Bug Wars is a 6-issue Urban Fantasy comicbook mini-series published by Image Comics. The series is written by Jason Aaron and illustrated by Mahmud Asrar.
Slade Jameson Slaymaker is just your average, ordinary teenager, albeit a little nerdier than most. His most notable trait is a deep fascination with insects, a trait he shares with his deceased father James Slaymaker, a professional entomologist. Sadly, this is not a trait shared by his elder brother Sydney Slaymaker, who possess both a pathological fear of insects and a psychotic hatred of them.
When bankruptcy forces the brothers and their mother to move back to the family home in West Bottom, Alabama, a fight between the brothers leads to Slade discovering a magical talisman hidden in the basement. Through touching it, he is shrunk down to miniscule size, and discovers the secret of the Slaymaker home; it and the wilderness surrounding it are filled with tiny, bug-taming humanoids who call themselves "mytes"! Now, Slade has to survive this strange, deadly micro-world, and also bring peace to the warring myte nations, before his insane brother kills them all...
The series was published on February 12, 2025 to August 13, 2025. Followed by:
- Bug Wars: The Spyder Wytch Special (January, 2026): A Wytch-focused anthology featuring the stories "Lair of the Fire Spiders", "The Long Way Back", "The Webs of Fate" and the prose "Lost in the Weeds".
- Bug Wars: The Coming Of The Wardoom (August, 2026-):
Bug Wars contains examples of:
- Alien Blood: Mytes have exotic colored blood to highlight their inhuman nature. This is most obvious in the first issue with the Beetle Clans, who make up the bulk of on-page casualties and whose blood is bright green.
- Alliterative Name: Slade and Sydney Slaymaker. Averted with their father; James Slaymaker.
- Always Chaotic Evil: The Wor Wraiders worship a single principle they call "the Red Commandment"; everything a Wraider needs to survive MUST be taken by force. They believe that even food will be inedible unless taken in anger, to the point they starve their newborn children until they learn to fight for the right to suckle. Even procreation is a bloody affair; the orgiastic "Fukkmoots" tend to end in as many deaths as conceptions, the pregnant women are expected to continue fighting until they give birth, and they even tend to discard infants who weren't born in the air above a battlefield for fear that this marks them as weak. This makes them the most murderous, violent and dangerous of all the mytes, and in yard where the Beetle Clans exist, that takes some doing. Their constant infighting undermines the threat they pose, and it's noted that the "War Dukes" and "Whorde Muthers" who lead a given Wraider band tend to change by the hour.
- Amazing Technicolor Population: Different myte races have differently colored skins. Beetle Clans are different hues of green, and the Ant Imperium are a rusty orange-red.
- Ant War: Literally. The first issue opens with a war between the beetle-riding Beetle Clans and the Ant Imperium of Rootguard IV, a Myte city-state that lives inside an anthill and so fights alongside the ants. Both sides are wiped out when Sydney Slade deliberately pushes a lawnmower over the anthill.
- Atrocious Arthropods: The series makes gets a lot of mileage out of highlighting some of the more scary and gruesome aspects of real-world insect species. Issue #5 in particular ends with a discussion of various carnivorous or parasitic maggots, and even Mr. Slaymaker's notes are full of revulsion, to the point he talks about crushing a nest of swallow chicks being eaten alive by swarming avian vampire maggots. Yes. Those are a real thing.
- Bestiality Is Depraved: The mytes of the Ant Imperium interbreed with the ants amongst whom they live, to the point that each colony's queen ant is referred to as its "Mother Wife Queen". The Beetle Clans mock the Ant Imperium for this... though issue #2 notes that there are some Beetle Clanners who have sex with beetles too, it's just usually frowned upon. Issue #3 even shows the "throne room" of an Imperium colony, which is a constant orgy between mytes of both sexes and ants.
- Big Brother Bully: Sydney despises his little brother Slade for his love of bugs, and torments him mercilessly. The story kickstarts with Sydney breaking into Slade's room and slaughtering all his insect pets.
- Blood Sport: Issue #2 sees Slade dragged to the Bludhole, the central gladiatorial arena of Swarm City, where he is thrown into an enclosed arena and made to fight for his life against a swarm of mosquitoes.
- Clingy MacGuffin: The magical amulet that Slade found is physically embedded in his chest. Issue #4 ends with The Reveal that taking it out will kill him.
- Cluster F-Bomb: Hardly a page goes by without someone swearing, sometimes to the point of silliness.
- Dark Fantasy: It's an Urban Fantasy setting, with civilizations of tiny bug-taming humans living in the wilderness unnoticed by humanity, with plenty of extremely graphic violence, nudity and profanity. Even the lore can be quite dark — in the first issue, the comic's end notes reveal that the Ant Imperium has a high rate of birth defects due to their interspecies interbreeding, and offspring judged too deformed are killed and fed to the colony's ant larvae.
- Decadent Court: The Bee Lords are described in the end notes for issue #6 as a plutocratic society who mercilessly exploit both their domesticated bees and legions of enslaved myte workers to live lives of opulence and indulgence. Whilst they claim to be pacifists, their indifference to violence is more due to laziness and arrogance than any benevolence.
- Did You Just Punch Out Cthulhu?: Slade reveals in issue #5 that he's figured out that the Worldstomper's role isn't to safeguard the mytes from humanity — it's to keep the mytes from ever deciding to collectively rise up against humanity, because with their enormous numbers advantage, they could wipe out humanity if they were inclined to do so.
- Duels Decide Everything: The end-notes of issue #2 explain that the violence-loving and anarchistic Beetle Clans mytes largely settle any dispute by fighting over it. Issue #4 establishes the same for the Wor Wraiders, who if anything are the Beetle Clans' even edgier counterparts.
- Drama-Preserving Handicap: After initially imbuing him with Super-Strength, Slade's magical amulet fails just in time for him to be captured by Beetle Riders and dragged to Swarm City to face death in the Bludhouse. It's only when he has a dying vision of his father and unwittingly speaks the Magical Incantation that he is fully awakened as the Worldstomper.
- Eaten Alive:
- Mr. Slaymaker was killed and graphically devoured by swarms of bugs; finding him right after he was killed is why Sydney Slaymaker is so repulsed by bugs.
- A Wor Wraider in the Bludhouse is swarmed by mosquitoes and completely sucked dry in moments.
- Slade and Wysta pass a myte being sucked dry by ticks in issue #4.
- Sydney is nearly subjected to this when the mytes rise as a union to tear him apart for his massacres of their kind in issue #6.
- Even Evil Has Loved Ones: Invoked. In issue #4, when Wysta the Spyder Wytch questions why Slade wants to save his mentally unstable, vicious, bug-murdering bully of an elder brother Sydney, Slade retorts by pointing out that for all Sydney's faults, they're still brothers, specifically bringing up one time that Sydney brutally punished a schoolkid for bullying Slade as proof that they do care for each other.
- Even Evil Has Standards:
- It's mentioned in the notes at the end of issue #4 that even the battle-worshiping Wor Wraiders are legitimately scared of the murderous intensities of Asian Giant Hornets, or "Murder Hornets", and carefully restrict their numbers for fear of what they might do if allowed to procreate unchecked.
- Zigzagged in issue 35: When the leader of the Maggot Monks in Dog Rot Minster, Reverend Rancid, offers food to the myte leaders who have come to formalize a historic truce against the Annihirazer, even the Beetle Clans representative War Daddy Qurim refuses. Only the Wor Wraiders representative, War Duke Pus of the Blakk Nest, is willing to accept.
- Eye Scream: Amongst the injuries Sydney suffers from the enraged mytes by the end of issue #6 is having his left eye chopped to pieces and eaten by leafcutter ants.
- Flaming Sword: A Spyder Wytch in the Bludhouse named Wysta is able to temporarily light her sword on fire through some secret mystical art of her kind, which she uses to battle the mosquitoes.
- Forbidden Love: Wysta the Spyder Wytch was exiled from her people for falling in love with another Wytch named Agelen.
- Friend to Bugs: Slade Slaymaker loves bugs and has a huge collection of pet bugs. It's a trait that his father James shared. Unfortunately for everybody, his brother Sydney very much is not a Friend to Bugs.
- Full-Frontal Assault: In the first issue, Beetle Riders are shown to have a distinctly indifferent attitude towards clothing, befitting their barbarian tribal aesthetic. As the horde attacks Rootguard IV, readers can spot topless women, and a male who's totally naked, with erect genitalia on full display.
- Full-Name Ultimatum: Slade's mom scolds him by invoking his full name in issue #1, after he calls his brother a "fucking asshole".
- Handicapped Badass: One of the prisoners thrown into the Bludhouse is an anturion who is missing an arm, having survived the "Rootguard Massacre". They still manage to survive against the swarming mosquitoes until Slade brings the Bludhouse down.
- Humans Are Cthulhu:
- Issue #2 ends with the reveal that the mytes have recognized that the entity killing them and destroying their nations is Sydney Slaymaker and his lawnmower, which has prompted the disparate myte nations to agree to peace talks in hopes of unifying to kill Sydney, whom Beetle Clansmen are shown burning in effigy as a God of Evil they call "The Annihirazer".
- Issue #3 establishes that the mytes are aware of humans, but believe them to be simply nothing more than giant, stupid, violent animals they call "stompers".
- The Horde: The Beetle Clans are the "barbarian tribes" of the Yard, with a culture that glorifies sex, violence and freedom. Even their patron deity, Momma Weevil, is basically a mother goddess in the pattern of Crom from Conan the Barbarian.
- Horse of a Different Color: Because insects and arachnids are comparative megafauna, the mytes make use of them as beasts of burden. This is particularly notable with the beetle-riding Beetle Clans, the wasp-riding Wor Wraiders, and the honeybee-riding traders known as the Lords of the Honeyed Thicket.
- Magical Incantation: It turns out that the amulet that Slade discovered only properly "catalyzes" if the bearer speaks the incantation "Sectae Grammaton".
- Loyal Animal Companion: Pac the rhino beetle is truly dedicated to Slade. In issue #4, he surprises Slade and Wysta the Spyder Wytch by catching up to them just as they reach the Hanging Gardens of Wyrdweb, which a dumbfounded Wysta realizes means that the beetle fought his way across the entire yard to find his master. Emphasis on fought, as his shell is bristling with embedded swords and arrows.Wysta: That... is one devoted beetle.
Slade: Good lord. Look at him. Pac, what the hell did you go through out there, buddy?
Wysta: He crossed the entire yard alone, in order to protect you. - Matriarchy: Issue #3 establishes that the spider-worshiping Wytches are matriarchal.
- Mike Nelson, Destroyer of Worlds: Zigzagged. Sydney Slaymaker didn't set out to massacre countless populations of mytes; he's just a messed up teenager who was mowing the lawn at his mother's request. On the other hand, given how Sydney hates bugs and is shown deliberately mowing over ant mounds, it's not certain if he wouldn't have done it deliberately out of sheer revulsion if he had known about their existence.
- Misplaced Wildlife: The Slaymaker house is explicitly said to be in Alabama, North America, but the insects living around it contain species that are very much not native to the region, with each issue listing a number of different species based on which myte culture it's discussing, such as ants in issue 1 and beetles in issue 2. It's implied that these were brought to the garden and forest by James Slaymaker, who set them free to study their interactions with the local mytes.
- Mouse World: The mytes are tiny humanoids who live in the garden and forest surrounding the Slaymaker home, interacting with the insects — who are large beasts by comparison.
- Mosquito Miscreants: The Bludhouse of Swarm City pits mytes against a swarm of mosquitoes. Given the comparative size of the mytes, this is a genuinely deadly life-and-death struggle, as several mosquitoes working in tandem can completely exsanguinate a myte. Text in issue #2 notes that when facing a mosquito, a myte is going up against a flying blood-sucking monster armed with a razor-sharp machete sticking out of its face.
- Names to Run Away from Really Fast: Issue #3 reveals that the mytes refer to the human who bears the magical amulet as "Woeden", "The Worldstomper" and "Lord of the Wardoom". Unusually, the mytes actually mean these ominous sounding titles as badges of honor and respect.
- Nested Ownership: Bee Lord society consists of a plutocratic elite of nobles at the top, with lower-caste Bee Lords acting as ranchers, merchants and slave traders, who in turn manage the bees and enslaved mytes that make up their society's primary workforce.
- Nice Job Breaking It, Hero!: Issue #4 reveals that James Slaymaker owed thousands in fees to various exotic insect sellers from all over the world when he died. This led to his wife being bankrupted paying off his debts, forcing her to move back to the house where James died, which in turn led to Sydney arousing the murderous wrath of the local mytes.
- Nice Job Fixing It, Villain!:
- Sydney unknowingly crushes a band of warlocks opposing Wysta whilst stomping through the yard, giving her the chance to finally head to Wyrdweb to help Slade.
- The sight of Slade finally armed and armored in full Worldstomper regalia causes Wardaddy Qurim to break the covenant between the mytes, ordering the Beetle Riders to fight on Slade's side. This causes the Ant Imperium's troops to change their mission from killing the seemingly nearly defeated Sydney to instead massacring their ancient enemies. This gives Slade a chance to turn the tide, ultimately saving Sydney's life.
- Non-Human Humanoid Hybrid: Mytes of the Ant Imperium are crossbreeds of myte and ant.
- Orifice Invasion: Amongst the myriad ways the mytes attack Sydney on the first page of Issue #6 includes dung beetles forcing their way through his anus to begin ripping at his interior.
- Pest Controller: Zigzagged. Whilst the myte civilizations use insects and arachnids as tamed beasts, this is more in the sense of domesticating them rather than magically or telepathically controlling them. Additionally, each myte civilization is tied mostly to a specific kind of pest.
- Phlebotinum Breakdown: Slade's magical amulet malfunctions in the second issue, which places him in big trouble, as it strips away the Super-Strength it initially gave him. It's only when he mumbles a phrase he remembers his father constantly teaching him as a child in issue #3 that it fully activates again.
- Politically Incorrect Villain:
- The Spyder Wytches prohibit homosexual relationships amongst their kind; females may only mate with the male Wyrlocks, and even that only with an individual selected by a Weaver — one of the oracular spiders they worship.
- The Maggot Monks are highly patriarchal, with their womenfolk being forbidden from holding any kind of political rank or public authority.
- The Reveal:
- Issue #3 establishes Slade's father would visit the myte world, where he became a deified figure called Woeden the Worldstomper. In particular, he was on good terms with the Beetle Riders, who vow that it wasn't them who killed him.
- Issue #5 reveals that the Worldstomper's role isn't to protect the mytes from humanity — it's to protect humanity from the mytes.
- Issue #5 ends with Slade's father seemingly still being alive, and living amongst the Wytches of Wyrdweb. Issue #6 reveals he's actually a spirit remnant of Slade's father, left behind to offer Slade guidance through the Wytches' magic.
- Issue #6 ends with the reveal that there's another culture of squirrel-riding mytes lurking in the woods beyond the yard. And given the ghost of Slade's father tried to warn him to never enter the woods...
- Rubber-Forehead Aliens: Mytes of the Ant Imperium are not only crimson-orange skinned, but they have solid black eyes, insectile wings, and small ant-like antennae that grow from their faces, to either side of their noses. This is called out as being a result of systemic crossbreeding with ant queens, a process that results in a large population of hideously deformed mutant babies, which are killed at birth to preserve the purity of the race. Sketches in the "notes" section of issue #1 suggest that there's also four-armed ant-mytes as well.
- Slaying Mantis: One of the dangers of the Yard that Slade and Wysta have to evade in issue #4 is a mantis, presented as a towering giant with the remains of multiple mytes impaled on its raptorial claws.
- Super-Strength: Slade discovers that after being shrunken, he becomes comparatively super strong, to the point he punches a Beetle Clan myte in the face... and punches straight through his head. By accident.
- Ultraterrestrials: The mytes are a race of Rubber-Forehead Aliens divided into several different civilizations and, it's implied, subspecies, who live alongside different kinds of insects. These form independent nation-states known as "sects", with the first issue establishing the following sects;
- Beetle Clans: Green-skinned barbarians who tame and ride beetles. Whilst largely nomadic, they also have a single city called "Swarm City", built inside a great mound of rotting sticks and logs.
- Ant Imperium: Proud, Roman-eque mytes who live inside of ant colonies and consider themselves the most civilized myte race. Despite their common culture, like the colonies themselves, each Imperial city-state regards all other city-states as bitter enemies, and they war amongst themselves incessantly.
- The War/Wor Wraiders: A warlike myte nation allied with a huge colony of paper wasps.
- The Lords of the Honeyed Thicket: A myte nation allied with a local bee colony.
- The Maggot Monks: A religious myte nation who live inside a rotting dog's carcass on the outskirts of the property.
- The Wytches of Wyrdweb: Spider-aligned mystics, also known as the Systers of the Spyder. Their menfolk are known as "Wyrlocks".
- The Roach Knights: A myte nation with a "knight" aesthetic that lives inside of the house instead of in the garden, allied with cockroaches.
- Wainscot Society: A magical necklace allows humans to shrink down and interact with mytes.
- Why Did It Have to Be Snakes?: Sydney Slaymaker hates and reviles bugs, to the point of having screaming paranoid fits about bugs coming to murder his whole family in the first issue alone.
- Winged Humanoid: Issue #2 reveals the existence of butterfly-winged flying mytes who are popular as prostitutes, with their own designated section of Swarm City called "Flutter Street". Renting one is known as "taking a flight", as they mate in mid-air.
- Xtreme Kool Letterz: The mytes have a tendency to use Ys instead of Is, with a lesser tendency to use Ks for Cs. The most guilty of this are the spider-worshipping Wytches of Wyrdweb; "Systers", "Wyrlocks", "Koven of the Sylken Skein", etc.
- Zerg Rush: As Slade observes in issue #5, there are literally billions of insects for every single human on the planet. A hypothetical war between humanity and mytes would see those numbers brought to bear.
The Spyder Wytch Special contains examples of:
Lair of the Fire Spiders
- Playing with Fire: Wydow has learnt to control fire with her sorcery with her Cinderspinner spiders weaving webs that burn like fire, sizzling the flesh of whatever it touches or setting the Yard ablaze.
The Long Way Home
The Webs of Fate
Lost in the Weeds
- Magic Kiss: After nearly being killed by a maddened tarantula, James is revived a deep kiss from a Spyder Wytch.