctor).
Viz’s yaoi imprint SuBLime also has some new licenses to announce, two print and four digital-only, to celebrate their first anniversary. But the first volume of Youka Nitta’s Embracing Love is delayed from April to August due to production issues.
Big changes are afoot at GEN Manga: They will suspend publication of their manga magazine for a year, but they plan to continue to release single volumes of manga and they are launching a manhwa magazine later this month. I talked to editor-in-chief Robert McGuire about what he has planned. And the first four issues of GEN are available free on Kindle, iBooks, and Comics Plus—but they read differently on each platform. I did a little compare-and-contrast.
I looked over last week’s new manga at MTV Geek, and Lissa Pattillo makes her recommendations in her latest On the Shelf column at Otaku USA. And the Manga Bookshelf bloggers take a look at this week’s new releases in print and on JManga and discuss their Pick of the Week. Lori Henderson checks out all the January releases and figures out what to read now and what to hold off on till later.
Erica Friedman has the latest Yuri Network News roundup at Okazu, including the news that a yuri title is the number one seller on JManga at the moment.
Jason Thompson’s House of 1000 Manga column at ANN takes up part two of his history of Shonen Jump.
Melinda Beasi and Michelle Smith discuss three JManga titles in their latest Off the Shelf column at Manga Bookshelf.
Ash Brown is giving away a copy of Blue Exorcist at Experiments in Manga; hit the link to find out how you could win.
News from Japan: MangaNews reports (in French) that Go Nagai is about to launch a new series, Dororo to Enma-kun, that will be a crossover between Osamu Tezuka’s Dororo and Nagai’s Dororonen Mahô-kun; it will run in Manga Goraku magazine. Oricon says manga sales were down 1.5% last year. Gumi, one of the Vocaloid mascots, is getting her own manga. “The Gumi from Vocaloid manga will follow Gumi as she makes a boy’s dream come true,” says ANN, and I don’t doubt that for a minute. One-shots are in the works from Lily Hoshino (Otome Yōkai Zakuro) and Akira Amano (Reborn).
Reviews: The Manga Bookshelf bloggers keep it terse in their latest set of Bookshelf Briefs.
Anna N. on Angus’s Lost Lady and The Seduction Bid (Manga Report)
Sheena McNeil on vol. 3 of Awkward Silence (Sequential Tart)
Lori Henderson on vol. 14 of Bamboo Blade (Manga Village)
Leroy Douresseaux on vol. 8 of Dawn of the Arcana (The Comic Book Bin)
Anna N. on vol. 8 of Dawn of the Arcana (Manga Report)
Erica Friedman on vol. 1 of Girl Friends (Okazu)
Ken H. on vol. 2 of Heroman (Comics Should Be Good)
Mark Thomas on vol. 8 of Ikigami (The Fandom Post)
Matthew Warner on vol. 32 of Kekkaishi (The Fandom Post)
Lesley Aeschliman on vol. 1 of The Key to the Kingdom (Blogcritics)
Wolfen Moondaughter on vol. 10 of Loveless (Sequential Tart)
Ash Brown on vol. 2 of Message to Adolf (Experiments in Manga)
Sean Gaffney on vol. 37 of Negima (A Case Suitable for Treatment)
Erica Friedman on vol. 4 of Ohana Holoholo (Okazu)
Lesley Aeschliman on vol. 8 of One Piece (Blogcritics)
Jocelyne Allen on Taiyo Matsumoto’s Ping Pong (Brain Vs. Book)
Connie C. on Please Save My Earth, Basara, and Red River (Comics Should Be Good)
Sean Gaffney on vol. 9 of Sailor Moon (A Case Suitable for Treatment)
Derek Bown on this week’s Shonen Jump (Manga Bookshelf)
Matthew Warner on vol. 1 of Strobe Edge (The Fandom Post)
Lesley Aeschliman on vol. 3 of Tsubasa: Reservoir Chronicle (Blogcritics)
Matthew Warner on vol. 15 of Vampire Knight (The Fandom Post)