Image Comics' Bug Wars was one of the many titles featured in our Most Anticipated Comics of 2025 roundup, and for good reason. Not only does it feature a simple, winning premise, it reunites the Conan the Barbarian creative team of writer Jason Aaron and artist Mahmud Asrar. Now IGN can exclusively debut a new preview of the first issue.
Check out the slideshow gallery below for a closer look at Bug Wars #1:
The Bug Wars creative team also includes colorist Matt Wilson and letterer Becca Carey. Issue #1 features cover art by Asrar, Pepe Larraz, Peach Momoko, Matías Bergara, and Tony Daniel.
Here's Image's official description of Bug Wars:
Slade Slaymaker is a kid from Alabama suddenly lost in a vicious world beyond his imagining, a world of marauding ant armies, spellcasting 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 now plunges young Slade into the middle of a brutal Bug War to decide the fate of his family.
From the superstar team of writer JASON AARON (SOUTHERN BASTARDS, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Absolute Superman) and artist MAHMUD ASRAR (Conan the Barbarian, X-Men, Batman & Robin) comes the over-sized debut of BUG WARS: BOOK ONE, the first adventure in a sprawling new dark fantasy epic.
"I've literally been dreaming this world into existence since I was nine years old," Aaron tells IGN. "The Yard of the Mytes, of the Beetle Clans, the Ant Imperium, and the Witches of Wyrdweb, is the exact same yard from my childhood, the same sacred stretch of grass and weeds where I spent my days playing with action figures and imagining grand adventures. Now young Slade Slaymaker gets to live that adventure, as he finds himself lost in his own backyard, fighting to save his family from entire kingdoms of brutal, bug-riding warriors. It's a world imagined with childlike wonder, but a story told in dark and unforgiving terms. And this is just Book One. The Yard of Bug Wars is a massive fantasy world that Mahmud and I plan to explore for many stories and many years to come."
"This is the biggest story I've ever illustrated, with so much research and detail going into each panel," Asrar says. "It really is huge in scope, which is funny as we're operating in a decidedly tiny world. The world building and epic fantasy story we're telling is something I've always wanted to do and I hope it shows in the work that I'm putting into the pages. Yet, I do have to say, what's most important for me is that a story has heart... and I believe ours has so much of it."
Bug Wars #1 will be released on February 12, 2025.
For more on what's coming up in the comic book world, check out what to expect from Marvel in 2025 and what to expect from DC in 2025.
Jesse is a mild-mannered staff writer for IGN. Allow him to lend a machete to your intellectual thicket by following @jschedeen on BlueSky.
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