Glacier Bay Books recently hit its fundraising goal on Kickstarter for the English release of Arata Imai’s Flash Point manga. The campaign also includes a reprint of Imai’s F manga and Andrew White’s SPRING TIDES poetic-comic. The goal of $27,000 was reached four days before the campaign’s end date of September 19, with a total of $27,099 raised from 339 backers.
All three books are set for printing, and Glacier Bay Books plans to send them to the printer once the campaign concludes and the print run is finalized. The Flash Point manga by Arata Imai will consist of 248 pages in A5 softcover format with french flaps and will include an interview with the author in the back matter.
The Flash Point manga, which explores themes of viral conspiracy theories, social media lynching, and the 2022 assassination of former Japanese prime minister Abe Shinzo, was originally released in August 2023. It has been translated by award-winning translator and manga historian Ryan Holmberg.
Glacier Bay Books had previously published the English edition of Arata Imai’s F manga in 2021. The success of this Kickstarter campaign highlights the growing interest in English translations of Japanese manga and the support for independent publishers like Glacier Bay Books. Fans of political manga and unique storytelling can look forward to the upcoming release of Flash Point and the other titles included in the campaign.