For a limited time, I’m offering The Tom the Dancing Bug Reader, a pdf sampler of 22 Tom the Dancing Bug comics from 2003-2024, for FREE. For anyone and everyone.

To get your pdf, simply enter your email address in the form below, press the Contact Us button, and you’ll get download instructions in a while. (The Name and Message fields are not necessary.)

FORM DELETED; OFFER EXPIRED.

You will also be enrolled to get the Tom the Dancing Bug Review newsletter, a (free) weekly email by, of, and about all things Tom the Dancing Bug.

E-Z, fun, and free!

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APRIL 19 UPDATE: I’ve retired the form for obtaining the free Tom the Dancing Bug Reader pdf.

You can still get the free pdf by going to this week’s Tom the Dancing Bug Review newsletter (4/19/24) and getting the pdf link, which should be good until April 25. (Subscribe to the newsletter to find out about other offers in the future!)

After that, The Tom the Dancing Bug Reader will only be available in the Tom the Dancing Bug shop ($5), along with other Tom the Dancing Bug pdf books available for purchase.

Of course, for Tom the Dancing Bug physical books, go the Tom the Dancing Bug Store, and peruse The Complete Tom the Dancing Bug collection.

What is the Inner Hive?  It’s a subscription service. It’s a secret society. It’s a ragtag group of ne’er-do-wells with ideas that are so crazy, they just might work.

It’s the team that literally makes it possible for Tom the Dancing Bug to exist in this world.

And we want YOU as a member!  Every week, you’ll get an email with that week’s Tom the Dancing Bug AT LEAST A DAY BEFORE IT’S PUBLISHED ANYWHERE ONLINE.  Plus exclusive commentary, insights, process pics, extra comics, jokes, puzzles, recipes, and all benefits accruing.

How can you join?  Let me count the ways:

1. You can join on Patreon, now the most popular platform for new Inner Hivers, offering not only emails but also a website on which you can read the posts.  Plus, the Patreon option offers different levels of membership, with varying benefits.  (Monthly automatic recurring payments.)
2.  You can join at MailChimp/CampaignZee, the platform on which the Inner Hive was first launched, way back in 2012, offering weekly emails only (no website option). (Semi-annual automatic recurring payments.)
3.  You can join on Substack, the latest platform to join the Inner Hive family.  (Monthly automatic recurring payments.)
4.  You can avoid automatic recurring payments by joining on a two-year non-recurring membership, directly from me.

No matter how you join, you’ll earn the adoration of a grateful nation and world.

Thank you for reading this message, and I hope to see you on the team.
–Ruben Bolling

I’m offering for sale signed, numbered prints of another comic: “Generation Gaps.” Prints will be 9 inches by 12 inches.

“Generation Gaps” was published the week of August 28, and was voted the #1 Tom the Dancing Bug comic of 2023.

Again, to make this manageable for me, I’m selling only twenty of these right now, and they will be signed, dated and numbered individually A1/20 through A20/20.

I will also personalize the signature to any name you wish: If so, put the name in the field “NAME YOU WANT PRINT TO BE SIGNED TO (IF ANY).” If not, you can leave that field blank.

The last time I sold signed, numbered prints (which was also the first time), they sold out in less than a day, so if you’re interested, you should act fast.

I’m not sure if I can limit quantities on PayPal, so I’ll shut the link down when 20 have been sold. But I may not catch it in time, so if you order after the 20 limit has been reached, I’ll refund all money to you.

$99.99 (plus $10 s/h). U.S. addresses only.

Purchase your print here 👇

UPDATE 4/3/24: I’m suspending sales until Friday morning. There are only a few left, and I want to give subscribers to The Tom the Dancing Bug Review, which is sent out Friday mornings, a chance to be notified of the sale.

UPDATE 4/5/24: Offer has resumed.

UPDATE 4/5/24: Sold out! Thank you, everyone!

I’m trying something new: I’m selling signed, numbered prints of last week’s comic: “A Tribute to the American Story: Liberals Are Always Right.” Prints will be apx. 9 inches by 12 inches (exact dimensions to come).

To make this manageable for me, I’m selling only twenty of these right now, and they will be signed, dated and numbered individually A1/20 through A20/20.

I will also personalize the signature to any name you wish.

I can’t limit quantities on PayPal, so I’ll shut the link down when 20 have been sold. But I may not catch it in time, so if you order after the 20 limit has been reached, I’ll refund all money to you.

$99 (plus $10 s/h). U.S. addresses only.

Purchase your print here 👇

< UPDATE 2/21/24: Sold out! Thank you, everyone! >

In celebration of this week’s comic, Lucky Ducky, in “Dog Show,” I’m offering, for a limited time only, gear, swag, and merchandise from the prestigious and exclusive Dogos Forum.

Who wouldn’t want gear from the very Dogos Forum that Hollingsworth Hound attended, and at which he solved all the world’s problems? Show your friends that you are one of the canine elite who meet to treat all the poor lucky duckies to your genius ideas!

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* not limited

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: 1/1/24

New York, NY: The weekly comic strip “Tom the Dancing Bug,” by Ruben Bolling, announced that it has added Mickey Mouse to its roster of characters. Today, copyright to the Mickey Mouse character lapsed from the ownership of The Disney Company to the public domain.

The first “Tom the Dancing Bug” comic strip of 2024, which premiered today on the website BoingBoing.net, features Mickey Mouse in various roles in the comic strip’s Super-Fun-Pak Comix feature. Link at: https://boingboing.net/2024/01/01/meet-tom-the-dancing-bugs-newest-character-mickey-mouse.html

Mickey Mouse is one of thousands of pieces of intellectual property first published in 1928 that are entering the public domain under United States copyright law. This means that Mickey Mouse and these other properties may now be published and used by anyone, without the permission of the original copyright holders.

“Tom the Dancing Bug” author Ruben Bolling believes that Mickey Mouse will be a valuable addition to the comic strip’s roster of characters. He said, “Mickey Mouse is a pretty good character, and I’m looking forward to putting the character in some funny situations, which may increase his popularity.”

Bolling added, “I also understand that Mickey has a girlfriend that entered the public domain this year, and think I may use her too, because their romance could lead to some comic situations.”

About “Tom the Dancing Bug”: ”Tom the Dancing Bug,” the weekly comic strip by Ruben Bolling, is a two-time Pulitzer Prize Finalist, a Herblock Prize winner, and a Robert F. Kennedy Journalism Award Winner. In addition to being syndicated to newspapers by Andrews McMeel Syndication, it appears on the websites BoingBoing.net, DailyKos.com, and GoComics.com. More information is at tomthedancingbug.com.

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And… The Number One Tom the Dancing Bug of 2023, as determined by a vote among members of Tom the Dancing Bug’s Proud and Mighty Inner Hive:

Generation Gaps (from the week of August 28)

Congratulations to all contenders, thank you for playing.

You can enhance your 2024 by joining the Inner Hive, the ragtag team of misfits that makes it possible for Tom the Dancing Bug to exist in this world, and/or up your Tom the Dancing Bug in various other ways, at THIS LINK.

Happy New Year to all Tom the Dancing Bug readers, large and small.

The Number Two Tom the Dancing Bug of 2023:

Hey, Billionaires! (from the week of June 26)

Tomorrow, if you haven’t figured out the pattern yet: The NUMBER ONE TOM THE DANCING BUG OF 2023!

NOTE: Numbers 10 through 4, which have already been announced, were determined Objectively by Science.  But the Top Three Tom the Dancing Bugs of 2023 were determined by the very human and very subjective members of the Proud and Mighty Inner Hive, through a vote that garnered unexpectedly high participation and enthusiasm.

And so

The Number Three Tom the Dancing Bug of 2023:

Another Human (from the week of October 16)