Deb Aoki looks ahead to new manga premiering in 2012.

Jason Thompson takes a look at the 1980s classic 3×3 Eyes in his latest House of 1000 Manga column at ANN.

Erica Friedman has a delightful column about foodie manga at The Hooded Utilitarian, and she has the latest installment of Yuri Network News up at Okazu.

In their latest Let’s Get Visual column, Melinda Beasi and Michelle Smith discuss manga that give them the creeps.

The Manga Village team takes a look at the past week’s new manga releases, and Lori Henderson picks the best of last week’s all ages comics and manga at Good Comics for Kids.

Sean Gaffney takes a look at the manga most (and least) likely to be licensed from Weekly Shōnen Magazine and Shōnen Jump.

Connie’s latest license request at Slightly Biased Manga is another Moyoco Anno series, In the Clothes Named Fat (or something like that).

News from Japan: Ultraman artist Mamoru Uchiyama has died at the age of 62. The manga-ka quartet CLAMP will be slowing down its output after one member was diagnosed with a lumbar compression fracture, the result of spending too much time sitting in a chair. Part two of Sakura Taisen: Kanadegumi (Sakura Wars: Performing Division) has just appeared in Hana to Yume, and the editors have announced it will be an ongoing series. Shogakukan has folded two manga magazines aimed at elementary school readers, Shōgaku Sannensei and Shōgaku Yonensei.

Reviews: At Brain Vs. Book, Jocelyne Allen reviews the new est em manga, Happy End Apartment, which is not out in English yet—she picked it up in Japan.

Kimi-Chan on vol. 2 of Absolute Boyfriend (The Kimi-Chan Experience)
Rebecca Silverman on vol. 3 of Arisa (ANN)
Johanna Draper Carlson on vol. 8 of Bakuman (Comics Worth Reading)
Leroy Douresseaux on vol. 8 of Bakuman (The Comic Book Bin)
AstroNerdBoy on vol. 1 of A Certain Scientific Railgun (AstroNerdBoy’s Anime and Manga Blog)
Rebecca Silverman on vol. 14 of Fairy Tail (ANN)
Erica Friedman on vol. 1 of Fu~Fu (Okazu)
Leroy Douresseaux on vol. 5 of Grand Guignol Orchestra (The Comic Book Bin)
Rebecca Silverman on vol. 15 of Higurashi: When They Cry (ANN)
Rob McMonigal on vol. 6 of Karakuri Odette (Panel Patter)
AstroNerdBoy on The Manga Guide to Biochemistry (AstroNerdBoy’s Anime and Manga Blog)
Connie on vol. 5 of Maoh: Juvenile Remix (Slightly Biased Manga)
AstroNerdBoy on vol. 32 of Negima (AstroNerdBoy’s Anime and Manga Blog)
Connie on vol. 1 of No Longer Human (Slightly Biased Manga)
Leroy Douresseaux on vol. 2 of Portrait of M & N (I Reads You)
Carlo Santos on vol. 6 of Rosario + Vampire Season II (ANN)
Rebecca Silverman on vol. 6 of Stepping on Roses (ANN)
Lissa Pattillo on vol. 1 of Tokyo Mew Mew (Kuriousity)
Connie on vol. 2 of Until the Full Moon (Slightly Biased Manga)
Shannon Fay on vol. 1 of Wandering Son (Kuriousity)
Johanna Draper Carlson on vol. 10 of Yotsuba&! (Comics Worth Reading)

So, the Eisner Awards folks have done me the huge honor of asking me to be a judge for this year’s Eisner Awards. Like the heroine of pretty much every shoujo manga, I am nervous but shaking my fist with determination and promising to do my best. I have already accumulated a pretty big stack of manga and other graphic novels, much of which I have actually read, but please regard this post as an open thread to offer your suggestions for things I should be sure not to overlook. And thank you for reading and offering your feedback and suggestions over the past six and a half years—without you, there would be no MangaBlog, and I’d just be a crazy lady raving in the streets about screentones and decompressed storytelling.

Lissa Pattillo guides us through this week’s new manga releases in her latest On the Shelf column at Otaku USA, while Sean Gaffney looks ahead to next week’s new manga at A Case Suitable for Treatment.

Daniella Orihuela-Gruber rounds up a week’s worth of manga gift guides at All About Manga.

Alan Boyle takes a look at the manga guides to various science topics put out by No Starch Press.

News from Japan: Tomo Kimura gives us a peek at an alternate cover for Pandora Hearts that is bundled in the latest GFantasy magazine. New horror manga on the way: Chocolat no Mahō ~Doraje Koibitotachi no Kiseki~ (The Magic of Chocolate ~Dragée Lovers’ Miracle~), a followup to The Magic of Chocolate, will launch (with a Valentine’s Day theme) in the February issue of Ciao. Fukashigi Triangle, a “high school romance tragicomedy,” according to ANN, will launch in the next issue of Comic Birz. The new magazine Shūkan Manga Sekai no Ijin (Weekly Manga: World’s Great Figures) will feature manga tales about famous people from Mozart to Michael Jackson. One Piece just keeps breaking records; here’s the latest: over 38 million volumes sold in 2011. And ANN has the top-selling manga in Japan by series and by volume.

Reviews

Carl Kimlinger on vol. 35 of Berserk (ANN)
Lori Henderson on vol. 13 of Black Jack (Manga Village)
Sean Gaffney on vol. 2 of Codename Sailor V (A Case Suitable for Treatment)
Anna on vol. 1 of Dawn of the Arcana (Manga Report)
Matthew Alexander on vol. 6 of Dogs: Bullets and Carnage (The Fandom Post)
Kate O’Neil on vol. 5 of Grand Guignol Orchestra (The Fandom Post)
Victoria Martin on vol. 3 of Gunslinger Girl (omnibus edition) (Kuriousity)
Angela Eastman on vol. 8 of Kimi ni Todoke (The Fandom Post)
Leroy Douresseaux on vol. 59 of One Piece (The Comic Book Bin)
Matthew Warner on vol. 4 of Saturn Apartments (The Fandom Post)
Terry Hong on Stargazing Dog (BookDragon)
Matthew Warner on vol. 10 of Twin Spica (The Fandom Post)
Erica Friedman on vol. 1 of Yuri Danshi (Okazu)

At MTV Geek, I posted my list of the best manga of 2011 and rounded up some recent manga news from Japan.

The Manga Bookshelf bloggers discuss their Picks of the Week.

Kristy Valenti discusses theatrical influences on two Osamu Tezuka manga, Princess Knight and The Book of Human Insects.

Deb Aoki posts a guide to comics gifts that support good causes.

News from Japan: Be x Boy 13* includes a story by the French manga-ka Eternal-S; you can check out more of her work, including the cover of her Black Butler doujinshi, on Deviantart. The second issue of Cocohana will include Setona Mizushiro’s Nōnai Poison Berry along with a number of other series, both new and carried over from its predecessor magazine Chorus. Maki Murakami has returned to work on Kanpai! after ten years; the first chapter of the relaunched series appeared in this week’s issue of Comic Spica. Nodame Cantabile manga-ka Tomoko Ninomiya gave birth to a baby boy on November 24.

Reviews: The Manga Bookshelf team turns in a fresh set of Bookshelf Briefs. Ash Brown reflects on another week’s worth of manga reading at Experiments in Manga.

Connie on About Love (Slightly Biased Manga)
Connie on vol. 3 of Ai Ore (Slightly Biased Manga)
David Brothers on Blue Exorcist (Comics Alliance)
Jeff Jackson Ian Johnson on Breathe Deeply (Comic Attack)
Kristin on vol. 1 of Dawn of the Arcana (Comic Attack)
Connie on vol. 4 of House of Five Leaves (Slightly Biased Manga)
Connie on vol. 4 of Mars (Slightly Biased Manga)
Matthew Warner on vol. 6 of Rosario + Vampire, Season II (The Fandom Post)
Rebecca Silverman on vol. 7 of Toriko (ANN)

*Correction: This is the French Be x Boy, not the Japanese edition, so I guess I should put it in the News from France section. Thanks to JRB in the comments for setting me straight!

Lori Henderson has the latest list of all-ages comics and manga at Good Comics for Kids, and the Manga Village team makes their picks from the past week’s new manga releases as well.

Erica Friedman posts the latest edition of Yuri Network News and answers questions on a variety of topics, including yuri, at Okazu.

Looking for a gift for the otaku who has everything? Check out the 2011 manga gift guides from Kate Dacey at The Manga Critic, Anna at Manga Report, and Tony Yao at Manga Therapy. Erica Friedman goes old school with a retro anime and manga gift guide at Okazu.

Lissa Pattillo notes Digital’s announcement that they have a new license, Starry☆Sky, but she wonders if it’s a shoujo series being marketed as yaoi (in their June imprint) because of “a high pretty boy count.” She also has news of some new Seven Seas series that will be published in omnibus volumes.

Connie continues her discussion of the world of From Eroica With Love with a look at Seven Seas, Seven Skies.

Matt Blind compiles the list of manga best-sellers for the week ending November 13.

News from Japan: Koji Aihara, co-creator of Even a Monkey Can Draw Manga, started a new zombie series, Z ~Zed~, in last week’s issue of Bessatsu Manga Goraku. Love Roma manga-ka Minoru Toyoda has a one-shot story in the December 7 issue of Shonen Sunday. Übel Blatt returns to Big Gangan magazine after a two-year hiatus. Mobile Suit Crossbone Gundam: Ghost launches in the January issue of Gundam Ace, and ANN has lots of details for you. The retail chain Animate has a great deal going: Buy a volume of a manga series that is carried in Asuka magazine, get a free bookmark with a drawing of a Tiger and Bunny character done by an Asuka artist. Three Steps Over Japan takes a look at Manga Town, the magazine that carries Crayon Shin-chan.

Reviews

Kimi-chan on vol. 2 of Absolute Boyfriend (Kimi-Chan Experience)
Rebecca Silverman on vol. 2 of A Bride’s Story (ANN)
Lissa Pattillo on vol. 8 of Butterflies, Flowers (Kuriousity)
Leroy Douresseaux on vol. 1 of Dawn of the Arcana (The Comic Book Bin)
Johanna Draper Carlson on vol. 1 of Dawn of the Arcana (Comics Worth Reading)
Sweetpea616 on Dolls (Organization Anti-Social Geniuses)
AstroNerdBoy on vol. 16 of Fairy Tail (AstroNerdBoy’s Anime and Manga Blog)
Jocelyne Allen on vols. 9-17 of IS (Brain Vs. Book)
Kate O’Neil on vol. 1 of Laddertop (The Fandom Post)
Johanna Draper Carlson on The Manga Guide to Biochemistry (Comics Worth Reading)
Matthew Warner on vol. 3 of March Story (The Fandom Post)
Carlo Santos on vol. 6 of Nura: Rise of the Yokai Clan (ANN)
Johanna Draper Carlson on Professor Munakata’s British Museum Adventure (Comics Worth Reading)
Matthew Warner on vol. 7 of Rin-ne (The Fandom Post)
Anna on vol. 2 of Sailor Moon (Manga Report)
Jong Chung on vol. 4 of Spice and Wolf (Something Deeper)

It’s Black Friday, the big shopping day for some and Buy Nothing Day for others. Me, I’ll be staying home and doing some reading and writing, as well as organizing my books for the end of the year. We all have to shop sometime, though, and to help us, Danielle Orihuela-Gruber is once collecting links for manga gift guides, including these from Deb Aoki and Rob McMonigal.

Lissa Pattillo looks at this week’s new manga in her On the Shelf column at Otaku USA. Meanwhile, Sean Gaffney looks ahead to the new manga hitting the shelves on November 30.

Jason Thompson has an imaginary conversation with Shaenon Garrity about Midori Days, the manga about a teenage boy whose right hand is his girlfriend—literally!—in the latest House of 1000 Manga column at ANN.

Tim Beedle revisits a post he wrote in his Tokyopop days: So you want to be a manga-ka?

At The Fandom Post, Chris Beveridge has the list for Kodansha’s May 2012 lineup, which includes the first volume of their omnibus edition of Genshiken.

Helen McCarthy lists three manga she would like to see brought back into print in English, a la Digital’s Kickstarter campaign for Osamu Tezuka’s Swallowing the Earth.

News from Japan: Three Steps Over Japan continues its series on Japanese magazines with a look at Weekly Morning. The idol group AKB48 is the subject of a new anime, to be titled AKB0048, and no fewer than four manga series running in four different magazines. The Moonlight Mile manga is going on hiatus, apparently because the creator has a new project in the works. Hekiru Hikawa (Pani Poni) is starting a new series, Candy Pop Nightmare, in the next issue of Square Enix’s Monthly Big Gangan, which is available today. Shinobu Kaitani is back at work on Liar’s Game after a year-and-a-half hiatus; the new chapter appears in this week’s Weekly Young Jump. The next edition of Jump Next! will include a Medaka Box spinoff by NisiOisin and Akira Akatsuki. The manga team Akira Himekawa will draw the newest Legend of Zelda manga, which will be based on the new Zelda game Skyward Sword. And ANN has the latest Japanese comics rankings.

Reviews

TSOTE on vol. 1 of Acony (Three Steps Over Japan)
Lissa Pattillo on vol. 4 of Afterschool Charisma (Kuriousity)
TSOTE on Naoki Urasawa’s Billy Bat (Three Steps Over Japan)
Connie on vol. 36 of Bleach (Slightly Biased Manga)
Connie on vol. 8 of Cipher (Slightly Biased Manga)
Thomas Zoth on vol. 1 of Dorohedoro (The Fandom Post)
Connie on vol. 1 of In the Walnut (Slightly Biased Manga)
Kate Dacey on vol. 1 of No Longer Human (The Manga Critic)
Zack Davisson on Oishinbo: Izakaya—Pub Food (Japan Reviewed)
Drew McCabe on vol. 58 of One Piece and vol. 52 of Naruto (Comic Attack)
Sean Gaffney on vol. 2 of Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon (A Case Suitable for Treatment)
Connie on vol. 1 of Wandering Son (Slightly Biased Manga)