On the USA Today Booklist Top 150 (PDF) for the week ending March 4, VIZ Media's Naruto volume 13 ranks at #42, Death Note volume 10 ranks at #149, and Del Rey's Negima! volume 13 ranks at #83.

From ICv2 comes the 2007 release schedule for DMP, June, and 801 Media:

June

DMP:
- Let's Draw Manga: Yaoi by Botan Yamada
June:
- Love Recipe Vol. 1 by Kirico Higashizato
- Picnic by Yugi Yamada
- Othello by Toui Hasumi
- Little Crybaby by Keiko Kinoshita
801 Media:
- Love is Like a Hurricane Vol. 1 by Tokiya Shimazaki

Read More »

After the bankruptcy of distributor Publishers Group West (PGW), former PGW client Dark Horse and Broccoli Books' have now found new distributors: Dark Horse distributions will now be handled by Diamond Book Distributors, while Broccoli Books will have its distribution handled by Perseus.

Source: ICv2

Responding to the popularity of their course "Manga & Anime Explosion: What, Why, How & Wow," UC Irvine Extension is now offering a follow-up course called "Manga & Anime Explosion: Story Development, Marketing and Adaptation." According to the press release, "course work will focus on putting characters into compelling story arcs and creating the visually dynamic imagery for which anime and manga are famous. The course, held Tuesday evenings from May 8-June 5, 7-10p.m., supports a growing demand for courses that assist budding manga and anime creators."

TOKYOPOP Rising Stars of Manga People's Choice Online Voting Underway Talent Competition Offers New Genre-Based Format

TOKYOPOP announces the online voting portion of the Rising Stars of Manga 7 competition. Due to a voluminous flood of participant feedback, we've reinstated the People's Choice Award for this seventh running of TOKYOPOP's manga talent competition. All manga fans are encouraged to visit the TOKYOPOP website between March 6 and March 12, 2007 to place their vote and choose their next Rising Stars of Manga.

Read More »

Celebrating International Women's Day, MangaBlog posts a comment from manga scholar Matt Thorn, which explains the truth behind Viz Media's short-lived manga Four Shoujo Stories.

The new comic release list for March 7 2007 from ComicList, compiled by MangaCast.

According to AoD, Dark Horse has confirmed that the release dates of Octopus Girl and Museum of Terror have been postponed indefinitely.

Wholesale distributor Cold Cut announced that it has added yaoi manga publisher DramaQueen to its lineup:

This week, we have added a new publisher to our lineup: Dramaqueen Books! Formed in 2004, Dramaqueen has primarily focused on publishing yaoi and b/l manga, but has also published all-ages fantasy as well as heterosexual adult manga. With several books already published, Dramaqueen has an ambitious publishing schedule for 2007. Cold Cut has recently added a dozen new books from Dramaqueen to our catalog, and we will be adding several more in the months to come!

Source: Icarus Blog

Las Vegas, NV, March 7, 2007 ??? Yaoi Press announces Dark Dreams and Dark Prince, two new titles debuting in fall.

Yaoi Press has announced the second title to their new line of art books. Dark Dreams will showcase the work of Italian studio Dany&Dany. The 64 page book will focus on beautiful men and male/male romance. Unlike Yaoi Press' explicit Yaoi Gothic art book, Dark Dreams will have a 16+ rating. This is the fourth book Yaoi Press will publish by Dany&Dany in 2007.

Read More »