Welcome to the Tom the Dancing Bug Review.
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Hello, friends! I hope you’re having a fine and delightful holiday season.
This week’s comic features God-Man, the Omniopotent Superhero, saving millions of souls trapped by villainous latex rubber.
Read this week’s Tom the Dancing Bug on GoComics HERE.
Read this week’s Tom the Dancing Bug on BoingBoing HERE.
Read this week’s Tom the Dancing Bug on DailyKos HERE.
This week’s long-distance dedication goes out to longtime Inner Hive member Nevermoore and new member Samantha h..
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Well, the Countdown of the Top Ten Tom the Dancing Bugs of 2023 is continuing apace. Numbers 10 through 4, which were determined Objectively by Science, have already been announced.
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 for the first time, I present here today, to the valued readers of The Tom the Dancing Bug Review, as voted on by the illustrious members of the Inner Hive, by virtue of membership in the team whose support makes the comic strip itself possible, the NUMBER THREE TOM THE DANCING BUG OF 2023:
Another Human
(from the week of October 16)
The Number Two and Number One Tom the Dancing Bugs of 2023 will be announced tomorrow and December 31, respectively. You can read the Top Ten so far on the Tom the Dancing Bug webpage/blog, and you can follow along for the next two days either there, or on my various social media outlets (info below).
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This week’s Classic Tom the Dancing Bug (published on GoComics yesterday) is Charley the Australopithecine, in “The Real World: Hoboken” (from 2000).
Is The Real World a thing anymore? Is MTV? I know Odwallas are not.
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And this week the GoComics Super-Fun-Pak Comix page has featured comics from this installment (from 2007).
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That’s it for this week, and that’s it for this year. I’m so happy to have you as a reader, and I thank you for your kind attention all year. I truly hope you’ve enjoyed the comics.
If you aren’t already, I appeal to you to become a member of the Inner Hive for 2024 and become part of the team that makes Tom the Dancing Bug possible.
Join at Patreon, and get info about the Inner Hive HERE. The most popular way to subscribe. Base rate is $3/month.
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If you want to avoid third party subscription services and recurring payments, you can even sign up HERE for a one-time pre-paid two-year membership, purchased directly from me.
In any case,
Keep your feet on the ground, and keep reaching for the stars.
HAPPY NEW YEAR from Your Friend,
Rb
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The Complete Tom the Dancing Bug program continues with its brandest newest book:
Volume 3 - On the Trail of Tom the Dancing Bug!!
ORDERS NOW BEING ACCEPTED!
ORDERS FOR PERSONALIZED, SIGNED, AND SKETCHED-IN BOOKS ARE BEING SENT OUT IN THE ORDER IN WHICH THEY HAVE BEEN RECEIVED EVEN AS WE SPEAK!
TOM THE DANCING BUG: ALL-MIGHTY COMICS, VOLUME 3 IN THE COMPLETE TOM THE DANCING BUG -- 1999-2002. Clover Press’s Complete Tom the Dancing Bug program strides confidently ahead with the third chronological volume, covering every installment of the comic strip, a two-time Pulitzer Prize Finalist, from 1999-2002.
This volume not only includes the comic strip’s favorite formats and characters, such as Super-Fun-Pak Comix, God-Man, the Omnipotent Superhero, Charley the Australopithecine, and its cover character Billy Dare, Boy Adventurer, it also includes the strip’s famed and award-winning urgent turn into political satire following 9/11. Also in the volume is Ruben Bolling’s brief run of monthly full-page comics for The New Yorker, and a special comic for The Village Voice on the 2000 Subway World Series.
Tom the Dancing Bug is the wildly popular, groundbreaking comic strip that Mark Hamill called “wondrous, whimsical, and witty,” and that led Seth Meyers to recently write, “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!”
Ordering your Signed/Sketched copy of ON THE TRAIL OF TOM THE DANCING BUG here.
Order a Signed/Sketched copy of On the Trail of Tom the Dancing Bug directly from me at the link above, and I’ll sign the book and draw an illustration in it.
AND you will get an authenticated bookmark with your copy of On the Trail of Tom the Dancing Bug. PLUS you will get a special sticker with your purchase of On the Trail of Tom the Dancing Bug!
And/or purchase a SIGNED BOOK COMBO DEAL, the perfect gift in this gift-giving season
Just in time for the holiday season, you can purchase a SIGNED BOOK COMBO DEAL from me, most of which are two-book packages from the Complete Tom the Dancing Bug program, for not-far-from cover price.
I won’t be drawing an illustration in the books at these rock-bottom prices, but I will sign your books, and you'll still get each book's corresponding bookmark and sticker, if available.
And you never know... I might just draw a tiny little something in it anyway, as long as I'm signing it and I've got a pen in my hand.
View all the SIGNED BOOK COMBO DEALS here!
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The Tom the Dancing Bug shop at Threadless is growing.
Confuse your friends. Perplex your neighbors. Confound yourself. Various colors, styles, sizes available.
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In case you are interested:
Here is the official Tom the Dancing Bug webpage: tomthedancingbug.com
You can join me on:
Threads (@rubenbolling)
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I’m still on Twitter, but mostly just to burn down my account
And I’m on Substack’s own Notes.
I am also on: Facebook and Instagram.
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My email address is tomdbug at gmail dot com
The Tom the Dancing Bug Review. Copyright 2023 Ruben Bolling.