Tom The Dancing Bug Blog

New Tom the Dancing Bug, with Product Placement Auction WinnerS!

This week's Tom the Dancing Bug ("Best comic strip ever." -The Internet)   ...

SUPER FUN PAK COMIX!    

Included in this installment is the winner of the Tom the Dancing Bug Product Placement Auction (TDBPPA, to those in the know).

Or, I should say the plural winners, because two products actually won.  After a winner was declared, and I started writing the comic that would include its placement, I realized it would be funnier (and raise almost double the amount of money) if I included the product that came in second place.

So the TDBPPA ended up raising over $500 for the Committee To Protect Journalists.  Thanks go out not only to the winners, but to everyone who bid and participated.

The winning product is the book "Star Wars:  The Essential Atlas," published by Del Rey Books, by Daniel Wallace and Jason Fry.

 

And, coming in second place is the book "Keeping Faith With the Constitution," published by the American Constitution Society, by Goodwin Liu, Pamela S. Karlan and Christopher H. Schroeder.

Sneak Preview...

This week's comic, a Super-Fun-Pak Comix, features the following blockbusters:

Product Placement Comics;

Fun Facts for the Gullible;

Dinkle, the Unlovable Loser;

James Caan 'n' The Ghost of James Caan;

How To Draw Doug; and

the further adventures of Small Ragtag Group of World War II Soldiers

I'm pretty sure he used the same font as I use for Super-Fun-Pak Comix titles.

Patton Oswalt's new special is on Comedy Central this Sunday at 10pm (your time may vary).

Cover art for the DVD (buy it) is by Ivan Brunetti:

UPDATE:  And, in a related note, don't forget that David Cross has come out with a book (buy it) --

How come Jeff thought of this and I didn't?

Brilliant cartoonist Jeff Danziger writes in to note that former Republican House Majority Leader Tom DeLay, whose nickname is "The Exterminator" because of his career before politics, is now going to be a contestant on "Dancing With the Stars"...

which makes him Tom the Dancing Bug Killer.

"Jesus towel. Electronic! Towel!"

Here are some of the comments entered by people voted for Tom the Dancing Bug as the Best Comic Strip Ever (TM) at Rankopedia in just the last few days.  Modesty would ordinarily prevent me from drawing attention to such praise, but some of these are so insightful and spot-on, lucidly compiling an air-tight case for Tom's #1 position (see "czwheeler" and "jimminy", third and fourth ones down, for example), I felt I owed it to my readers to post these entries.

Tom the Dancing Bug: "Best strip ever, so funny especially Iron Chef Bob" (zeigen)

Tom the Dancing Bug: "Lucky Ducky!" ([email protected])

Tom the Dancing Bug: "Tom the Dancing Bug is the only thing which makes the screaming stop. OH GOD THE SCREAMING, MAKE IT STOP, RUBEN BOLLING! OH CRUEL RUBEN BOLLING MAKE IT STOP. my life is agony. DAMN YOU, BOLLING!" (czwheeler)

Tom the Dancing Bug: "In 1972, T the DB ran for a Congressional seat in southwest Missouri, narrowly losing the Republican primary to Gene Taylor. After the primary, Missouri Governor Christopher Bond appointed T the DB to" (jimminy)

Tom the Dancing Bug: "Funniest" (rogerfruvous)

Tom the Dancing Bug: "Right mix of funny/political" (notsofast)

Tom the Dancing Bug: "Awesome" (joe2)

Tom the Dancing Bug: "It's the most insightful and funny comic I've ever read" ([email protected])

Tom the Dancing Bug: "It's the funniest, cleverest cartoon" (bpb)

Tom the Dancing Bug: "Speaks directly to my soul." (sschenkmanmoore)

Tom the Dancing Bug: "Life is short. Why not vote for Tom the Dancing Bug?" (chrisolson)

Tom the Dancing Bug: "Popular culture satire at its best" (dpratt)

Tom the Dancing Bug: "It's insightful and funny at the same time: and Super Fun Pak Comix!" (daguidry)

Tom the Dancing Bug: "The most well-rounded, poignant and consistenly funny comic still being produced" (huggybear)

Tom the Dancing Bug: "Most cever by far. " (andrea)

Tom the Dancing Bug: "It's a wonderful blend of intellectual humour and scathing views of current events" (ilyana)

Tom the Dancing Bug: "Compact, friendly, cooling and soothing" (sconstant)

Tom the Dancing Bug: "The cheese in my pants is squishy" (agcchris)

Tom the Dancing Bug: "Its GREAT!!!!" (mygolly)

Tom the Dancing Bug: "It's funny & satirical & poignant" (joe-gridley)

Tom the Dancing Bug: "Super strip, very topical and funny" (bushika)

Tom the Dancing Bug: "It makes me weep a manly tear while at weddings" (reader)

Tom the Dancing Bug: "I can lick my own pawpads" (imnotmatt)

Tom the Dancing Bug: "Cheese is made from milk" (79x)

Tom the Dancing Bug: "It is unique and very funny" (nydeggan)

Tom the Dancing Bug: "It smells like roses and that's saying something since as far as i know, most online comics have no smell at all" (snitchy)

Tom the Dancing Bug: "If I don't vote for this, Ruben Bolling will feed my goldfish to Cap'n Andy" (sandiegocynic)

Tom the Dancing Bug: "The mean man said he would let me out of the box" (substatique)

Tom the Dancing Bug: "Terrorists destroyed the World Trade Center, killing thousands." (sojnthn)

Tom the Dancing Bug: "My Nipples explode with the light!" (badvlad)

Tom the Dancing Bug: "Billy Dare. Hot Dog! That did it!" (zombra)

Tom the Dancing Bug: "This confrontation is willed by God, who wants to use this conflict to erase his people’s enemies before a New Age begins." (ramseyarnaoot)

Tom the Dancing Bug: "It's a bug. and it dances. do i have to draw a picture?" (krucz36)

Tom the Dancing Bug: "There were cockroaches inside the microwave clock display! How did they get there?!? Maybe James Mega-Owner knows..." (uniqueloginname)

Tom the Dancing Bug: "Judge Scalia - Iron Fist of Justice" (tulliaferox)

Tom the Dancing Bug: "Sir Norman Angell always never said that WW I could not happen." (marvinhampton)

Tom the Dancing Bug: "Oh WTF, 79 Rankopedia members can't be wrong." (yogibarrister)

Tom the Dancing Bug: "Jesus towel. Electronic! Towel!" (valmont7)

Tom the Dancing Bug: "He kept them sweating and grunting all afternoon." (johnnypigs)

This week's comic

Hey hey,  party people.  Check out the new comic!  And don't forget to fan me on facebook!  And twitter!   Wheeeee!

more shameless promotion ;-)

almost forgot to mention that this weekend I'll be at the Arles Faire... I'm chipping in on a table with my friend Vincent , an up-and-coming artist.  Come by and say hi.

What is it about The Washington Post and Dick Cheney?

Or is that a stupid question?

The Washington Post refused to run a Tank McNamara comic this week -- the installment satirically depicited Dick Cheney suggesting that the NFL solve the Mike Vick situation by having him killed.

Back in 2007, they pulled this comic I did about Dick Cheney.  Then a couple months later they canceled Tom the Dancing Bug ("Best Comic Strip Ever."  -The Internet) altogether, despite great reader outcry.

Tom the Dancing Bug... Best. Comic. Strip. Ever!

As most of you know, the most reliable and prestigious barometer of excellence in comics is the Rankopedia "Best Comic Strip Ever" poll.  Each morning, I, and doubtlessly millions of others, peruse the pantheon of luminaries at the top of the list over a cup of coffee to see which comic strips the critics, historians and fans hold in the highest esteem.

So imagine my shock today when I checked on the list and found my own comic strip, "Tom the Dancing Bug" sitting on top of this list, above some of the greatest popular artists this globe has ever seen.

What I did to suddenly deserve this wholly unexpected honor, I know not.  (But writing in a pretentious, self-important manner by mixing up the order of clauses, I shall.)  Perhaps it was my recent award-winning, wildly popular comics about James Caan's ghost.  Maybe it's because the strip's enduring catchphrase, "Giant Wombats!" has swept the nation.  Some might say it was simply the zeitgeist catching up with genius, although humility would prevent me from saying so myself, thus leaving it to Some.

How this happened isn't important.  The only thing that is important is that "Tom the Dancing Bug" is objectively and irrefutably the Best Comic Strip Ever.

Ever.

I'm speechless, and I'm humbled.  Which is why I just wrote this long speech about how great I am.

Here it is.  It's on the internet, so it must be true.

Up to #2

Yet I happen to know for a fact that far less than 1% of those reading this have gone to Rankopedia to vote. 

You're better than that, people.

Let's do this.

Go.  Vote.

UPDATE:  When you vote for "Tom the Dancing Bug,"  the polling requires you to rank at least two other comics strips as well.  Be sure NOT to include any comic strips ranked higher than "Tom."   

UPDATE 2:  Btw, there is an optional comment section when you vote. What say we get the weirdest, most nonsensical non sequiturs in the tom the dancing bug comments?