Dark Horse's 'The Art of Star Wars: A New Hope – The Manga' Goes Live on Kickstarter
- The Artbook Collector
- Sep 16
- 2 min read
September 16th 2025
Dark Horse Books have now launched their Kickstarter campaign for The Art of Star Wars: A New Hope – The Manga, offering fans a chance to grab the Collector's Edition of the book.
The Kickstarter project is unique for Dark Horse, who typically launch all of their collector's editions at retail, but for the look at Hisao Tamaki's manga rendition of A New Hope, they have taken to the crowdfunding platform for a special release. This exciting new hardcover set for of the 1997 manga has two versions that fans can back, the Collector's Edition and the Masterpiece Edition, both available through Kickstarter until the campaign ends on October 17th.
The book is expected to ship in May of 2026 and will be filled with the stunning art behind the 1997 manga adaptation of the first Star Wars film, with never-before-seen art boards as they were originally created. This time though, English translations have been added for the original Japanese lettering, so it can be read by more people for the first time.
The Collector's Edition comes with two 10” x 12” volumes, a Kickstarter exclusive cover, and is printed on archival-quality stock paper to give Tamaki's incredible artwork the showcase it deserves. These books can be ordered with and without a slipcase. Each will be also available at retail next summer, but won't feature the exclusive covers and special treatments. The English translation is featured in the margins of the pages throughout and can be backed starting at $75, with a digital version as an option at $35.
The Masterpiece Edition comes in at a bigger size of 15.05” x 10.85” and has three volumes. The first two present Tamaki's work at its original size and right-to-left reading order, with the third volume giving the English translation in a separate book. This will not be available at retail, so those interested should order it while you can and pricing starts at $200
As well as this, there are other variants too, which include alternate covers and signed copies, giving backers multiple options to consider. There is also the Tamaki Art Triptych Folio, a large three[panel folio that highlight a couple of complete triptych print sets. A preview of this can be seen below.
The funding goal is $50,000 and as I write this it is already well on its way to reaching that, which is fantastic news for the publisher. Kickstarter is often for all versions of a book, but this interesting approach from Lucasfilm and Dark Horse allows people that would buy the retail version to add something more special to their collection. If it becomes as successful as it looks like it is going to be, perhaps this could be a consideration for other special releases in the future.
Be sure to check out the Kickstarter campaign and grab the exclusive versions of the book before it ends on October 17th - The Art of Star Wars: A New Hope – The Manga by Hisao Tamaki.
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