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Digital Manga's Clockwork Apple Kickstarter Reaches Stretch Goal to Publish Brave Dan
posted on by Daryl Lee Hale
North American publisher Digital Manga's Clockwork Apple Kickstarter campaign reached its first stretch goal to print Osamu Tezuka's manga Brave Dan on Saturday. The campaign surpassed its first stretch goal of $18,200, with $19,186 total as of press time.
This will be the first time the 1962 manga is being published in English. The story follows the adventures of a young boy after he meets and befriends a tiger who escaped from a train on its way to the zoo.
Digital Manga's second stretch goal for the campaign is to reprint Tezuka's Barbara manga if the campaign reaches $22,900.
Digital Manga successfully funded a campaign to publish Barbara in 2012. The English release of Barbara was nominated for an Eisner award in 2013.
Digital manga describes the story of Barbara:
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.
Digital Manga also used Kickstarter to raise funds to print Tezuka's Ludwig B, Swallowing the Earth, and Captain Ken manga. Most recently, Digital Manga funded its release of Tezuka's Alabaster manga through Kickstarter.
Digital Manga's Kickstarter campaign to publish Tezuka's 13-volume The Three-eyed One manga and seven-volume Rainbow Parakeet manga failed to meet its US$380,000 goal last year. Digital Manga president Hikaru Sasahara said that he originally wanted to use Kickstarter to fund 50-70 books a year, but has switched to a goal of 20-30 volumes in order to lower the cost of publishing including licensing fees, advanced royalties, labor, and other expenses. He added that he would like to launch a new campaign for one to five books almost every month, with a week or two in between each campaign.
Thanks to Daniel Zelter for the news tip.
