Brilliant Sci-Fi Manga Planetes Is Getting New Deluxe Edition Omnibuses

Like other Deluxe Edition manga published by Dark Horse, these 7 x 10-inch hardcover editions of Planetes have beautiful, understated cover art featuring various patterns inspired by the International Space Station. To provide a tactile feel, Dark Horse physically imprinted some of the patterns and words on the front and back covers. Book 1’s 528 pages have copper gilding on their edges. Perhaps most notably, fans will be able to admire 44 pages of full-color artwork printed on glossy art stock.

Planetes was the debut work of Makoto Yukimura, the mangaka who is currently best known for Vinland Saga. The series began publication in 1999 and concluded in 2004 with 26 total chapters across four volumes. Deluxe Edition: Book 1 contains the first half of the story arc.

In case you’ve never read it, Planetes takes place in the late 21st century and follows working-class astronauts tasked with clearing debris and other man-made hazards from orbit. Plans are also underway for the first-ever crewed voyage to Jupiter, as the planet is abundant with a resource that can be used to further humanity’s goals to explore the rest of the solar system. This puts several characters on a collision course, as the race to reach Jupiter is fraught with peril, human drama, and other elements that threaten to derail the mission.

What makes Planetes so interesting is that Yukimura did an incredible amount of research to make the series feel plausible. It’s full of real-world technology and science, all set against the backdrop of intriguing developments with the cast and the world around them. If you enjoy hard science movies like Christopher Nolan’s Interstellar, then you’ll want to check out this series.

From a design perspective, Planetes Deluxe Edition: Book 2 is quite similar to Book 1. The main difference is that the porthole on the front cover features a different planet. Outside of the that, you can expect to find the same premium updates when Book 2 releases on December 2: Imprinted front and back cover patterns, metallic copper gilded edges, and 44 glossy pages of full-color art.

Book 2 is 536 pages–slightly longer than the 2016 paperback omnibus–and contains the back half of Planetes’ memorable sci-fi tale. As mentioned, the paperback edition is no longer in print, so it’s awesome to see the full Planetes story will available once again in physical omnibus format.

The first three volumes of Planetes was also adapted into a 26-episode anime series in the early 2000s. Since the manga was still running at the time, the adaptation leaned more into the political themes of the series while introducing new characters to the story. It’s still a great series to check out, full of animation that explores humanity’s desire to explore the infinite frontier, and you can pick it up on Blu-ray for $53.50 (was $70) through Amazon.