Month: August 2009

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.

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

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) —

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.

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.

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

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.

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.

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.

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?