Slade Slaymaker is a kid from Alabama suddenly lost in a vicious world beyond his imagining, a world of marauding ant armies, spell-casting spider witches, and beetle-riding barbarians. A kingdom of tiny but deadly warriors hidden in his own backyard. The same world that saw his father eaten alive by insects and now plunges young Slade into the middle of a brutal Bug War to decide the fate of his family.
Coming in February 2025, Bug Wars by writer Jason Aaron (Southern Bastards, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Absolute Superman) and artist Mahmud Asrar (Conan the Barbarian, X-Men, Batman & Robin). The extra-length first issue of this six issue, epic dark fantasy, miniseries is set to hit comic shops in February 2025 from Image Comics.
“When I was a kid, our backyard was a wondrous place, where I spent hours imagining epic adventures, action figures scattered all through the grass. In a lot of ways, I still feel like that kid, running around the yard, making up stories. Only the stories have gotten a bit darker over the years,” said Aaron. “For Slade Slaymaker, the backyard of his home in Alabama turns out to be a place of terror and brutality, where sects of tiny sword-wielding Mytes and their armies of flesh-eating beetles and acid-spraying ants have declared war on his family. Think Honey, I Shrunk the Kidsmeets Game of Thrones.”
Jason Aaron
JASON AARON is an award-winning comic book writer best known for his work with Marvel Comics, including a landmark seven-year run on THOR and the 2015 STAR WARS series that became the best-selling American comic book in more than 20 years. Aaron is currently spearheading the 40th anniversary relaunch of TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA TURTLES for IDW and the hotly anticipated ABSOLUTE SUPERMAN for DC Comics. His critically acclaimed creator-owned work includes the Eisner and Harvey Award-winning SOUTHERN BASTARDS from Image Comics and the New York Times best-selling crime series SCALPED from DC, plus the recently released ONCE UPON A TIME AT THE END OF THE WORLD from BOOM! Studios. Aaron was born and raised in Alabama and currently resides in Kansas City.
“Bug Wars is the culmination of what I wanted to do in comics: A fantasy epic told with no holds barred. A tale where our imaginations run wild. A place where we reach the heights of escapism, all while keeping everything grounded with pure human emotion straight from the heart.”
Mahmud Asrar
Mahmud Asrar grew up with a passion to draw comics which led to a degree in art, and he has since worked for major publishers like Marvel, DC, Image, Dark Horse and beyond! Some of his work includes the award-winning Conan The Barbarian, King Conan, and X-Men for Marvel, as well as the Batman & Robinevent for DC Comics. Asrar resides in Vienna, Austria with his wife and son. Visit: MahmudAsrar.com.