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."

Society for the Promotion of Japanese Animation Adds Quan and Wong

Anaheim, California (January 2, 2008) ‹ The Society for the Promotion of Japanese Animation (SPJA), the overseeing body of the nation's largest anime/manga convention (Anime Expo®) announces two (2) new additions to the current Board of Directors. More information can be found on the website www.spja.org.

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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

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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The Columbus Dispatch has published an article titled "Comics no longer a joke in academia," which looks at how schools and colleges are beginning to take comics seriously as an form of art...thanks in part to the popularity of manga:

"With graphic novels and manga, librarians have seen an upsurge in demand the last three to five years, and many say manga is their highest circulation material," said Ann Kim, editor of special projects and graphic novels for Library Journal. "There is definitely more respect now."

Broccoli Books has announced on its fan club mailing list that it will be releasing sola, written by Naoki Hisaya (Kanon), drawn by Chako Abeno with original character design by Naru Nanao (D.C. ~Da Capo~, ef - a tale of memories), in 2008 summer.

Source: ANN

Save Money, Save Time, Register Online Pre-Registration Special Available Only Till End of the Year

Anaheim, California (December 28, 2007) ‹ Anime Expo® 2008 announces that online pre-registration for attendees, industry members and press representatives will be made available Saturday; December 29, 2007 at noon PST. More information can be found on the website www.spja.org.

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