Well, you're right about the age demographics of R1, which is why I am grateful to those youths (pronounced Brooklyn, "yootes") who do buy it. This is also why I'm big on letters columns, even in tankobon; I want people to feel that they can be a part of the book, too. It may be possible to make other models succeed: I get the distinct impression Vertical's market is older, and not the standard manga readership (the fact many of their books are flopped is indicative of this; I'll submit that a manga that succeeds--i.e., finds an appreciative readership--flopped may be better than one that fails, unflopped). Even in Japan, of course, it's true that the highest-circulation manga magazines are meant for those college age and younger, as is much (nearly all, excepting otaku) of anime.

--C.