Joe Krolik of Comics American in Winnipeg, Manitoba saw our article on graphic novel sales growing more slowly than the number of titles (see 'Graphic Novel Market Still Expanding') and feels that this is an early sign of a coming collapse:

Uh oh, I feel the vibration of the ground as that first crack has appeared in the solid underpinning of the Manga boom.  It's a small crack now, perhaps a hairline, but it will surely spread.  Slowly, slowly, it will eke it's way towards the edge of the first bookshelf, picking up a bit of speed, building on itself, until like a full-scale earthquake it will shake and tremble across myriad bookstore shelves, leaving in its wake desolation and ruin in chains and independent stores alike as the boom becomes a bust.  A very fast bust.  A very big bust.

The fact remains that the North American market is not the Japanese market for numerous reasons.  As I have maintained for many months, North American sensibilities in our industry will resist absorption of the overproduction in manga coming our way, unless publishers take heed now and put the brakes on before it's too late.  Better a smaller stable market for quality product than no market at all after an indiscriminate glut.