Tom The Dancing Bug Blog

GIVE THE GIFT OF (SIGNED! SKETCHED! PERSONALIZED!) TOM THE DANCING BUG BOOKS

This very strange, socially distanced holiday season, you can give the touching but touchless gift of a Super Fun Tom the Dancing Bug Book Package to that special (insert noun) in your life!

Imagine the thrill of receiving two books filled with award-winning, hilarious, thought-provoking and poignant comics, and how well that bounty will reflect on the magnanimous gift-giver.

Now imagine receiving these two books as a present.

 

The books

👉 Will be sketched in, dated and signed -- and personalized (if requested);

👉 Come with two commemorative bookmarks, also signed; and

👉 Include a special "Artist's" Edition pdf booklet.

 

And it will be delivered right to the recipient's door, so it's the gift you can give even if you are not physically seeing the givee this season.  See instructions below.

Order here, $89.99 CHEAP:

 

Name I'd like books signed to

Gift-Giver / Date to be opened

 

1.  THE "NAME I'D LIKE BOOKS SIGNED TO" FIELD

If you'd like the books signed to the gift recipient, enter the name in the "Name I'd like books signed to" field.  If not, you can leave the field blank.

For example, if you enter "Otis" in that field, I'll write "For Otis" in addition to all the signing/sketching I'll be doing in the books.

 

2.  THE "GIFT-GIVER / DATE TO BE OPENED" FIELD

In the "Gift-Giver / Date to be opened" field, enter the phrase, if any, you'd like me to write about who the book came from, a slant, and then the date the gift should be opened, if any, you'd like me to write on the package.

For example, if you enter in that field, "From your buddy Worthington / Kwanza," then in the books I'll write, "From your buddy Worthington," and on the outside of the package I'll write, "PLEASE DO NOT OPEN UNTIL KWANZA."

If you write in that field just, "12/15," then I won't include any note about the giver in the books, but I will write on the outside of the package, "PLEASE DO NOT OPEN UNTIL 12/15."

If you write in that field, "Merry Christmas from your loving high school principal Mr. Garcia," I'll include that phrase in the books, but no date on the outside of the package.

You can also leave this field blank.

Note that the return address on all packages will indicate it is from me, Ruben Bolling.

 

ON THE PAYPAL ORDER FORM THAT THIS LINKS TO, BE SURE THE RECIPIENT'S POSTAL ADDRESS IS FILLED IN, NOT YOURS.

 

U.S. only please. Includes Media Mail postage.  For deliveries to other nations, please contact teamdancingbug at gmail dot com 

I've seen that Media Mail takes five to nine days to ship the package anywhere in the U.S., but order as early as possible.

 

---

 

Here's an example of what the recipient will receive.

Both books, personalized in the way you indicated (the books pictured are not gifts, so there is no "from"), signed and sketched, plus two signed bookmarks.

 

And this pdf booklet presenting notes, scripts, sketches, pencils and inks for selected comics from both books. 

 

 

Finally, I can't post this video about the books enough:

 

 

And why not show the back cover of Into the Trumpverse?

 

The Comics Journal, on The Super-Fun-Pak Comix Reader:

"A great treasury of wild, often brilliant humor and a record of life in America"

 

The Washington Post, on Tom the Dancing Bug: Into the Trumpverse:

"Like a warm pet that leaps and rolls over before delivering a satiric bite."

--

Any questions about ordering, please write to teamdancingbug at gmail dot com

 

 

 

IT'S ALWAYS NICE TO BE MENTIONED.

It's always nice to be mentioned.  Particularly if it's honorably.

Tom the Dancing Bug won an Honorable Mention for the National Press Foundation's Berryman Award.

Congratulations to Steve Sack!

 

...

The Tom the Dancing Bug Newsletter - FREE

So I started a free e-mail newsletter over at Substack.  You can get information and/or sign up here.

This is a separate list from the Inner Hive, which is a paid membership, and which you can join in various ways, including at Substack and at Patreon.

The first Tom the Dancing Bug Newsletter goes out tomorrow!  Be part of this momentous, historic occasion and sign up today!

--

 

GIVE THE GIFT OF TOM THE DANCING BUG

This holiday season, you can give that special someone a Gift Membership to Tom the Dancing Bug's INNER HIVE.

That's right, you can give a loved one / friend / frenemy a yearlong membership to the INNER HIVE, and from the moment you sign them up and throughout 2021 they will receive the weekly INNER HIVE emails containing:

- that week's Tom the Dancing Bug comic, at least a day before it's published online; and

- exclusive commentary, extra comics, contests, giveaways, word-find puzzles, and advice for the lovelorn

and all other benefits and privileges of membership will be conferred up on them.

$29.99 CHEAP.  Simply sign up here, by entering the recipient's name and the email address the INNER HIVE mailings should be sent to:

 

Name of RECIPIENT

Email address of RECIPIENT

It is for you to inform the recipient of the gift.  The recipient will simply receive the next INNER HIVE email after you sign them up.

You can also use the above form to RENEW an existing gift membership.

More info on the INNER HIVE is here.

 

IT'S THE GIFT THAT KEEPS GIVING, EVERY DING-DONG WEEK, UNTIL IT STOPS.

Thank you, and have a Merry Everything.

Rb

Terms and Conditions apply.  They always do.

The Gift Membership will end 12/31/21.

Payment is for starting the membership.  Recipient may cancel at any time (there's no accounting for taste).

Any questions, please contact teamdancingbug@gmail.com

 

--

 

HEY, YOU CAN ALSO JOIN THE INNER HIVE FOR YOURSELF!

HOW?  LET ME COUNT THE WAYS:

 

⇒ You can join through Patreon, where you pay per month, and there are different levels of membership. $3/month and up

This has become the most popular way to join the Inner Hive.

SIGN UP FOR YOUR OWN INNER HIVE MEMBERSHIP THROUGH PATREON HERE.

⇒ You can join through CampaignZee / MailChimp, where you pay per six months. $11.95/six months

SIGN UP FOR YOUR OWN INNER HIVE MEMBERSHIP THROUGH CAMPAIGNZEE HERE.

⇒ Or you can pre-pay a two-year membership, no recurring payments at all. It ends when it ends. $75.00

SIGN UP FOR YOUR OWN PRE-PAID TWO-YEAR INNER HIVE MEMBERSHIP HERE.

-

UPDATE 11/12/20: ⇒ You can now join through Substack, where you pay $7 per month.

SIGN UP FOR YOUR OWN INNER HIVE MEMBERSHIP THROUGH SUBSTACK HERE.

-

However you sign up, members get each week's Tom the Dancing Bug comic at least a day before it appears anywhere on the web, along with exclusive commentary, inside peeks, info, jokes, riddles, palindromes and whatever else I can fit in each email.

Join the team that makes Tom the Dancing Bug possible every week.

 

 

 

This holiday season, you can give that special someone a Gift Membership to Tom the Dancing Bug's INNER HIVE.

That's right, you can give a loved one / friend / frenemy a yearlong membership to the INNER HIVE, and from the moment you sign them up and throughout 2021 they will receive the weekly INNER HIVE emails containing:

- that week's Tom the Dancing Bug comic, at least a day before it's published online; and

- exclusive commentary, extra comics, contests, giveaways, word-find puzzles, and advice for the lovelorn

and all other benefits and privileges of membership will be conferred up on them.

$29.99 CHEAP.  Simply sign up here, by entering the recipient's name and the email address the INNER HIVE mailings should be sent to:

 

Name of RECIPIENT

Email address of RECIPIENT

It is for you to inform the recipient of the gift.  The recipient will simply receive the next INNER HIVE email after you sign them up.

You can also use the above form to RENEW an existing gift membership.

More info on the INNER HIVE is here.

 

IT'S THE GIFT THAT KEEPS GIVING, EVERY DING-DONG WEEK, UNTIL IT STOPS.

Thank you, and have a Merry Everything.

Rb

Terms and Conditions apply.  They always do.

The Gift Membership will end 12/31/21.

Payment is for starting the membership.  Recipient may cancel at any time (there's no accounting for taste).

Any questions, please contact teamdancingbug@gmail.com

 

--

 

HEY, YOU CAN ALSO JOIN THE INNER HIVE FOR YOURSELF!

HOW?  LET ME COUNT THE WAYS:

 

⇒ You can join through Patreon, where you pay per month, and there are different levels of membership. $3/month and up

This has become the most popular way to join the Inner Hive.

SIGN UP FOR YOUR OWN INNER HIVE MEMBERSHIP THROUGH PATREON HERE.

⇒ You can join through CampaignZee / MailChimp, where you pay per six months. $11.95/six months

SIGN UP FOR YOUR OWN INNER HIVE MEMBERSHIP THROUGH CAMPAIGNZEE HERE.

⇒ Or you can pre-pay a two-year membership, no recurring payments at all. It ends when it ends. $75.00

SIGN UP FOR YOUR OWN PRE-PAID TWO-YEAR INNER HIVE MEMBERSHIP HERE.

-

UPDATE 11/12/20: ⇒ You can now join through Substack, where you pay $7 per month.

SIGN UP FOR YOUR OWN INNER HIVE MEMBERSHIP THROUGH SUBSTACK HERE.

-

However you sign up, members get each week's Tom the Dancing Bug comic at least a day before it appears anywhere on the web, along with exclusive commentary, inside peeks, info, jokes, riddles, palindromes and whatever else I can fit in each email.

Join the team that makes Tom the Dancing Bug possible every week.

 

 

Cheers for Johnny G.

 

It was publicly announced yesterday that John Glynn, an executive at Andrews McMeel Universal, the company that distributes Tom the Dancing Bug, has officially left the company.

 

I met John when he first started at AMU (I'm told, 20 years ago), and it was immediately clear that he was not your typical syndicate editor/executive.  He is socially funnier than the vast majority of the cartoonists he represents, and with a sense of humor that is deeply offbeat and silly, even whimsical.  And I was honored and kind of puzzled by his knowledge of Tom the Dancing Bug -- he routinely drops obscure references and quotes to years-old Tom the Dancing Bug comics that even I sometimes have to strain to recall.

 

I say this here not just to flatter John -- although he sure likes to be flattered -- but because this blog is about Tom the Dancing Bug, and he has been very important to the comic strip.  As he rose to become President and Editorial Director (I think that was his title) he was always a champion of the strip, showing great faith in me as a cartoonist and writer.

 

For example, it was his efforts (and his colleague Bridget McMeel's) that led to the option, and eventual purchase, of one of my characters, "Harvey Richards: Lawyer for Children" to New Line Cinema.  (Scripts were written, money was paid, tears were shed, but no movie was ever made.)  

 

He also worked enthusiastically to bring others of my characters to Hollywood -- I recall that he even wrote his own treatment for "Sam Roland, the Detective Who Dies" that led to me "taking a meeting" with Wayne Brady.

 

John made an appearance in a Super-Fun-Pak Comix.

 

He has also been a warm, encouraging, confidence-inspiring presence at the company.  We would meet whenever he admitted he was in town, to talk shop or just talk.  Late one night, when we stumbled across some Karaoke, and I challenged him to choose my song, he had enough faith in me to select Barbra Streisand's "Evergreen" -- yes, I'm choosing to cast it that way, and not as an act of utter cruelty.  There's a bar downtown that still has my picture by the door on the DO NOT ADMIT list.  

 

And he was there for me on so many occasions -- it really touched me that he came for the ceremony when I received the Robert F. Kennedy Journalism Award, and he led the celebration afterwards.

 

2018 at the RFK Awards. L to R, Johnny G., Your Humble Correspondent, and my friend David Grayson.  Just before the picture was taken John said, "Chins out!"

 

Most recently, John conducted a very silly two part interview with me on the occasion of the publication of my two new books. Part 1. Part 2.

 

Yes, John has been a fantastic supporter Tom the Dancing Bug, but he's also a great friend to me.

 

And I think the real testament to his talent as an executive/editor is that so many other Andrews McMeel creators also feel they have that kind of special relationship with John.  

 

But I'm not jealous.  He's so skilled, he can have a real friendship with me while faking it so well with others.

 

It's indisputable that John has become a giant in the comics industry.  In a time of seismic contraction of the newspaper world, he oversaw a great expansion of Andrews McMeel syndication, becoming the biggest syndicator in the world, the development of GoComics.com, and the successful launch of many new, innovative, popular comic strips.  He has great skill at managing and nurturing talent, but also a great eye for spotting and developing it.

 

John was due to receive the Silver T-Square Award at the National Cartoonists Society award banquet this past June, for his outstanding dedication and service to the cartooning profession.  Unfortunately, the event was capsized by the pandemic -- John really would have deserved that moment in the sun.

 

Whatever John decides to do next, I know he will succeed, and as that venture progresses, I'm looking forward to getting daily, bizarrely hilarious texts that have or do not have anything to do with that.

 

Thanks for the soup, John.

Just look at that boyishly handsome face looking confidently into the future!

 

 

 

Into the Trumpverse: Washington Posted

My buddy Tom Tomorrow* and I were featured in The Washington Post, which reviewed our new books.

 

 

 

Many thanks to reviewer Michael Cavna.

 

Tom the Dancing Bug: Into the Trumpverse can be purchased here,

and Tom Tomorrow's book, Life in the Stupidverse, can be purchased here.

 

--

*For the record, I swear Tom and I did not coordinate on launching alternative-style newspaper comic strips in 1990 using pseudonyms, and incorporating the name "Tom," and then publishing books about Trump in 2020 using the "verse" suffix in the title, and getting blurbed by Mark Hamill.

 

 

A Scarry Time to Be Alive

You can purchase a print of last week's comic, "Richard Scarry's Busy, Busy Day in Trump's America," here.

 

THE TWO BRAND NEW TOM THE DANCING BUG BOOKS ARE HERE

Two new Tom the Dancing Bug books, Tom the Dancing Bug: Into the Trumpverse, and The Super-Fun-Pak Comix Reader, are now available for order!

 

 

 

 

Please take a moment to watch the video, above. I worked very hard on it.

 

--

 

 

You can order Tom the Dancing Bug: Into the Trumpverse from Clover Press here.

You can order The Super-Fun-Pak Comix Reader from Clover Press here.  

You can order Tom the Dancing Bug: Into the Trumpverse on Amazon here if you'd like.  

 

--

 

👉 AND  you can order the Super Fun Tom the Dancing Bug Book Package (both books!) directly from me.👇

You get: 

☑️ a copy of Tom the Dancing Bug: Into the Trumpverse, signed / sketched / dated by Ruben Bolling, personalized if requested 

☑️ a copy of The Super-Fun-Pak Comix Reader, signed / sketched / dated by Ruben Bolling, personalized if requested  

☑️ two signed collectible Tom the Dancing Bug / Super-Fun-Pak Comix bookmarks   

☑️ an EXCLUSIVE pdf "ARTIST'S" EDITION booklet, presenting notes, scripts, sketches, pencils and inks for selected comics from both books. 

$89.99, cheap. 

 

Order below. If you would like the books signed "to" a particular name (your name, the name of a gift recipient, etc.), type that name in the field below.  If not, you can leave that field blank.

Continental U.S. only please. Includes Media Mail postage.

For deliveries to other locations, please contact teamdancingbug at gmail dot com

U.S. only please. Includes Media Mail postage.  For deliveries to other locations, please contact teamdancingbug at gmail dot com 

Release date is August 15, 2020, and Packages will be sent out rather shortly thereafter (I have to sign/sketch/date them all!).

Books are available for purchase and shipment NOW!

 

Name I'd like books signed to

Inner Hive address (if any)

 

 

--

2017 NATIONAL CARTOONISTS SOCIETY AWARD WINNER

2017 HERBLOCK PRIZE WINNER

2018 ROBERT F. KENNEDY JOURNALISM AWARD WINNER

2019 PULITZER PRIZE FINALIST

2020 ORANGE JULIUS LOYALTY PROGRAM CARD APPLICANT

--

 

Some people have said some nice things about Tom the Dancing Bug:

 

"Ruben Bolling's craft and commentary are as powerful and as pointed, as capable of making you laugh while breaking your heart as they were when we were all so very young."

from Neil Gaiman's foreword to Tom the Dancing Bug: Into the Trumpverse

 

"God bless Tom the Dancing Bug! Funny, succinct, and highly original, Ruben Bolling is able to make sense from the chaos and tragedy of America's political nightmares and make you laugh while doing it. An increasingly rare and more difficult feat these extra bleak days. This is worth your time and money. Do it!"

-David Cross

 

"Behold the wondrous, whimsical, witty world that is Tom the Dancing Bug! If you're someone who's not a fan of potent political humor with an incisive absurdist twist that's not only consistently funny, but downright therapeutic for an ailing world, I suggest you avoid this book like the plague. For everyone else, it's a MUST-READ!"

-Mark Hamill

 

"Delve into the dementia, the dread, and the delightfulness of this collection of Tom the Dancing Bug's strips -- it's history through the lens of a self-loathing insomniac. In a way, it's all of us."

-Patton Oswalt

 

"Ruben Bolling has been sending me his secret messages for years, in the form of comics printed first on paper, and then, once paper became extinct, on the internet. I don't know exactly what he's trying to tell me, except he seems to know about everything I find funny, delightful, strange and inexplicable to get my attention, from obscure literary references to negging deep dish pizza. I don't understand exactly what exactly he's trying to say to me, but I still obsessively keep reading, not just because he's hilarious, but because someday I hope to find out who this Tom the bug is, and why he is dancing." 

-Peter Sagal

 

"This fine collection of work by Mr. Bolling provides ample evidence as to why he is unanimously considered one of the greatest cartoonists in the known universe. How he would rank in that other part of the universe is, of course, a matter that’s still being hotly debated within the scientific community.”

-“Weird Al” Yankovic

 

"I am a HUGE fan of Tom the Dancing Bug! It makes me laugh and think of course but it makes me feel better. No kidding, I read it and I think, someone else thinks like me, only funnier and better informed and I feel good. Thank you Ruben Bolling for giving us Tom The Dancing Bug. (Can't decide whether to capitalize ‘the’)."

-Gary Gulman

 

"The fact that Tom the bug can keep dancing in this day and age is a testament to Ruben Bolling’s skills as a cartoonist!"

-Seth Meyers

 

“Each week Ruben Bolling takes an unassuming little blank white rectangle and fills it up with clever cartoonery, sneaky commentary, and more political laughs than you can shake a stick at. All hail Tom the Dancing Bug!”

-Matt Groening

 

--

 

Link: Boing Boing on the new Tom the Dancing Bug books!

 

 

Photos: These books exist and could be yours:

 

 

UPDATE 10/27/20

 

A couple of very nice reviews:

 

The Comics Journal, on The Super-Fun-Pak Comix Reader:

"A great treasury of wild, often brilliant humor and a record of life in America"

 

The Washington Post, on Tom the Dancing Bug: Into the Trumpverse:

"Like a warm pet that leaps and rolls over before delivering a satiric bite."

 

THE TOM THE DANCING BUG FOR JUSTICE FUNDRAISER

 

 

JULY 1, 2:30pm ET UPDATE

Wow, I'm so touched and grateful for the support you guys showed for this fundraiser.  As of this update, we were able to raise $6,896 for the NAACP Legal Defense Fund! Thank you so much to all who were able to participate.

Here are the winners of Tom the Dancing Bug art:

 

Top Donor:

"Your Friend in Maine," $2,000!

THANK YOU SO MUCH TO YOU AND THE GREAT STATE OF MAINE!

 

Three Random Donors (randomly selected from all eligible donors):

1. Dave Sikula (in tribute to Michael Hutchinson)

2. Rex Robison

3. Joshua Hatch

 

As the rules state, the Top Donor gets first crack at the "Top Prize" of original artwork to the comic "BLM-I-am." So all winning donors should contact me at teamdancingbug at gmail dot com to find out what prize they won, and, if the "Standard Prize," what single-panel, pen/ink 6"x8" drawing they would like (see below).

 

Again, THANK YOU to ALL who participated!

 

--

 

ORIGINAL POST FROM JUNE 4, 2020

 

Hello, friends.

 

It's easy to feel helpless in these very dark times.

 

But we're not helpless, and fighting through that feeling is essential to our ability to get through this crisis.

 

Among the many ways you can help, making financial donations to organizations with infrastructure and expertise, if you are in a position to do so, can make an impact.

 

In the past, I've set up fundraising campaigns for various causes, encouraging people to give, and offering meager, silly prizes, and the support these campaigns received has not only contributed to those organizations, it's helped me to feel a little less helpless and less alone.  And I hope it's helped the participants feel a little less helpless and alone.

 

So today I'm launching this Tom the Dancing Bug for Justice Fundraiser.  Because ever since my comic strip first featured a giant nap-taking alien, people have been saying it's For Justice.

 

-

 

You can participate by making your donation directly to NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund through a donation page I set up:

https://charity.gofundme.com/o/en/campaign/tom-the-dancing-bug-for-justice-fundraiser

 

But watch out, you just might get a prize:  a Tom the Dancing Bug original illustration.  

Four donors will get a Tom the Dancing Bug illustration sent to them:

--> The top donor to the Fundraiser (multiple donations from the same donor will be aggregated); and

--> Three random donors to the Fundraiser regardless of size of donation, $25 minimum.

To be eligible for the prize, be sure to not to check "Hide Amount" or "Don't show my name" on the donation page.

 

The top donor will have first offer of receiving as their prize the TOP PRIZE: the original art (with text to be pasted on) for the comic for the week of 6/8/20, "1st Am's a Sham, BLM-I-am."

 

(6/30/20 9:00AM UPDATE: The current top donation is $2,000. Note that donations that do not publicly indicate the amount are not eligible to be the top donation, so you can track the current top donation.)

 

(original art on left, finished comic on right)

 

If the top donor would prefer the STANDARD PRIZE (see below), the Top Prize will be offered to the random donors, in random order.

The STANDARD PRIZE (for those who don't get the TOP PRIZE): You can have me draw:

A pen/ink recreation of the cover of the Tom the Dancing Bug: Into the Trumpverse book, coming out in August; OR

A pen/ink recreation of (almost) any Super-Fun-Pak Comix (apx. 6 inches x 2 inches); OR

You can tell me what you'd like me to draw (subject to the boundaries of law and propriety), or we can come up with something in collaboration.  God-Man fighting Charley the Australopithecine, Hollingsworth Hound in a tutu, Percival Dunwoody riding a Giant Wombat... whatever you want.  (pen/ink, single panel, apx. 6 inches x 8 inches).

 

The deadline for prize eligibility is 11:59 pm ET, June 30, but why not donate now.  

Winners will be announced HERE on this blog post on July 1, so check back to see if you won.

Thank you, everybody.  Hoping you are fortunate enough to be in a position to help in any way.  

 

Yours Indeed,

Ruben Bolling

 

CLICK HERE TO MAKE A DONATION AND PARTICIPATE IN THE TOM THE DANCING BUG FOR JUSTICE FUNDRAISER.

(Note: I made a $200 donation to start things off and to defray the transaction costs of using gofundme.com to manage this campaign.)

 

--

 

--

 

 

TWO TOM THE DANCING BUG BOOKS!

The Official and Very Professional Video of the Tom the Dancing Bug books.

Watch only if you are prepared to be thrilled, amazed, moved, and curiously motivated to buy books.

 

 

👉 You can order Tom the Dancing Bug: Into the Trumpverse from Clover Press here.

👉 You can order The Super-Fun-Pak Comix Reader from Clover Press here.

 

👉 You can order Tom the Dancing Bug: Into the Trumpverse on Amazon here if you'd like.

 

 

👉👉 AND you can order the Super Fun Tom the Dancing Bug Book Package (both books!) directly from me.👇

        You get:

  ☑️ a copy of Tom the Dancing Bug: Into the Trumpverse, signed / sketched / dated* by Ruben Bolling, personalized if requested

  ☑️ a copy of The Super-Fun-Pak Comix Reader, signed / sketched / dated* by Ruben Bolling, personalized if requested

  ☑️ two signed Tom the Dancing Bug / Super-Fun-Pak Comix bookmarks  

  ☑️ 👇an EXCLUSIVE pdf booklet of "artist's materials," presenting notes, scripts, sketches, pencils and inks for selected comics from both books.

 

Books are available for purchase and shipment NOW!

 

$89.99, cheap.

Order below. If you would like the books signed "to" a particular name (your name, the name of a gift recipient, etc.), type that name in the field below.  If not, you can leave that field blank.

Continental U.S. only please. Includes Media Mail postage.

For deliveries to other locations, please contact teamdancingbug at gmail dot com

 

Name I'd like books signed to

Inner Hive address (if any)

 

--

 

 

I've got to say one of ny biggest disappointments is that because of the pandemic, the books will not be sold in brick-and-mortar bookstores (only online), so the amazing back cover of Into the Trumpverse will never come under the gaze of perusing shoppers.  I'm about as proud of what these folks said about my comic strip as anything I've done.

 

Here is an image of that back cover, and I'm so grateful to all who contributed blurbs.

 

 

 

"Ruben Bolling's craft and commentary are as powerful and as pointed, as capable of making you laugh while breaking your heart as they were when we were all so very young."

from Neil Gaiman's foreword to Tom the Dancing Bug: Into the Trumpverse

 

 

"God bless Tom the Dancing Bug! Funny, succinct, and highly original, Ruben Bolling is able to make sense from the chaos and tragedy of America's political nightmares and make you laugh while doing it. An increasingly rare and more difficult feat these extra bleak days. This is worth your time and money. Do it!"

-David Cross

 

 

"Behold the wondrous, whimsical, witty world that is Tom the Dancing Bug! If you're someone who's not a fan of potent political humor with an incisive absurdist twist that's not only consistently funny, but downright therapeutic for an ailing world, I suggest you avoid this book like the plague. For everyone else, it's a MUST-READ!"

-Mark Hamill

 

 

"Delve into the dementia, the dread, and the delightfulness of this collection of Tom the Dancing Bug's strips -- it's history through the lens of a self-loathing insomniac. In a way, it's all of us."

-Patton Oswalt

 

 

"Ruben Bolling has been sending me his secret messages for years, in the form of comics printed first on paper, and then, once paper became extinct, on the internet. I don't know exactly what he's trying to tell me, except he seems to know about everything I find funny, delightful, strange and inexplicable to get my attention, from obscure literary references to negging deep dish pizza. I don't understand exactly what exactly he's trying to say to me, but I still obsessively keep reading, not just because he's hilarious, but because someday I hope to find out who this Tom the bug is, and why he is dancing." 

-Peter Sagal

 

 

"This fine collection of work by Mr. Bolling provides ample evidence as to why he is unanimously considered one of the greatest cartoonists in the known universe. How he would rank in that other part of the universe is, of course, a matter that’s still being hotly debated within the scientific community.”

-“Weird Al” Yankovic

 

 

"I am a HUGE fan of Tom the Dancing Bug! It makes me laugh and think of course but it makes me feel better. No kidding, I read it and I think, someone else thinks like me, only funnier and better informed and I feel good. Thank you Ruben Bolling for giving us Tom The Dancing Bug. (Can't decide whether to capitalize ‘the’)."

-Gary Gulman

 

 

"That fact that Tom the bug can keep dancing in this day and age is a testament to Ruben Bolling’s skills as a cartoonist!"

-Seth Meyers

 

 

“Each week Ruben Bolling takes an unassuming little blank white rectangle and fills it up with clever cartoonery, sneaky commentary, and more political laughs than you can shake a stick at. All hail Tom the Dancing Bug!”

-Matt Groening

 

---------

*Yes, I will date your book. But I will be a perfect gentleman.

 

 

 

The Official and Very Professional Video of the Tom the Dancing Bug books.

Watch only if you are prepared to be thrilled, amazed, moved, and curiously motivated to buy books.

 

 

👉 You can order Tom the Dancing Bug: Into the Trumpverse from Clover Press here.

👉 You can order The Super-Fun-Pak Comix Reader from Clover Press here.

 

👉 You can order Tom the Dancing Bug: Into the Trumpverse on Amazon here if you'd like.

 

 

👉👉 AND you can order the Super Fun Tom the Dancing Bug Book Package (both books!) directly from me.👇

        You get:

  ☑️ a copy of Tom the Dancing Bug: Into the Trumpverse, signed / sketched / dated* by Ruben Bolling, personalized if requested

  ☑️ a copy of The Super-Fun-Pak Comix Reader, signed / sketched / dated* by Ruben Bolling, personalized if requested

  ☑️ two signed Tom the Dancing Bug / Super-Fun-Pak Comix bookmarks  

  ☑️ 👇an EXCLUSIVE pdf booklet of "artist's materials," presenting notes, scripts, sketches, pencils and inks for selected comics from both books.

 

Books are available for purchase and shipment NOW!

 

$89.99, cheap.

Order below. If you would like the books signed "to" a particular name (your name, the name of a gift recipient, etc.), type that name in the field below.  If not, you can leave that field blank.

Continental U.S. only please. Includes Media Mail postage.

For deliveries to other locations, please contact teamdancingbug at gmail dot com

 

Name I'd like books signed to

Inner Hive address (if any)

 

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I've got to say one of ny biggest disappointments is that because of the pandemic, the books will not be sold in brick-and-mortar bookstores (only online), so the amazing back cover of Into the Trumpverse will never come under the gaze of perusing shoppers.  I'm about as proud of what these folks said about my comic strip as anything I've done.

 

Here is an image of that back cover, and I'm so grateful to all who contributed blurbs.

 

 

 

"Ruben Bolling's craft and commentary are as powerful and as pointed, as capable of making you laugh while breaking your heart as they were when we were all so very young."

from Neil Gaiman's foreword to Tom the Dancing Bug: Into the Trumpverse

 

 

"God bless Tom the Dancing Bug! Funny, succinct, and highly original, Ruben Bolling is able to make sense from the chaos and tragedy of America's political nightmares and make you laugh while doing it. An increasingly rare and more difficult feat these extra bleak days. This is worth your time and money. Do it!"

-David Cross

 

 

"Behold the wondrous, whimsical, witty world that is Tom the Dancing Bug! If you're someone who's not a fan of potent political humor with an incisive absurdist twist that's not only consistently funny, but downright therapeutic for an ailing world, I suggest you avoid this book like the plague. For everyone else, it's a MUST-READ!"

-Mark Hamill

 

 

"Delve into the dementia, the dread, and the delightfulness of this collection of Tom the Dancing Bug's strips -- it's history through the lens of a self-loathing insomniac. In a way, it's all of us."

-Patton Oswalt

 

 

"Ruben Bolling has been sending me his secret messages for years, in the form of comics printed first on paper, and then, once paper became extinct, on the internet. I don't know exactly what he's trying to tell me, except he seems to know about everything I find funny, delightful, strange and inexplicable to get my attention, from obscure literary references to negging deep dish pizza. I don't understand exactly what exactly he's trying to say to me, but I still obsessively keep reading, not just because he's hilarious, but because someday I hope to find out who this Tom the bug is, and why he is dancing." 

-Peter Sagal

 

 

"This fine collection of work by Mr. Bolling provides ample evidence as to why he is unanimously considered one of the greatest cartoonists in the known universe. How he would rank in that other part of the universe is, of course, a matter that’s still being hotly debated within the scientific community.”

-“Weird Al” Yankovic

 

 

"I am a HUGE fan of Tom the Dancing Bug! It makes me laugh and think of course but it makes me feel better. No kidding, I read it and I think, someone else thinks like me, only funnier and better informed and I feel good. Thank you Ruben Bolling for giving us Tom The Dancing Bug. (Can't decide whether to capitalize ‘the’)."

-Gary Gulman

 

 

"That fact that Tom the bug can keep dancing in this day and age is a testament to Ruben Bolling’s skills as a cartoonist!"

-Seth Meyers

 

 

“Each week Ruben Bolling takes an unassuming little blank white rectangle and fills it up with clever cartoonery, sneaky commentary, and more political laughs than you can shake a stick at. All hail Tom the Dancing Bug!”

-Matt Groening

 

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*Yes, I will date your book. But I will be a perfect gentleman.