Is approval for newsstand items the same as regular apps? I would hope that since it's "news" it wouldn't take weeks for approval.
And assuming there are multiple issues, does each one have to be approved individually?
You don't have to approve individual issues, you just get the actual app and updates approved just like any other app. The issues are then are pushed to your app however you choose to implement it.
So basically, no you don't have to get each individual issue approved separately.