The Putrajaya Arts Festival has organized a manga competition in Malasia called The Original Manga Competition. The deadline is March 15th and the grand prize winner will receive RM5,000 and one year subscription from Komik Factory.

Source: Vrempire Lair

BL manga review and news site YaoiSuki is closing its doors:

After much discussion, Jordan and I have decided to suspend our BL coverage at YaoiSuki indefinitely. Between my new job and apartment, and a score of complications for Jordan, we simply no longer have the time to dedicate to our regular news and reviews lineup (a fact no doubt noticed by many of you).

The site will continue to be here for those who wish to go through our past reviews, check on some news item that happened, con coverage, forums, etc. But neither of us will be updating for the foreseeable future.

From About.com:Manga comes an interview with Erica Friedman, President of Yuricon and yuri manga publisher ALC Publishing.

Also, the rules for the 2008 Yuricon Poster Contest are up, the deadline is April 30th.

Last but not least, Erica has posted an "Okazu Glossary of Terms" that explains various manga-related terms to beginners.

Via: MangaBlog

From About.com:Manga comes an interview with Jenna Winterberg and Michelle Nguyen, editors of Gothic & Lolita Bible. Also available is a preview gallery of Gothic & Lolita Bible volume 1.

The following manga appeared on the USA Today Booklist Top 150 (PDF) for the week ending February 24th:

• #127 - Death Note How to Read 13 - Viz - (Last week: #281)

Top 10 manga (2/27) according to Tohan:

1. Tenjo Tenge (18)
2. Skip Beat! (18)
3. Cross Game (11)
4. Major (66)
5. Moyashimon (6)
6. Sangatsu no Lion (1)
7. Mushishi (9)
8. Beck (32)
9. Life (17)
10. Ace of Diamond (9)

Additional Rankings:

Read More »

From StarWars.com comes an interesting comparison of various manga adaptations of Star Wars.

Source: Icarus Blog

ANN reports that the Canada Border Services Agency has recently banned (PDF) a number of adult anime manga:

The Canada Border Services Agency has ruled in a October-December 2007 list (released this month) that the American re-releases of the hentai anime series Cool Devices and Words Worth (pictured at right) qualify as obscene under subsection 163(8) of Canada's Criminal Code.

Anime and manga retailer Right Stuf has launched a new BL-oriented portal called YaoiAnime.com:

Right Stuf is proud to present YaoiAnime.com, where you can find all of the Yaoi, Boys Love, and Shonen-Ai products in Right Stuf???s catalog. Learn a little more about the genre and find anime, manga, novels, and various merchandise covering the 13+, 16+, and 18+ age levels. From hit anime like Gravitation, to popular manga like Fake, YaoiAnime.com and Right Stuf are your number one stop for all things Yaoi!

ANN is reporting that Shogakukan and Kodansha are collaborating on a new bi-weekly magazine titled Conan & Kindaichi to celebrate the 50th anniversary of Weekly Shonen Sunday and Weekly Shonen Magazine:

As the name implies, the new magazine will feature Gosho Aoyama's Detective Conan (Case Closed) manga from Weekly Shonen Sunday and Y??zabur?? Kanari and Fumiya Sato's Kindaichi Case Files from Weekly Shonen Magazine. The official announcement will be made on March 18.