Vertical licenses Knights of Sidonia

Vertical has a new license for next spring: The sci-fi manga Knights of Sidonia, by Tsutomu Nihei, creator of Blame and Biomega.

Houbunsha has just put six previews of their manga on JManga; Deb Aoki has a roundup and some short reviews.

Manga-loving librarian Robin Brenner explains why reading manga on a scan site is not the same as checking it out of the library.

Erica Friedman has the latest edition of Yuri Network News at Okazu.

Ryan Holmberg has a fascinating post on the 1920s-1930s magazine Shin Seinen and its influence on manga-ka Shigeru Sugiura. I don't believe any of Sugiura's work has been translated into English, but Holmberg's 'visual essay,' done for a Japanese zine on Sugiura, has some interesting juxtapositions of cartoons that appeared in the magazine and Sugiura's later works, which may have been inspired by them. Be warned that the selection includes some caricatures of Africans that will strike modern eyes as racist, but there is also an interesting full-page cartoon by Dr. Seuss.

Molly McIsaac lists ten manga that are great for children at iFanboy.

News from Japan: Bunny Drop creator Yumi Unita previews her new series, Yokke Kazoku, in the July issue of Manga Life Original. Risa Itou, who won the Kodansha Award for her series Hey Pitan!, has launched a comedy manga about her efforts to lose weight. Hanaukyo Maid Team manga-ka Moreshige has a new series, Sakura Sakura, starting in the premiere edition of Bessatsu Shonen Champion, Akita Shoten's new shonen magazine. Renjuro Kindaichi's new series, Arumi-chan no Gakush'ch' (Arumi's Study Guide) is about a robot who passes as a girl'go figure! The Shonen Jump series Inumarudashi has come to an end. And the final volumes of K-ON! will be out in September and October.

Reviews: Ash Brown shares her latest week's worth of manga reading at Experiments in Manga.

Leroy Douresseaux on vol. 40 of Bleach (The Comic Book Bin)
Lissa Pattillo on vols. 40 and 41 of Bleach (Kuriousity)
Lori Henderson on vol. 2 of Durarara!! (Manga Xanadu)
Lesley Aeschliman on vol. 1 of La Corda D'Oro (Blogcritics)
Kristin on vol. 9 of Oresama Teacher and vol. 18 of Ouran High School Host Club (Comic Attack)
Matt Brady on vols. 1 and 2 of Princess Knight (Warren Peace Sings the Blues)
Greg Burgas on Rohan at the Louvre (Comics Should Be Good!)
Lesley Aeschliman on vol. 1 of xxxHoLic (Blogcritics)