Tezuka In English Discussion Forums

Just a heads-up to people here on the TIE boards that DMP has received its initial copies of Swallowing the Earth, and these are available for purchase now from

Other retailers should be receiving and making available their own copies soon - but if getting one ASAP is a priority, then Akadot may be an option for you.

For any of you in the Los Angeles area, we'll also have copies available for purchase in the DMP booth at Anime Expo July 2-5 - hope to see you there!

Thanks for the update!

I already pre-ordered mine from Amazon.ca about 4 months ago...

I'd guess that I'm one of the few (only?) who actually pre-ordered it though. I laughed when i saw the "Frequently Bought Together". Apparently "Customers buy this book with Popeye Volume 4 by E.C. Segar". Well, at least I did...

Can't wait for the Popeye book either... Plunder Island! yay!

Man, looks like I'm gonna have to order this through Akadot (whoever that is); I was checking all over LA and nobody has it. Amazon has it listing in...*drum roll*...one to two months!!!

Does DMP do other graphic novels?--because when I spoke with some of the comic shops the message I got back was 'our distributor doesn't carry anything by these guys.'

They had one copy on the shelf at my local comic shop if anyone needs it. I pre-ordered it from Amazon.ca already but I probably won't get it until that Popeye v4 is released in September.... silly Amazon.ca shipping.

Very tempting, but poking around the local shops gives me something to do

OK, a great story and perhaps DMPPlatinum can chime in on this. I went down to my favorite comic shop (unfortunately not very close to me) and asked about Swallowing the Earth. This is 'Secret Headquarters' and it's my current favorite because it has the feel of a personal collection--you know, like someone who's whole life is comics and who has a better sense of what good comics are then you'll ever have put it together so that no matter where you look, you will see something amazing.

One of the two Daves that runs the shop informed me that unfortunately Swallowing the Earth had just sold out and that he'd try to get them in stock again soon. I was a little disappointed and Dave went back to the phones doing his comic job. While Browsing, Dave starts yelling at me that some dude from DMP was going to hand deliver some copies later that evening (like within the hour) if I wanted to stick around. Of course, I was going to a pub around the corner with some friends, so this was perfect, but completely unheard of! So thanks to both the guy (I thought I heard him say Andrew) and one of the Daves, I now have Swallowing the Earth, but I also have a great story about super-cool comic shop and publisher. Thanks dudes!

Been checking in periodically to see what the people here at TIE thought of Swallowing the Earth.

Sorry to hear some of you are having a hard time finding a copy. We did not significantly overprint the book, and based our run on retailer pre-orders as we always do. If a retailer chooses not to buy in to a title in order to have enough copies for their customers, there's not really a whole lot we can do about that. Plus, we had some distribution issues around the time of release which probably affected things. We might reprint, but that will be after determining the level of outstanding retailer backorders. Currently, there's still copies out there in the market.

If you're really having a hard time tracking the book down, you can always buy direct from us at . We have copies on hand right now, and for the rest of this month, we're offering free U.S. shipping.

Hey DMPPlatinum - thanks for the update on the current stock of Swallowing the Earth. It really shows the publisher cares when they make a point of connecting to the fans who are spending their hard earned money to buy the product. Something as simple as explaining the reasons behind the print run size goes a long way.

I really enjoyed Swallowing the Earth... enough to buy it even though I already own it and have read it in French. I particularly liked the fact that Fred Schodt wrote an introduction to the work. I think that for these sorts of works, having a bit of a 'behind the scenes' look really adds to the enjoyment. I would guess that most of us who actively sought out Swallowing the Earth were already Tezuka fans, so would be quite interested in the situation behind the story as well as the story itself.

Can you tell us if Swallowing the Earth met with DMP's expectations (whatever they were), and whether or not you're considering any other Tezuka releases? I've got a few suggestions...