For mature readers

408 pages; soft cover; B&W

This hefty volume collects Steve Lafler's BugHouse, a tale of Bebop jazz with an all-insect cast. He doesn't back away from the horrors of addiction in creating BugHouse, but Lafler's real game is depicting the joy of music in the language of comics with his signature fluid brushwork. The artist was inspired by Max Fleischer animations as a tot, literally falling into a lush world, peopled by buggy creatures rapping over swing jazz, dancing all the while.