A new manga titled Gentoushi Series by Ayami Kazama has debuted in Yahoo! Comic's free web magazine Flex Comix Blood.

New installments of Official Another Story Clannad: Hikari Mimamoru Sakamichi de will appear in Broccoli's Comi-Digi Plus (Comi-Digi+) Vol.8 (6/21)

A new manga titled Zo no Senaka by Kujiraiikuko, based on the novel of the same name (which will also be adapted into a movie), will begin serialization in Coamix's Comic Bunch No. 30 (6/22).

Moe + Military mook (magazine + book) MC☆Axis has announced that as of volume 5, it will become an independent magazine.

A few new manga series will debut in Akita Shoten's Champion Red:

Champion Red August issue (6/19)
- Franken Fran by Katsuhisa Kigitsu
- Princess wa mimodaeru by Yuuji Sumino

Champion Red September issue (7/19)
- Seifuku Shoujo Semikami! by Seisoku Yamanishi
- Doki Doki Majo Saiban by Ken Yagami

Source: Ultimatum Chat

Motonori Kishi, the president of Shobunkan, was dismissed by the Supreme Court First Petty Bench in his final appeal. As a result Motonori Kishi will keep his penalty of 1.50 million yen for distribution of obscene manga.

In 2002, Motonori Kishi and the adult mangaka Beauty Hair were arrested for distributing 20,000 copies of the overly obscene Misshitsu (Honey Room) to 16 stores. In January 2004, Motonori Kishi was found guilty and sentenced to one year in prison. However, the sentence was reduced to a 1.5 million yen fine in June 2005.

Source: Asahi Shimbun

MangaCast reports that the culture magazine Monocle is currently serializing a new manga from Yasaka Takanori called Kita Koga:

Each issue of Monocle features a pullout chapter of KK printed in right to left format inside the back cover of the mag. So far the insert has come with color plates and has had a decent enough sounding translation.

On June 22nd, Gentosha Comics will launch a new manga bunko called... Manga Bunko.

Manga published under this bunko include Masatsu Note Taimashin by Kikuchi Hideyuki (story) / Saito Misaki (art), Seimaden by You Higuri, Kodoku Experiment by Yukinobu Hoshino, Koibito Purei by Benkyo Tamaoki, and more.

The Yaoi Press blog reports that Yaoi Press' manga has finally appeared on NETCOMICS' online website. The first chapter of the manga, Winter Demon by Studio Kosaru (art) and Yamila Abraham (story) can be viewed for free, while the remaining chapters are available for $0.25 per chapter.

Via: Manga Maniac Cafe

Comics Worth Reading reports that a manga musical called "Astra: The Super Heroine Manga Musical", a joint effort between Jerry Robinson and the Washington Women in Theatre, will take place at the Warehouse Theatre in Washington, D.C. from July 7th to July 14th.

The original Astra manga was written and drawn by Kenichi Oishi and Shojin Tanaka and, and was published by Central Park Media in 1999.

PWCW reports that DC Comics has announced its plan to invest in Flex Comics, a "manga production company that will create original manga for the web, mobile phones and print collections for worldwide distribution":

Translated editions of Japanese manga dominate U.S. graphic novel sales and the Flex Comics venture makes DC Comics one of the first English-language publishers with a significant investment in a Japanese manga producer.

Source: Publishers Weekly

Shogakukan released a new magazine under the Flower Comics imprint titled Rinka on 6/14. The new magazine serializes manga from popular shoujo mangaka such as Yuu Watase (creator of Fushigi Yuugi), Yumi Tamura (creator of Basara) and Chiho Saito (creator of Revolutionary Girl Utena).

Source: Ultimatum Chat

A few new manga listings have appeared on Amazon.com that could mean new Tokyopop titles in January 2008:

- V. B. Rose by Banri Hidaka
- Gakuen Alice by Tachibana Higuchi

Source: AoD

From Seven Seas' Adventures of a Manga Publisher blog comes an article titled "The Art Of Licensing, Part 1." In the article Jason DeAngelis talks about the manga licensing scene in the U.S., and how a small publisher like Seven Seas has managed to survive and compete in the presence of bigger publishers:

You'd be surprised-or maybe you wouldn't-but now that the manga market is Big Business, it's become as ruthless as Hollywood or Wall Street, with its share of two-faced posers, egomaniacs, and dark sith lords with world domination on their minds.