QUOTE: Am I supposed to care about manga, a form of comics art I find annoying and vapid? And yes, I'm an ignoramous about it,

Most people in this situation would just stay quiet.  Of course im sure you've read plenty of manga, and haven't just watched part of a pokemon episode.

Coming to this late (darn work getting in the way again...)

There isn't any ONE thing that's brought the US comic industry to the place it is now.  Direct marked distribution, I feel, is probably the main reason readership is declining.  If "civilians" don't see the product, they can't buy it!  It really is that simple. 

When I first started going thru this thread, another thing that popped into my mind is what someone else brought up.  "Art"  Look folks, these are COMIC BOOKS.  Pretty pictures and fantasy stories.  That's it.  Some of the drawing is breathtaking in either beauty or in how bad it is.  I'm sure JB or Ethan will correct me if I'm wrong, but it's a job.  Pure and simple.  They might put more heart into a comic project than they would an illustration for a technical manual, but at the end of the day it's a paycheck for doing something they happen to love.  Too many others in the business, both on the art and writing sides, seem to look at comics as a way to become a "rock star" or as a stepping stone to other media.  You know the ones...they talk in their Wizard interviews about their books being late because Ribcrusher 3 was just released for the PS2.  And yet, the comic media seems to worship these guys while looking on the true professionals (books out on time being a major consideration) with scorn.

Then, we have the people that don't look at comic books as disposable entertainment.  These are the folks that rush to put everything into mylar or just go ahead and buy their books already slabbed.  For Gods sake, what's the use of a book of any kind that you can not read???  This is the same mentality that had people buying 6 copies of X-Force #1 (one for each different trading card and one to maybe open and read).  Thinking of comics as "collectables" instead of something to collect drove a lot of people from the fold.  Exactly how much value is there on something there are millions copies of?  If you look in many comic shops, these are worth about a quarter.  Comic books are not, and should never be considered an investment.

In my opinion, most comics should be produced as cheap as possible, distributed to as many outlets as possible, and be save for readers of all ages.  Leave the lesbian assassian comics to the comic shops, but I want to see spinner racks in convenience stores again.  Let's find a way to get more people reading them in the first place, then they can discover the depth the industry can reach.