CREATIVE TEAM

BLACK HOPS: U.S.A.-*-G.I. created by Timothy Lim and Mark Pellegrini

• Art by Timothy Lim
• Written by Mark Pellegrini
• Front Cover by Timothy Lim and Genzoman 
• Back Cover by Jacob Gerber 
• Omnibus Front Cover by Man Tsang 
• Omnibus Back Cover by KaFun 
• Professional modeling by River Breann and Weapon Outfitters 
• "Blitzkrieg Hop" theme composed by Doug Garrett 
• Additional art and content by Matthew Weldon, Reagan Long, Bill Williams, CuteSexyRobutts, and Kelsey Shannon
• MADE and PRINTED in the UNITED STATES of AMERICA

BLACK HOPS: U.S.A.-*-G.I is the ongoing comic book series about a covert strike force consisting of modern day cryptids. Their mission: to thwart an evil organization that specializes in the creation, capture, and weaponization of cryptids of their own. First published in 2018 by Antarctic Press, the characters in BLACK HOPS have gone on to cameo in other comics, such as Punchline and RAGS.

TASK FORCE 22114: "BLACK HOPS"

• U.S.A.-*-G.I: After surviving an atomic bomb in the 1940's, the rabbit known as U.S.A.-*-G.I. displayed heightened intelligence and other skills, including optic camouflage, prolonged longevity, and the ability to communicate selectively with other creatures using an indecipherable carrier frequency. He has lived for generations with the Frelings, a career military family.
• PATRIOT-R: In the wake of the 2011 Fukushima reactor meltdown, an irradiated otter was found by United States cleanup personnel. He manifested the same heightened intelligence as U.S.A.-*-G.I. but is much more unpredictable and violent by nature.
• RIGOR TORTOISE: A multi-billion dollar experiment to artificially create the same set of skills displayed by U.S.A.-*-G.I. Ultimately the money was spent to augment a naturally intelligent terrapin with bionic enhancements and neural implants to be used as a trainable, walking weapon.
• Penelope Freling: The current owner of U.S.A.-*-G.I. and descendant of the man who first discovered him, she is bonded to him and is the only person capable of understanding his communication frequency. She has reluctantly joined BLACK HOPS and undergone training to be an independent contractor, serving as a translator and necessary backup.

CRYTIQ HIGH COMMAND

• APEX MOTH: The enigmatic leader and creator of CRYPTIQ, he was a scientist commissioned in 1966 to study and recreate the same conditions that made U.S.A.-*-G.I. A freak accident at his lab in Point Pleasant, West Virginia, turned him into an abomination. He wears a helmet to hide his visage. The leading expert on cryptids, his goal is to find, create, and bio-weaponize them for sinister purposes.
• HARE TRIGGER: Kanina Lovacova, CEO of the internationally renowned private military company NINGEN. Her company was responsible for keeping watch over Apex Moth while he was in captivity, but he successfully bribed her to join him and use NINGEN as CRYPTIQ's private army. Wanted by the United States for treason, she is currently traversing Europe as she avoids extradition.

BLACK HOPS VOLUME 3

This campaign is the debut of the 3rd installment of the BLACK HOPS saga: taking place almost a year after the events of BLACK HOPS VOLUME 2: HARE TRIGGER and serving as an interquel and bridge between KAMEN AMERICA VOLUME 1 and KAMEN AMERICA VOLUME 2, the team is joined permanently by Penelope as the translator and backup for the team. They must infiltrate a castle in Europe to rescue a defector to the United States with critical information on CRYPTIQ. Unfortunately for them, CRYPTIQ is gunning for this asset as well and it's a race against time to see who gets the target first!

Along the way, the team will pick up new members -- including the highly trained COMMANDO-G -- as the stakes are raised between both sides!

Many of our recent readers have discovered BLACK HOPS for the first time thanks to the revealed tie-in from the epilogue of KAMEN AMERICA, VOLUME 1. As such, we are offering tiers that combine items with VOLUME 3 or with the OMNIBUS, which collects all 3 volumes of BLACK HOPS to date!

We are thrilled to offer you an outstanding, 72 page square bound book that is 100% finished! Our simple campaign is designed to cover our basic overhead of printing, shipping, and fulfillment with our USA-based affiliates, and to compensate us for the work done. The book has covers with artwork from two comics professionals: a front cover with colors by UDON legend Genzoman and a back cover by Jacob Gerber. 

Our omnibus, clocking in at 216 pages, features an incredible front cover by Man Tsang and a back cover by KaFun! It too is square bound, finished, and ready to print!

BLACK HOPS, VOLUME 3: 

• 72 pages
• Front cover by Timothy Lim and Genzoman 
• Back cover by Jacob Gerber 
• Fully completed, ready to print

BLACK HOPS: OMNIBUS

• 216 pages
• Fully completed, ready to print
• Front cover by Man Tsang, back cover by KaFun 
• Includes all 3 volumes to date-- BLACK HOPS: Buns of the Patriots, BLACK HOPS: Hare Trigger, and BLACK HOPS: Hopocalypse Now 

We have plenty of rewards to go along with either book:

• Download of "Blitzkrieg Hop" (the theme of BLACK HOPS) by Doug Garrett 
• Digital PDF with every physical purchase*
• Black Hops patch with every physical purchase
• Limited edition plush toy
• 5.75 inch Penelope / Black Hops Acrylic Standee
• Limited edition body pillow

*PLEASE NOTE: you will only have 31 days after a digital download link is sent out to request a new one. Please see the FAQ for more information. It is the customer's responsibility to diligently monitor updates and download files within the 31 day time frame we provide: we cannot take time out our days to stop what we're doing to re-upload files for delinquent backers.

Black Hops: U.S.A.-*-G.I. Volume 3 is the 11th collaborative book by artist / creator Timothy Lim and writer / co-creator Mark Pellegrini. The duo has worked over the decade on a number of licensed works for merchandising, comic book covers, pinups,  and fully illustrated comics, including their latest breakout original work, KAMEN AMERICA. Hopocalypse Now marks their 7th crowdfunded campaign collaboration and it is exciting to continue bringing their projects to IndieGoGo: guaranteed quality books delivered on time!

IMPORTANT INFORMATION REGARDING FULFILLMENT:

We pride ourselves on 2 years of successful crowdfunding and shipping in a timely manner: all of our books between 2019 and 2020 were delivered either a month early or on-time. However, the unique system by which IndieGoGo operates necessitates some personal policies to protect both you, the reader, and us the creators:

• Digital PDFs are sent within 24 hours of receiving funding from Kickstarter, which is usually 14-17 days after the campaign ends. These files are sent via WeTransfer links, which expire after 7 days. Due to our busy schedules, we will honor the re-sending of links for up to 31 days after the first time the link is sent out. After 31 days, we are not responsible for backers who do not download our files: we have to be able to focus on other work without taking time out of our day to resend huge files to delinquent backers.
• Physical books will be replaced if our tracking data shows that the parcel has not arrived within a reasonable period of time, or if significant damage was done to the books in transit. However, we are not responsible for book inquiries 3 months after the ship date. After 3 months, USPS will typically scrub tracking data. We cannot be dealing with shipping inquiries 6 months, a year, 2 years after the shipping date: that is not fair to us, nor is it fair to backers who have been monitoring the status of their orders. The onus of responsibility must fall on the customer to keep up with our updates regarding shipping schedules and other inquiries.