Bug Boys (Bug Boys #1)

Knetzger’s graphic novel, the first in a planned duology, stars two friends: Rhino-B, a tenderhearted rhinoceros beetle, and erudite stag beetle Stag-B, who live together in a mushroom cottage. The first of several episodes starts out low-key as the bug boys follow a treasure map—and find only an old copper necklace. (“Well, at least we had fun,” Rhino-B says.) But excitement ramps steadily upward even as the tone remains introspective, and the two are soon helping to untangle a tense feud between bees and termites, and encountering phosphorescent energy that leads them on a hallucinatory cave journey. Throughout, Knetzger, formerly a storyboard artist for Adventure Time, renders the friends and their surroundings in clean lines and gentle pastels, giving the pages a distinctive visual signature. As the vignettes proceed, the volume tackles sophisticated themes—everything from social history (“Our Bug Village was founded by refugees of your war,” Stag-B says) to personal beliefs (“Wishing to it calms me and makes me feel better”) and metaphysics (“your mind is the smallest denomination of world ’cause only you live in it”). Lying beneath Knetzger’s rich bug universe is the quiet reminder that even parts of the environment that appear simple or insignificant may reveal a world every bit as complex as our own. Ages 7–10. (Feb.)