DMP Launches A Kickstarter For Osamu Tezuka’s ‘Storm Fairy’

Over the past year, DMP has been using Kickstarter to fund the American release of comics by Osamu Tezuka. Now, after the successful campaigns for Alabaster and Clockwork Apple, they're setting their sights on Storm Fairy, a collection of shojo stories by the incredibly prolific creator of Astro Boy.

After launching earlier this week, the campaign has already raised most of its modest $14,000 goal, and it's easy to see why. Even without the added bonus of a story that's described as Tezuka's version of Encyclopedia Brown, Storm Fairy sounds pretty amazing, with the "God of Manga" taking on questions of what beauty and ugliness actually mean.

Here's the official description of what's in the book:

Storm Fairy is a collection of 3 short stories with the first comprising the first half of the book, and the other two split the remaining pages.

Once upon a time, an Empress flees her burning castle to the nearby forest where she encounters a forest fairy. A deal is struck where in exchange for the fairy's favor, the Empress must give up the face of her next born child. Thus, two girls' lives become entwined: one has to wear a mask to hide her disfigured face, the other born with the face of the first. One night, a malcontent discovered Princess Ruri's curse and steals her mask to put his own daughter on the throne. Ruri, now on the run, meets a samurai Tonosuke who decides to care for her. Hakobe, the fairy born with Ruri's face, finds out the princess is on the run and decides to help her win back her kingdom, but little does she know, she wears the face of the one she's trying to save...

The second short story, “Kokeshi Detective Agency,” has a similar tone and feel to young adult book series Encyclopedia Brown. Fearless little Paco goes around solving spooky mysteries because she is not afraid of things that go bump in the night while her dog friend Waco does his best to protect her. In the third short story, fairy Pink from the realm of beautiful sunsets morphs into whatever she wants so she may help those who are unhappy and in need, but King Brown and Sepia from the realm of thunderstorms do their best to make people miserable.

In addition to the new stuff, the campaign's stretch goals --- which seem pretty achievable  --- include new printings of Tezuka's famous Unico and Crime and Punishment, a manga version of the Dostoevsky classic, but with Tezuka's own, vastly different ending. Seriously.

The campaign for Storm Fairy runs through July 16.