Kickstarter has become a valuable way for established comic book creators to bypass the traditional distribution channels and get their stories to readers. But few creators have used it as efficiently as Jimmy Palmiotti and his team at PaperFilms. Together, they’ve launched eight successful Kickstarter campaigns, and their ninth Kickstarter project, Hype is very close to meeting its initial funding goal as well.

Hype is a standalone 52 page graphic novel co-written by Palmiotti (Harley Quinn) and Justin Gray (Jonah Hex), with art by Javier Pina (Birds of Prey) and colors by Alessia Nocera, with Bill Tortolini providing designs and letters for the book. Palmiotti’s wife and frequent collaborator, Amanda Conner drew the cover for Hype, with colors by Paul Mounts.

But what is Hype about? The better question is “Who is Hype?” Within the world of the story, Hype, a.k.a. Noah Haller, is essentially a man-made Superman whose powers are used by the U.S. military in crisis situations all over the world. The downside to all of that power is that Hype can only be awake for one hour per day while his body regenerates and recovers during the other 23 hours. That means that Hype lacks any emotional and cognitive maturity despite his apparent age.

Here’s the official description of the story:

“Hype responds to sensory aspects of his environment with indifference. He has attention to detail but misses the ‘big picture’ and social cues. Being awake only one hour a day leaves very little time to cultivate an emotional relationship with anyone including his handlers. That changes when he meets Amanda Marr, a brilliant scientist and psychologist hired to help Hype find a balance between being super and being human.Unfortunately for Hype and Amanda, his training is cut short when a shadowy terrorist group is poised to unleash a deadly pathogen that threatens to destabilize the world governments.”

To entice backers, the digital version of Hype is included with the $5 reward, while $24 will get fans the full size graphic novel in print. Palmiotti and company are also using PaperFilm’s library of previously finished Kickstarter projects as reward incentives, and they’re even offering some face time with Palmiotti himself (via Skype) for the higher end backers.

The Hype Kickstarter campaign will run until this Friday, February 19. For more information about Hype, visit the Kickstarter page here.

Are you intrigued by the art and story behind Hype? Let us know, and check out the gallery below for more artwork from the book!

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Image Credit: PaperFilms