In "SOFT POWER, HARD TRUTHS / Manga magnate aims to redraw San Francisco," Yomiuri Shimbun talks to Seiji Horibuchi, founder of Viz Media:

In the audience that evening was Seiji Horibuchi, the pioneering founder of Viz Media, one of the first and largest Japanese entertainment companies to take root in American soil. Horibuchi moved to the Bay Area more than 30 years ago. He founded Viz in 1986. Two years ago, he launched Viz Pictures, a spin-off that focuses on releasing live-action features to complement the mountains of manga, anime, toys and related merchandise the parent company already handles.

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From About.com:Manga comes an interview with graphic designer and author Chip Kidd and Batman memorabilia collector Saul Ferris about the "secret origins" of their Fall 2008 artbook/comics collection, Bat Manga! The Secret History of Batman in Japan.

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A round up of the new comic release list and views for the week of February 20th 2008:

• ComicList: ComicList for 02/20/2008
• MangaCast: New Manga Release List ~ Feb 20, 2008
• Manga Recon: Weekly Recon, 2/20/08
• theOtaku: New Manga Releases
• Precocious Curmudgeon: Upcoming 2/20/2008

According to this post from AoD (Via MangaCast), several new titles have appeared on Simon Says under Viz Media, scheduled for release in October/November 2008:

• soranin by Asano Inio
• Captive Hearts by Hino Matsuri
• Bokura ga Ita (We Were There) by Kobata Yuuki
• NORA: The Last Chronicle of Devildom by Hajime
• Blank Slate by Aya Kanno

According to an article from the American Go Association's E-Journal (Via AoD), the English version of Shonen Jump will replace Hikaru no Go with Takehiko Inoue's Slam Dunk:

Viz Media has announced the current issue of Shonen Jump will be the last appearance of Hikaru no Go. With a circulation of close to two million children and adults, the strip has helped youth go clubs flourish across the nation. "In a magazine jammed with fist-fueled fighting manga, Hikaru no Go has quietly carved out a place in readers' hearts," the editors at Shonen Jump state in a farewell message to the series. Nonetheless, the strip is being replaced by Slam Dunk, a manga about basket ball.

ICv2 has released the January 2008 top 100 graphic novel sales estimates and the top 300 comics sales estimates based on Diamond Indexes and Publisher Title Data. Also from ICv2 is an analysis of the trends in December based on the graphic novel sales chart.

Also, MangaBlog provides its own look at the data, as well as a list of manga from the Top 100 Graphic Novels chart.

Highly Anticipated New Manga Story Arc Launches Featuring A Teenage Naruto And Offers New Volumes Every Two Months

San Francisco, CA, February 20, 2008 ??? VIZ Media, LLC (VIZ Media), one of the entertainment industry's most innovative and comprehensive publishing, animation and licensing companies, has announced the launch of the long-awaited new NARUTO manga story arc beginning with Volume 28, which is the first to feature Naruto as a teenager. The volume is expected to hit stores nationwide on March 4 with an estimated retail price of $7.95 and will include an exclusive full-color poster insert in the first print run. New editions of the hit series will now debut every two months.

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Anime news and review website Active Anime has announced the result of its Active Anime Top 25, a continuation of Animefringe's annual ranking of websites has voted by readers. Below are the rankings:

1. Anime Planet
2. Anime News Newtowrk
3. Right Stuf International
4. Anime On DVD
5. AniDB

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ALC Publishing, the world's only all-Yuri publisher, is recruiting writers and artists for their award-nominated Yuri anthology, "Yuri Monogatari."

Writers and artists who wish to be considered for the new anthology should read the submission rules at http://www.anilesbocon.org/alc.html carefully before sending any materials. Questions can be emailed to nilesbocon01@hotmail.com. Recruitment will be held through March 15, 2008. Due to the time constraints of the project, no applications can be accepted after this time however, completed comics can be accepted at any time. See the above page for details.

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From Newsarama comes its annual analysis of data provided by Nielsen BookScan:

The book selling the most pieces in 2007 was Naruto v13 with 80,423 pieces sold. Like last year, you can probably call it Naruto???s year, as all 27 (!) volumes chart, and they all chart within the top 100 (or Top 65, to be more precise) ??? that???s a pretty major accomplishment.

Via: MangaBlog