According to a post on Yaoi Magazine's LiveJournal community, the first issue of Yaoi Magazine has been printed and will be released sometime this month.

Source: YaoiSuki

Active Anime reports that ADV has confirmed the name of the new magazine that will replace Newtype USA. The new magazine will be titled PiQ, and will be launched in March 2008.

Source: Active Anime

AoD has more information regarding Newtype USA's suspension (with the February 2008 issue being the last issue):

The magazine will apparently be reworked into another new magazine through which the company hopes to continue their long advertising relationships with everyone. The changes talked about within the email relate to licensing needs that go back to Japan but are also likely the result of the changing landscape in the US market.

Also, MangaBlog and AoD have some leaked information (later confirmed by ANN) on the name of the new magazine that will replace Newtype USA:

ADV is telling potential advertisers that their new magazine will be called PIQ (as in "sneak peak" or "pique your interest").

According to ANN, ADV is suspending its anime/manga magazine Newtype USA after the "February issue" (which could either be the official February issue or the March issue that will be released in February) and is planning to replace it with a unnamed new magazine:

Representatives of A.D. Vision (ADV) have contacted retail partners to inform them that the February issue of Newtype USA is to be the last. [...] According to reports from those contacted by ADV, the company is planning to replace Newtype USA with another magazine. No information about the new magazine is currently known.

Source: ANN

Kodansha's josei manga magazine Beth will cease publication as of issue 8, on sale 1/8.

A notice from the editorial department was posted on Beth's homepage, thanking its readers, writers, and saying goodbye.

Beth was launched by Kodansha in November 2006. The magazine was originally focused on romance, but later began to concentrate more on single adult women.

Source: Ultimatum

Ichijinsha's Comic Yurihime, a successor publication to Sun Magazine's Yuri Shimai, has always been an "add-on" magazine to Ichijinsha's own ZERO-SUM.

Starting with Comic Yurihime Vol.11, onsale 1/18, Comic Yurihime will finally become its own magazine.

To celebrate, Comic Yurihime's editorial department has planned various treats. Aside from special covers and a "Petit Yurihime" booklet that will come with Comic Yurihime Vol.11, there will also be special collaboration series between Comic Yurihime, Comic Yurihime S and Yurihime Wildrose.

Source: Akiba Blog

Ultimatum Tidbits reports that Nihon Bungeisha's Manga Goraku Nexter will be going on hiatus after its February issue (12/26).

Of the series currently being serialized in the magazine, Watanabe Michio's Hakuryuu (White Dragon; ??????) (story: Tennoji Dai) will be remade as a new series titled Hakuryuu Legend (??????LEGEND) in the 1/11-18 issue of Weekly Manga Goraku (12/27).

Read More »

Magazine Data 2007, the 2007 edition of the Japan Magazine Publishers Association (JMPA)'s guide guide ti Japanese magazines, was released at the end of November.

The data book comes with data on 436 magazines from 57 publishing companies in Japan. The guide lists each magazine's format, forms of publication, dates, price and more, with each magazine categorized by genre. Moreover, each entry includes a brief description of the magazine from its Editor-in-Chief.

Read More »

Active Anime reports that the University of Minnesota Press has announced the second volume of Mechademia entitled Networks of Desire:

Networks of Desire--the second volume in the Mechademia series, an annual forum devoted to critical and creative work on Japanese anime, manga, and the fan cultures that have coalesced around them???explores the varieties of desire that structure and influence much of contemporary anime and manga in manifestations that range from the explicitly sexual to more sublimated text and imagery.

According to Digima, Comic Gumbo, Japan's first free weekly manga publication, will cease publication on 12/11 with the release of issue 48.

Source: Anime! Anime!