Category: Uncategorized

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)

The Number Four Tom the Dancing Bug of 2023:

The Republican Circus, at Mar-a-Lago (from the week of June 12)

The Number Five Tom the Dancing Bug of 2023:

Hollingsworth Hound, in “A Q-1 Carol” (from the week of January 23)

The Number Six Tom the Dancing Bug of 2023:

The Republican Circus: Woke (from the week of March 20)

(I can’t help but mention that members of Tom the Dancing Bug’s Inner Hive received a secret, exclusive FIFTH Republican Circus Woke cartoon!)

The Number Seven Tom the Dancing Bug of 2023:

The Super-Fun-Pak Comix from the week of January 16

The Number Eight Tom the Dancing Bug of 2023:

Chagrin Falls: “The Online Life” (from the week of July 10)

The Number Nine Tom the Dancing Bug of 2023:

MAGAbert (from the week of February 27)

In case you’ve forgotten: