I definitely whip through a new manga book quickly, reading the words and glancing only briefly at the pictures. And then I read it again, savoring both, since I usually have to wait to get the next one when it comes out.

Which is why the artistic part of it becomes so important - the artist can lead your eye by the way the panels are drawn and positioned, can direct you in certain ways, ensure you don't miss things. telophase has an excellent series of links and essays she's written herself handily indexed in this post (http://telophase.livejournal.com/113219.html) (this alone should give away the fact that she's also a librarian).