PWCW reports that DC Comics has announced its plan to invest in Flex Comics, a "manga production company that will create original manga for the web, mobile phones and print collections for worldwide distribution":

Translated editions of Japanese manga dominate U.S. graphic novel sales and the Flex Comics venture makes DC Comics one of the first English-language publishers with a significant investment in a Japanese manga producer.

Source: Publishers Weekly

From Seven Seas' Adventures of a Manga Publisher blog comes an article titled "The Art Of Licensing, Part 1." In the article Jason DeAngelis talks about the manga licensing scene in the U.S., and how a small publisher like Seven Seas has managed to survive and compete in the presence of bigger publishers:

You'd be surprised-or maybe you wouldn't-but now that the manga market is Big Business, it's become as ruthless as Hollywood or Wall Street, with its share of two-faced posers, egomaniacs, and dark sith lords with world domination on their minds.

ICv2 reports that Diamond Comic Distributors has, for the first time, released its annual sales figures:

On 2006 Diamond Comic Distributors as a whole (including Alliance and Diamond UK) had gross sales of over $350 million [...] sold more than 100 million comics and graphic novels in 2006, an increase of 18% over 2005.

We're now six months into 2007 and there have been a lot of news about new anime publications hitting retailers. From Isaac Alexander comes a brief overview of news from last year from where the last report left off.

Anthologies and Magazines 2006-2007

One addendum to the previous report: The report neglected to include two new publications that were starting at the end of 2005. The Monash Caulfield Anime Club in August 2005 premiered their first issue of Animaverick, Australia's first homegrown anime magazine covering anime, manga, and J-pop in the land down under. Across the Indian Ocean west of Australia, the company Xvolve Publishing premiered the first South African publication called Otaku Magazine. As of this time, both publications are only available in their host nations.

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From ANN comes an interview with A.D. Vision co-founder and CEO John Ledford, who talks about the current state of ADV and its plans for the manga market.

Via: MangaBlog

ICv2 has release its latest analysis on Q1 2007 manga and anime sales according to both Bookscan (bookstores) and Diamond (comics stores). Taken from the Top 50 Manga Properties, the top 10 ranked manga are:

1. Naruto
2. Bleach
3. Kingdom Hearts
4. Fruits Basket
5. Death Note
6. Full Metal Alchemist
7. Vampire Knight
8. Absolute Boyfriend
9. Loveless
10. Tsubasa

For more information, see MangaBlog's analysis on ICv2's report.

From Business Week comes an article titled "Forget Manga. Here's Manwha," which takes an in-depth look at Korean manhwa, and if it will be as successful in the U.S. as Japanese manga.

In past years the manga magazine market in Japan has experienced a rapid decline, what will be the consequence of this trend? After watching Naoki Urasawa's talk on NHK's "Professional: Styles of Work" series, the author of the Japanese manga blog Mandana Tsushin Blog (Manga Bookshelf Transmissions) was surprise by Urasawa's nervous attitude toward fans' reaction at the sudden ending of 20th Century Boy, and published an article on the current manga magazine scene, how it affects a magazine's serializations, and what the future may hold for the market. Below a portion of the article that takes a look at the mange magazine scene in Japan:

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Newtype USA is currently looking for a full-time Japanese-to-English translator:

Primary duties consist of performing English translations of Japanese text and proofing completed translations, though other writing, editing and administrative tasks may be required.

Source: ANN

According to Comic Book Resources, U.S. manga publisher Go! Comi has renewed its partnership with Diamond:

As part of the deal, Diamond will remain as the exclusive North American distributor of Go! Comi's books to the bookstore, library, warehouse, mass merchandise, specialty mass merchandise, hobby, game and comic book specialty markets.