Sailor Moon manga soared again in US Bookstores on April

Blue Exorcist manga is also on the rise!

The tenth volume of Naoko Takeuchi's Sailor Moon manga ranked at #4 on Nielsen BookScan's list of top 20 graphic novels in American bookstores for April.

The same volume had ranked at #5 on the list in March. The Sailor Moon volume is one of four manga titles on the list. Masashi Kishimoto's Naruto volume 60 ranked at #7, dropping from #3 from last month.

Kazue Katō's Blue Exorcist volume 9 and Tite Kubo's Bleach volume 56 ranked at #11 and #18 respectively. Robert Kirkman's The Walking Dead comic series continued to dominate the chart, claiming nine places this month, with The Walking Dead Compendium volumes 1 and 2 again taking the top two spots.

Gene Luen Yang's Avatar the Last Airbender: The Search -- Part 1 ranked #3.

 The BookScan rankings represent sales at Barnes & Noble and other book chains, independent bookshops, and online purchases — but not sales at comic book stores, Walmart, and some other venues.

Source: ANN, ICv2

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New Locke the Superman manga to come out in June

Simply amazing, I wouldn't mind a anime series of this classic , given that there's only one movie.

The June issue of Media Factory's Monthly Comic Flapper magazine announced a new series in Yuki Hijiri's Locke the Superman franchise on Thursday. The tentatively titled Chōjin Locke: Toki no Kodomo-tachi (Locke the Superman: Children of Time) will start in the next issue on June 5.

 The story is set after the destruction of Master Yūji, and the magazine promises that the manga will reveal "another page in the history of the galaxy." The original Locke the Superman manga ran in at least three different magazines from 1967 to 1989.

It chronicled an immortal figure's adventures at different periods throughout time. It inspired a movie and three original video anime projects (Locke the Superman: Lord Leon, Locke the Superman: Mirror Ring, Locke the Superman: New World Battle Team).

Source: ANN

Rose of Versailles new 1-shot to be about Andre

Riyoko Ikeda is returning to her The Rose of Versailles classic historical shōjo manga after 40 years to pen a 16-page chapter in this year's 10th issue of Shueisha's Margaret magazine on Saturday. The one-shot will focus on Andre as a boy before he met Oscar.

The new one-shot is being published in a special "Anniversary Book" extra that is being bundled with Saturday's issue of Margaret to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the magazine. Shueisha launched Margaret in 1963 as a weekly publication, and the magazine changed to being published twice a month in 1988.

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Lupin vs Conan movie will premiere on December

Shogakukan's Shonen Sunday magazine has revealed that a Lupin III vs. Detective Conan The Movie film will open in Japan in December of this year, four years after the Lupin III vs. Detective Conan television special aired on NTV in 2009 and earned a 19.5% rating.

More details will be revealed in future issues of Shonen Sunday.

Source: ANN

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JManga site shuts down on May 30th

JManga, a platform for reading legal manga online, announced this week that it "will be concluding its retail and viewing services on May 30th 2013."

Members with unused JManga Paid Points as of March 13 will be issued Amazon Gift Cards.

Refunds will be processed between March 21 and March 25.

 JManga launched in August of 2011 as part of an initiative by the Digital Comics Association, an industry group of 39 Japanese publishers, and it became a worldwide service last year.

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