Saki Okuse (Legend of Zipangu BLOOD SUCKER) will begin a new series titled Doro Neko 9 (ドロねこ９) in the March issue (1/30) of Gentosha's Monthly Comic Birz.

Shueisha has released new information on the Winter 2008 edition (1/12) of its Akamaru Jump. The issue will carry the final chapter of Tatsuma Ejiri's P2! -let's Play Pingpong!-, as well as many one-shots, omakes and posters. Weekly Jump has the details.

Violinist of Hameln creator Michiaki Watanabe will start a new series titled Violinist of Hameln ~Shchelkunchik~ (ハーメルンのバイオリン弾き ～シェルクンチク～) in Square Enix's Young Gangan No.3 (1/18).

Iwasawa Masahiro, mangaka of Let's Play Baseball!, will start a new series titled Let's Play More Baseball! (もっと野球しようぜ！) in the February issue of Akita Shoten's Monthly Shonen Champion.

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The Daily Yomiuri comes an article titled "THROUGH OTAKU EYES / Don't hop to conclusions about manga's scroll 'origins'," which takes a brief look at the early history of Japanese manga:

In 1924, Yuzankaku Press published Nippon Manga-shi by illustrator and manga creator Seiki Hosokibara (1885-1958). In the book, Hosokibara "discovered" that another national treasure scroll, titled "Shigisan Engi Emaki," was the actual "origin" of manga.

Via: ANN

The Labor Party reports that Free Agent Nation author Dan Pink, who has lived in Japan for a period of time, will be writing a 160-page manga about career advice titled The Adventures of Johnny Bunko: the Last Career Guide You'll Ever Need. The book will be released on April 1st, 2008.

Source: theOtaku

A round up of the new comic release list and views for the week of January 4th 2008:

• ComicList: ComicList for 01/04/2008
• MangaCast: New Manga Release List ~ Jan 4, 2008
• Precocious Curmudgeon: Upcoming 1/4/2007

The following manga appeared on the USA Today Booklist Top 150 (PDF) for the week ending December 30th:

• #78 - Naruto, Volume 27 - Viz - (Last week: #135)
• #89 - Naruto, Volume 26 - Viz - (Last week: #228)
• #113 - Naruto, Volume 25 - Viz - (Last week: #312)

Also, Comicsnob looks at the online manga sales rankings in "Top 150 Manga, 30 December 2007."

Tokyopop has posted several new job openings on the Job Seekers section of its website:

• Associate Brand Manager
• Director of Brand Marketing
• Project Manager
• Jr. Editor
• Online Marketing Specialist
• Web Production Associate
• Manager, Financial and Planning

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Blizzplanet is reporting that Tokyopop will be releasing a new Warcraft manga titled Warcraft: Dragons of Outland in March 2009, written by Richard A. Knaak. The manga will be based on stories involving Jorad Mace and Tyri from Blizzard's WoW: Burning Crusade expansion.

Also mentioned is a new Starcraft manga, written by Keith R.A. DeCandido, set for release in August 2008.

Source: ICv2

ANN reports that Japan's Ministry of Foreign Affairs is planning to expand its outreach program to an wider audience this year to spread manga, anime, and other elements of Japanese popular culture:

The Japanese government already supports 10 overseas Japanese-language learning centers with about 3,000 students, but those will expand to 100 to 200 centers in the next three years. 210 million yen (about US$1.8 million) is being allocated to add 70 of those additional centers this year.

To promote the upcoming March 2008 release of its new shojo manga Minima! by Machiko Sakurai, Del Rey has announced in its January 2008 Newsletter a "Minima! Contest":

Be the first to befriend Nicori with an advance copy of Minima! E-mail us, and if you're selected, you'll win an advance copy of the book. There's just one catch: You have to write in and tell us what you think!

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A brief round up of some of the 2007 best-of lists and retrospectives from around the internet:

"Best-of and Top-whatever" lists:

• 2007 Best New Manga List [ About.com:Manga ]
• 2007 Best Manga List - Continuing Series [ About.com:Manga ]
• Roundup of roundups [ MangaBlog ]
• More of Erin's Favorite Anime and Manga of 2007 [ Manga Recon ]
• More of Kate's Favorite Manga of 2007 [ Manga Recon ]
• Top Ten Yuri Manga of 2007 [ Okazu ]
• The year in fun (2007) [ Precocious Curmudgeon ]
• Our Favorite Manga of 2007 [ PopCultureShock.com ]
• Top 10 Manga for 2007 [ PWCW ]

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