North American manga publisher Digital Manga has launched a Kickstarter campaign to localize and publish Osamu Tezuka’s two-volume Alabaster manga in English. The campaign has a goal of US$29,200, and will end on February 27, 2015 at 8:28 p.m. EST.

In the past, Digital Manga has managed successful Kickstarter campaigns for a print edition of Tezuka’s Captain Ken manga, a reprint of Tezuka’s Barbara and Swallowing the Earth, and a release of Tezuka’s Ludwig B manga.

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 in 2014. Digital Manga president Hikaru Sasahara said that he originally wanted to use Kickstarter to fund 50-70 books a year, but has since 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 also 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.

Source: ANN