Mainichi Daily News reports that a brand of manga-illustrated canned coffee called "Seichi no Kohi" (Sacred-Site Coffee), which went on sale during this summer's Comiket 72, is extremely popular among visitors to the Tokyo Big Sight exhibition venue:

When 600 cans of the coffee went on sale in advance on Aug. 12, they sold out immediately. They were sold in vending machines from Aug. 16, the day before Comiket started, and by the final day on Aug. 19, about 40,000 cans were sold. Now they are sold at weekends, when events are held, both over the counter and from vending machines.

In the latest issue of PWCW, Kai-Ming Cha interviews Vertical's editorial director, Ioannis Mentzas, about Tezuka, his manga MW (pronounced "Moo"), and more.

Also from Kai-Ming Cha is an interview with Maki Murakami, creator of the BL manga Gravitation.

Finally, Laurel Maury looks at the rise of female graphic novel creators in "Women SVA Grads Quickly Rise."

The Wall Street Journal has published an article titled "Manga Mania," which criticizes Japan for overly relying on manga and anime in its public relations campaign. MangaBlog rounds up the responses from around the web.

Recently, a college student bragged in his diary on Mixi (a JP social networking site) about his cheating the subway fare and then arguing with the authorities, or impregnating a junior-high school girl. As a result, the student was criticized and attacked by many internet users, and was later kicked out of school due to the diary entries.

The story, which caught a lot of attention, was adapted into a short manga by a website called "Paint Manga Hokanko" (Manga Preservation House), which creates manga based on stories from around the internet.

ANN reports that the playwright Natsu Onoda will be adapting three of Osamu Tezuka's World War II themed manga, Daishogun Mori e Yuku, Sei Naru Hiroba and Tenteke March, into a play titled Trees and Ghosts:

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According to an article from Spiegel Online, a pair of manga-styled virtual police (a man and a woman) will be used by the Chinese government to "patrol" internet user's screen.

According to public officials, this will help remind users on the internet that they're being watched and to not break and laws. The virtual manga cops will be put to work on September 1st on 13 Chinese internet portals:

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The New York Magazine is offering more manga previews on its online Comics Page. This preview offered this time Undertown, a World Manga from Tokyopop written by Jim Pascoe and drawn by Jake Miles.

Source: ANN

Manga cafes in Japan are becoming a place of refuge for the poor who can't afford to live in their own home or a hotel. According to Mainichi Shimbun, a recent survey conducted by the government revealed that the number of homeless people who lives in Internet and manga cafes has reached about 5,400:

Those in their 20s form the largest age group, followed by people in their 50s. The figures highlight employment problems that are affecting middle-aged and elderly people as well as those in their 20s.

Via: MangaBlog

theOtaku points out that in a recent article from Variety about new anime licenses, the writer refers to the anime as "manga" due to the fact Manga Entertainment has "manga" in its name, and owns the domain Manga.com.

Tyndale House Publishers will be releasing a series of Christian-themed manga this fall, starting with Manga Messiah in September and Manga Bible in November:

Tyndale House Publishers is pleased to release an authentic manga series starting with Manga Messiah in September 2007 as well as the Manga Bible in November 2007.

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