The top 15 manga (December 2007 - January 2008) in France according to BdZoom:

1. Naruto (33)
2. Death Note (7)
3. Naruto (32)
4. Samourai Deeper Kyo (36)
5. Naruto (1)
6. Naruto (31)
7. Naruto (2)
8. Lanfeust Quest (1)
9. Tsubasa Reservoir Chronicle (16)
10. Naruto (3)
11. Death Note (1)
12. Naruto (4)
13. Naruto (5)
14. Naruto (6)
15. Death Note (6)

From Channel NewsAsia comes an article titled "China eyes French comic book festival as springboard to Europe" that looks at how China is trying to break into the European graphic novel market through the Angoulême International Comics Festival and compete with established Japanese manga:

With their own national pavilion set up in city hall, a large Chinese delegation boasted of 11 million euros (US$16 million) worth of deals in the fields of comics and animated cartoons.

Nominees for this year's Angoulême International Comics Festival have been announced, and Precocious Curmudgeon has a list of the nominees for the manga category:

Sélection Officielle:

• Amer Beton – Integrale (Tekkonkinkreet), by Taiyo Matsumoto, published by Tonkam
• Death Note, by Takeshi Obata and Tsugumi Ohba, published by Kana

Read More »

The Daily Yomiuri has an article that explores the dramatization of the manga Saito-san by Yua Oda. Also, Nichi Bei Times looks at the popularity of manga in France in "Manga Gaining Rapid Popularity in France."

Asahi Shimbun has a cover story titled "Manga-fied," which looks at how Japanese manga is attracting a "growing legion of French people" to Japan:

Thanks to Japanese pop culture, people overseas have a readily accessible window into Japan and its traditions. [...] For French people in particular, this window has created an appeal that is proving hard to resist.

From BusinessWeek comes an article titled "Europe's Manga Mania," which looks at how European fans are favoring manga over traditional Western comics:

While Western comics such as Donald Duck, Tintin, and Asterix long dominated the European market, young readers like Malis are looking eastward. The Japan External Trade Organization says German and French sales of manga totaled $212.6 million last year, making Europe the largest consumer of manga outside Japan.

From Cosplayers Net comes an exclusive interview with World Cosplay Summit 2007 winners Damien Ratte (DamDam) and Isabelle Jeudy (cosplayed as Tsugiri and Myoubi from the manga Alichino), who talk abouttheir experience at this year's WCS.

Source: Papo de Budega

From du9's Xavier Guilbert comes an interview with Mizuno Junko, who is known for her kawaii noir style of drawing that mixes childish cuteness with blood and terror:

Immediately recognizable with her sexy dolls straight out of a Powerpuff Girls episode with a Russ Meyer-makeover, Mizuno Junko has steadily build, if not a career, at least a reputation - so much that when she attended the 2005 edition of the Angouleme Festival, animation magazine Animeland introduced her as the "morbid pin-up of underground manga".

Source: MangaBlog

Pascal Bonnet to Head Up Licensing & Brand Management Isabelle Aghina to Oversee TV & DVD Sales and Distribution

Paris, France, July 8, 2007 – VIZ Media Europe (VME), the Paris-based subsidiary of VIZ Media, LLC (VIZ Media), is pleased to announce the appointment of Pascal Bonnet as Director of Licensing and Brand Management, and Isabelle Aghina as Director of TV & DVD Sales and Distribution.

Read More »

The Star Online reports that in order to promote its the Ballon bleu de Cartier, the newest watch in Cartier's 2007 watch collection, Cartier has commissioned comic artists from around the world to create a comic that will "illustrate the birth of the Ballon bleu de Cartier."

The artists invited include: "Moebius (the pseudonym used by French artist Jean Giraud), Japanese manga artist Jirô Taniguchi, British artist Glen Baxter, Italian artist Lorenzo Mattotti, American Charles Burns, French artist Jean-Claude Floc’h and Belgian François Schuiten."