Back in July, MangaBento, the group of young artists inspired by anime and manga, hosted Manga Mayhem, an event where attendees could get art advice from club members, try out pens and markers, and take part in drawing contests.

It’s nice to see the group’s partnership with the Contemporary Museum hasn’t ended there, with a pair of events coming up in the next few days.

Those of you who missed Manga Mayhem — or even those of you who didn’t, because, hey, a double dose of artistic inspiration is always nice — will want to check out Barnes & Noble in Ala Moana on Saturday, when MangaBento will host a scaled-down version of the event from noon to 4 p.m. While professional artists won’t be around to offer tutorials like in July, the art advice and demonstrations will be back. Also returning will be the "Art Champ" contest, where participants will be given a theme and a time limit to finish a picture.

The day’s also Book Fair day for the Contemporary Museum, meaning a portion of all store purchases will go toward the museum, so splurge on some manga and help a good cause.

Opening Sunday in the museum’s Contemporary Cafe Gallery will be "The Floating World of Manga: Work from MangaBento," an exhibit highlighting some of the group’s artwork. An opening reception will be held from 1 to 3 p.m. Sunday. If you can’t make it then, you have until Nov. 28. The cafe will be open from 11:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. Tuesdays through Saturdays and noon to 2:30 p.m. Sundays. (And if you’d like something to eat there, tag-team partner in fandom Wilma Jandoc highly recommends the sandwiches.)

The museum is at 2411 Makiki Heights Drive; visit www.tcmhi.org. Find out more about the group at www.manga-bento.com.

‘GUNDAM,’ TEZUKA REIGN AT NEW YORK FEST

If there was anything I learned from the tweets coming out of the New York Comic Convention and New York Anime Festival last weekend, it’s that there weren’t many tweets coming out of that event. Wireless Internet access at the Javits Convention Center was rather spotty all weekend.

Fortunately, more traditional Internet news outlets — namely Anime News Network — were there to cover announcements from anime publisher Bandai, anime-streaming website Crunchyroll, and manga publishers Vertical and Yen Press. Some of the highlights from ANN’s coverage:

» Fans of the "Gundam" franchise have a lot to look forward to next year, as Bandai releases the original "Mobile Suit Gundam" TV series on DVD with an English dubbed soundtrack and a Japanese-language soundtrack with English subtitles for the first time. Also bowing on DVD will be the "Gundam" movie that debuted last month in Japan, "Mobile Suit Gundam 00: A Wakening of the Trailblazer." Crunchyroll also recently reintroduced the "Mobile Suit Gundam," "Mobile Suit Zeta Gundam" and "Mobile Suit Gundam 00" TV series to its site.

» Vertical, already known for its roster of Osamu Tezuka manga including the stellar, if-you’re-still-not-reading-it-now-you-really-should-be "Black Jack," is adding another of the renowned "god of manga’s" works: "The Book of Human Insects," also known as "Human Metamorphosis." The 360-page, single-volume hardcover will be released next year.

» Finally, over at Yen Press, two series are wrapping up: Svetlana Chmakova’s "Nightschool" and the late Keiko Tobe’s "With the Light: Raising an Autistic Child." Next up for Chmakova, who also drew Tokyopop’s "Dramacon," is an adaptation of James Patterson’s "Witch & Wizard" novels.