Digital Manga is partnering with fans to produce a gripping, never-before-translated work by father of modern manga Osamu Tezuka!
Gardena, CA (January 13th, 2012) As part of its effort to accelerate the licensing and publishing of high-quality niche and classic manga in the United States, Digital Manga, Inc., today launched a campaign on crowd-funding site Kickstarter to translate Barbara by Osamu Tezuka, an adult drama never before published in English. For the next 30 days, fans will be able to pledge in exchange for a variety of rewards, including copies of Barbara and exclusive bonuses. If the target total of $6,500 is reached by the deadline (Feb. 12, 2012), production of Barbara will move forward.
The campaign follows on a previously successful Kickstarter project to fund a new print run of another work by Tezuka, Swallowing the Earth, which made more than 220% of its goal in November and December. (New copies of Swallowing the Earth will be available through Akadot.com in February.) If the Barbara campaign reaches its target, Barbara will be published under Digital Manga’s DMP Platinum imprint in a large paperback, 5 7/8″ x 8 1/4″, the same size as Swallowing the Earth.
Additional bonuses include a digital companion to Barbara available exclusively to Kickstarter backers, a limited-edition Tezuka tribute poster with original art screen-printed by Two Rabbits Studios in downtown Los Angeles and original T-shirts printed by Forward Printing in Oakland, CA. Final art for the posters and T-shirts as well as additional rewards will be posted on the Kickstarter page as the month progresses.
“Put simply, Barbara is the story of a man caught between artistic decadence and madness.” – Osamu Tezuka
Barbara opens with famous author Yosuke Mikura wandering the packed tunnels of Shinjuku Station, where he makes a strange discovery: a drunk woman, her rags caked in mud, who can quote French poetry. Her name is Barbara. He takes her home for a bath and a drink, and before long Barbara has made herself into Mikura’s shadow, saving him from egotistical delusions and jealous enemies. But just as Mikura is no saint, Barbara is no benevolent guardian angel, and Mikura grows obsessed with discovering her secrets, tangling with thugs, sadists, magical curses and mythical beings – all the while wondering whether he himself is still sane.
The father of modern anime and manga, Osamu Tezuka (1928-1989) is the creator of iconic characters including Astro Boy and Kimba the White Lion as well as the author of many acclaimed graphic novels including Buddha and Ode to Kirihito. Written in 1973 and 1974 and inspired by the classic opera “Tales of Hoffman” by Jacques Offenbach, Barbara is one of Tezuka’s most psychological and personal manga, an allegorical look at the difficult choices and torturous doubts every artist must face.
“We are incredibly excited to bring Barbara to American readers, and to explore this new route to publication for niche-oriented manga,” said Ben Applegate, editor of the DMP Platinum imprint. “In the future, we hope to offer more Tezuka titles through Kickstarter as well as titles from other Japanese artists whose work is underrepresented in the United States. First and foremost, of course, we are grateful to the fans who made this possible and to Tezuka Productions for taking a chance on a brand new way to license manga.”
The Kickstarter campaign, with promotional materials and a video, can be viewed here:
http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/digitalmanga/publish-osamu-tezukas-barbara-in-english
* – All logos and art are not final.
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About Digital Manga, Inc.
Located in Gardena, CA, Digital Manga, Inc. is one of the industry’s most unconventional and innovative companies, specializing in building corporate and cultural bridges from Japan to the Western Hemisphere – specifically through the licensing, importation and preparation of anime (Japanese animation), manga (Japanese comic books) and related merchandise for the North American mainstream and subculture markets. In this capacity, DMI serves as a catalyst for the expansion of Japanese pop culture institutions into global arenas. The company’s DMP Platinum imprint publishes classic manga from Japan, including Swallowing the Earth by Osamu Tezuka and Speed Racer: Mach Go Go Go.
For more information about Digital Manga Publishing, visit www.digitalmanga.com or www.dmpbooks.com.
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[…] two days the company has received pledges totalling more than the $6500 they were asking for. Their press release states that additional rewards (extras for those who pledge more than the $25 cost of the book) […]