If there were concerns that last fall’s “Naruto Nation” blitz might dampen enthusiasm for subsequent volumes, the latest USA Today book list puts those worries to rest.

Vol. 28 of Masashi Kishimoto’s hit manga, which kicks off the “two years later” storyline, soared 56 places in its second week to No. 17, the highest-ever position for the shonen series.

That’s just two spots shy of the highest-ever ranking for manga, held by Fruits Basket, Vol. 16, in April 2007.

Also on this week’s list: The first two volumes of Jeff Kinney’s prose-comics hybrid Diary of a Wimpy Kid hold the seventh and 18th spots, while Ken Akamatsu’s Negima!, Vol. 17, debuts at No. 115.

The USA Today list tracks all genres and types of books sold in some 4,700 brick-and-mortar and online stores.

I really like this column by the Houston Chronicle’s Lisa Gray about her 12-year-old daughter’s crush on Sasuke from Naruto. I also like that the girl’s nickname is Mojo:

When 12-year-old Mojo discusses her condition, it’s with adolescent knowingness: She pronounces herself “ridiculous” to be in love with a cartoon. And still, the obsession consumes her.

With allowance and Christmas money, and through strategic alliances with her little brother, she’s procured the first 15 books in the Naruto series — all that are available on the ever-growing manga aisle at our Borders. Mojo likes to hang out there, paging back-to-front through the novels, sampling the different series: other boy-oriented adventure series like Bleach and One Piece, and even sometimes Fruits Basket, a series aimed at girls.

At school, she hid manga novels inside her science textbook until a teacher busted her for reading them in class. But at home, she’s free to peruse them over and over, like holy texts, and to supplement them with the animated versions on YouTube.

By watching the original cartoons with English subtitles, she’s picked up a little Japanese — erudition that she generously shares with her brother. Last week, with a Sharpie marker, she wrote “Baka” on his forehead.

“It means ‘idiot,’ ” she explained.

Because it was in Japanese, the language of manga, he thought it was cool.

The article dovetails nicely into the nature of fandom, and fan fiction, as Mojo’s affections drift to Sanji and Zolo (Zoro) from One Piece.

Speaking of Death Note, Fangoria has the English-language trailer for the live-action movie, set for North American release sometime this spring. Although the trailer is dubbed in English, the film is in Japanese with English subtitles.

Cartoonist Bryan Lee O’Malley shows off his cover for the March issue of Shojo Beat, which should hit the stands on Feb. 21. It’s “The Art Issue,” but it sounds as if it should be called “The O’Malley Issue”: Along with the cover, there’s a four-panel strip by O’Malley, an interview, and a tutorial piece.

This news makes me extremely happy: Sifting through Amazon.com, Ed Chavez uncovers that Viz Media will release Hiroe Rei’s Black Lagoon beginning sometime this summer. At last!

What’s Black Lagoon, you ask? It’s a violent, action-packed series about a group of mercenaries who smuggle goods aboard the PT boat Black Lagoon. Lots of gunfights, chase scenes, explosions.

The manga has sold more than 3 million copies in Japan, and has been adapted as an anime TV series.

More summer releases from Viz, including Cat Eye Boy and the previously announced Slam Dunk, can be found at the link.

(Via Gia Manry)

Viz Media has laid out plans for the first quarter of 2008, which include the highly anticipated new series by Death Note and Hikaru no Go artist Takeshi Obata, the popular romantic dramedy Honey and Clover, and hardcover Library Editions for six top titles.

I’m most looking forward to Ral Ω Grad (Blue Dragon), the fantasy by Obata and writer Tsuneo Takano about a boy and his giant blue dragon, which debuts on Feb. 5. But I’m also intrigued by Chika Umino’s Honey and Clover, about life and love among a group of college students. The first volume is set for release on March 4.

And then there are the hardcover Library Editions of the first volumes of Bleach, Death Note, Fullmetal Alchemist, Inuyasha, Naruto and Ranma 1/2.

Other new series include Hinako Ashihara’s drama Sand Chronicles (out now), Kazune Kawahara’s romantic comedy High School Debut (out now), Shouko Akira’s romance Monkey High (March 4), and Tomomi Nakamura and Otoo Saki’s crime drama Switch (March 11).

The official press release can be read after the jump:

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As we approach the end of 2007 (just a few more hours, and counting), I asked the Blog@ team to share some of their favorite comics from the previous year. As Kevin says below, it was tough to narrow down the list to just a few stand-outs, but here are our favorites:

Tom Bondurant

I’m sure no one is surprised to see Architecture & Mortality as one of my Best of 2007 picks. I loved the heck out of Brian Azzarello & Cliff Chiang’s metatextual take down of DC’s periodic character overhauls. Whether it was setting up a groan-worthy pun or a sentimental moment, A&M was designed to make its readers question not only the manner of revamping and reusing obscure DC characters, but the roles of all involved, including the fans. It reminded this reader that every character has its own dignity.

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Two Milford, Mass., middle-school students arrested last week for allegedly creating a “Death Note” listing the names of 33 classmates were released Monday without bail to the custody of their parents.

According to the Milford Daily News, the two will return to court on Jan. 22 for a pretrial conference.

The 12-year-old boy is charged with 23 counts of threatening to commit a crime and one count of disrupting a school assembly. The 13-year-old girl is charged with 10 counts of threatening to commit a crime and one count of disrupting a school assembly. Both are being charged as juveniles.

The students apparently were inspired by Tsugumi Ohba and Takeshi Obata’s hit manga series, Death Note, which centers around a high school student who sets out to rid the world of evil using a supernatural notebook that kills anyone whose name is written in it.

Police in Milford, Mass., on Thursday arrested two middle-school students accused of creating a “Death Note” containing the names of 33 classmates.

The 13-year-old girl and 12-year-old boy are charged with threatening to commit murder and disrupting school. They will be arraigned today in Milford Juvenile Court.

The note, apparently inspired by Tsugumi Ohba and Takeshi Obata’s manga series, was discovered Wednesday by staff at Stacy Middle School after they were told about it by several students.

The hit manga, which inspired an anime series, live-action films, a video game and a light novel, centers around a high school student who sets out to rid the world of evil using a supernatural notebook that kills anyone whose name is written in it.

Meanwhile, school officials in Lebanon, Tenn., suspended two students who allegedly created a death notebook with 39 names.

Officials at Walter J. Baird Middle School have assured concerned parents that the notebook isn’t a hit list.

The two students will remain suspended until a Jan. 9 disciplinary hearing.

These are the second and third reported Death Note-inspired incidents in the United States. In November a high school student in Richmond, Va., was suspended for allegedly creating a death notebook.

(Via Gia Manry)

Tokypop and DC Comics lead the final nominations for the Young Adult Library Services Association’s annual list of Great Graphic Novels For Teens with 23 nods each.

DC’s nominations include titles from its CMX, Minx and Vertigo imprints.

Tokyopop and DC are followed by Del Rey with 11 nominations, Viz Media with 10, Go! Comi with eight, and First Second and Marvel with seven each.

YALSA is part of the American Library Association.

The full list of nominees can be found here.

(Link via David Welsh)

At the risk of sounding like my parents, I’ll say that time sure passes quickly: The January issue of Viz Media’s Shonen Jump, on stands now, marks the fifth anniversary of the magazine. Five years? Really?

The issue also sees the return of the serialized Naruto, which picks up two years after the disappearance of the manga’s central characters.

Read the press release after the break:

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As if we needed more evidence: Vnunet.com reports that Naruto is No. 4 on Yahoo’s annual search list, behind Britney Spears, WWE and Paris Hilton — and ahead of Beyonce.

The list that Yahoo presents is broken into categories, but the website apparently has access to the master rankings.

(Via theOtaku.com)

It’s a quiet week for Publishers Weekly Comic Week, but they do have a few manga-related gems, especially an interview with show organizer John McGeary about the upcoming New York Anime Festival:

PWCW: What kind of show is this going to be? Is it for the fans? Is it a trade show?

JM: It’s going to be several things; part professional, part fan. The day before the show [trade news Web site] ICv2.com is going to have [an anime and manga] conference. And the first day, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., is for professionals only: retailers, licensors, librarians, educators, producers. And we’re going to have sessions just for them—some of them basic. We see ourselves teaching the community—especially from the librarian’s standpoint. They understand what it’s all about. They see NYAF’s educational value and can recommend titles depending on what a reader’s interests are. We specifically want to be more helpful to that group. And to retailers as well. We consider ourselves as a place to learn [more about anime and manga] and where to sell it.

There’s also an interview with Milton Griepp about the ICv2 conference that will be taking place before the convention; an interview with Slam Dunk manga-ka Takehiko Inoue;  and a profile of author Christine Feehan, whose first manga, Dark Hunger, just hit the charts.

A high school senior at a Richmond, Va., public school was suspended after school authorities discovered a homemade “Death Note” containing the names of some of his classmates in his possession:

The student is a senior at Franklin Military Academy in the city’s East End. The principal there sent a letter to the parents after a teacher spotted the student reading a list of his classmates’ names in the book called “Death Note.”

The student who got in trouble was not in class today He’s suspended pending an investigation.

Senior April Hopkins says she’s friends with the student. “He doesn’t really say much, he just stays to himself,” she said.

Hopkins’ name wasn’t on the list, but some of her friends’ were. She says they don’t fear him, and neither does she.

Now waiting for more cases to surface, along with the inevitable moral hand-wringing, in three, two, one …

Slam Dunk and Vagabond manga-ka Takehiko Inoue was at Kniokuniya Books in New York City recently to promote his books and paint a mural. Chris Butcher and Heidi MacDonald have pics of the event. Viz has a press release about the event and Inoue’s upcoming books that you can read after the jump.

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That’s the question Will Moss asks, looking at the success of Dark Horse’s ongoing Buffy series and looking at other similar big-name ventures coming down the pipeline:

California-based comic book publisher IDW, which puts out comics based on Buffy characters Angel and Spike, is following suit in November by relaunching its Angel series in a model similar to the way Dark Horse is handling Buffy Season 8. The new 12-issue series, Angel: After the Fall, will directly follow the last season of the Angel TV show, and Whedon will oversee the story, though in a less direct manner than with Buffy. He won’t, for instance, be writing any of the comics; rather, he will be working with writer Brian Lynch, who will handle the actual scripting duties.

Also in this week’s newsletter: A profile of Iron Wok Jan publisher DrMaster; an interview with Danny Fingeroth about his new book; an interview with New Yorker cartoonist Mort Gerberg about his new book; and an explanation of what exactly “TekkonKinkreet” means.

The English-language dub of Death Note debuts tonight at midnight on Adult Swim. If you can’t wait until then, you can watch several extended clips from the premiere episode at the Adult Swim website.

In its second week of release, the 21st volume of Naruto climbs 30 places to No. 39 on USA Today’s Top 150 Books list. It’s followed by Vol. 20, up 23 spots at No. 54, and Vol. 19, up five places at No. 77.

The three volumes of Masashi Kishimoto’s hit fight manga are the second wave of Viz Media’s “Naruto Nation” campaign. The initiative continues through the end of the year, with three volumes released each month to catch up with the Japanese series in time for the start of a major new story arc with Vol. 28.

The 21st volume of Tite Kubo’s Bleach, which held the 109th spot last week, fell off the chart.

The USA Today list tracks all genres and types of books sold in some 4,700 brick-and-mortar and online stores.

Related: ICv2.com’s “Top Ten Manga Properties”