Lori Henderson, Editor-in-Chief of Comics Village and contributor to Good Comics for Kids, just posted her thoughts on the 2009 Shonen Jump line-up. (FYI: Tegami Bachi, a sci-fi/fantasy series, will replace Slam Dunk beginning in March.) As Lori points out, Slam Dunk filled a gaping hole in the Shonen Jump line-up:

Slam Dunk is the first real sports manga to make it into the magazine. The rest of the stories are in the fantasy/action/game genres. Why take out something that was so obviously put in to build the boy audience, only to take it out after less than a year? Is this title, which is so wildly popular not just in Japan, but among older manga readers, just not cutting it in the US? It seems to fit the “boy title that appeals to girls” that shonen manga has been going toward.

I don’t know how well the first volume of Slam Dunk sold (and frankly, I don’t know if I could figure that out from Matt Blind’s elaborate market reports), but I’m wondering if Inoue’s basketball comedy is skewing a little older than the typical Shonen Jump title. Thoughts from the peanut gallery?