Creators come in many forms, and it is not necessarily a requirement to have formal training in your endeavors. Such was the case for Pulitzer Prize-nominated cartoonist Ruben Bolling (A.K.A. Ken Fisher). Ruben is the creator of Tom the Dancing Bug, an idea he conceived while attending Harvard Law School. Eventually, Tom the Dancing Bug was syndicated and appeared in over 100 newspapers nationwide.
For his efforts, Ruben has been recognized with multiple awards for cartooning, including the aforementioned Pulitzer Prize nominations. It is through the collaboration with Clover Press that 30 years of Tom the Dancing Bug have been collected into an 8-volume set, with the last two volumes coming to Kickstarter soon. In advance of this new Kickstarter campaign, we were fortunate enough to sit down with Mr. Bolling to discuss his creative history and this latest addition to Clover Press’ Tom the Dancing Bug Collection. So let’s welcome Ruben Bolling to GVN Talking Comics.
Creative Beginnings
GVN: Thank you, Ruben, for sharing just a few moments of your day. Since this is our first opportunity to talk, let’s start with your creative beginnings. You had no formal art training when you started pursuing cartooning. Whose work inspired that idea, and was it originally just for your own entertainment, or did you have ambitions to put your work out (for public consumption) from the beginning?
RUBEN: I grew up loving comic books and comic strips, just about indiscriminately: Spider-Man, Donald Duck, Dennis the Menace, Goofus and Gallant — whatever I could get my hands on. But it was in college that I was specifically inspired by Peanuts, Doonesbury and Mad Magazine, all lifelong obsessions.
And I’ve always drawn with the idea that others would read my comics. Even when I was ten years old and drawing my own line of superhero comic books (Cheetah-Man, Yellowjacket, The Tornado, etc.), I forced my parents and friends to read them.
Peer Recognition
GVN: Since then, framed by your law practice, you’ve received numerous awards for your political cartoons. When you first began, did you ever imagine your work would be so well-received, especially by your fellow cartoonists?
RUBEN: I’m flabbergasted by Tom the Dancing Bug’s success with awards, which kind of outstrips other aspects of my success. If anything, I thought the comic may become popular, but there’s no way it will gain respectability and accolades.
The Origins of Tom the Dancing Bug
GVN: It was while you were at Harvard that the idea of “Tom the Dancing Bug” came to fruition. What was that inspiration for this now iconic strip, and what made you decide to use the pseudonym Ruben Bolling in its creation?
RUBEN: My idea for Tom the Dancing Bug was to do a weekly satirical comic strip that was like Mad Magazine in which I was the entire “gang of idiots.” Or like Saturday Night Live, where I was all the Not Ready for Primetime Players. I wanted to do premise-based sketch-comedy comics, where each week would be totally different – different characters, different comedic tones, different art styles. That’s served me well over the long span of the comic strip, because it always keeps it fresh – for me and the readers.
I made up the pseudonym in school because I didn’t want all my classmates to know I was the guy who did the comics, but also probably because I always wanted a secret identity.
“The George Lucas Approach to a Series”
GVN: Speaking of Tom the Dancing Bug, Clover Press is prepping to launch a new Kickstarter campaign to complete their eight-volume set of your “The Dancing Bug” comic strip collections. This will add two new books, collecting the earliest Tom the Dancing Bug strips from the 90s. Was this the plan from the beginning to complete this set, and would this be a good jumping-on point for those unfamiliar with the strip?
RUBEN: When we launched the project in 2020, the plan was always to start with the newest material, so the first volume published was Volume 7. And then we’d work our way backwards to Volume 1, slipping in Volume 8 once the four years that comprise that volume were completed. It’s the George Lucas approach to series.
Any Complete Tom the Dancing Bug volume is good as a starting point for the comic, but I’ll say that the earlier volumes are more absurdist, more philosophical, and in some ways more audacious in the writing. The later volumes are more overtly political, more timely, and more polished and professional. I became a much more consistent writer over the years.
A Homage to the KING
GVN: I want to begin by admitting that I was unfamiliar with the strip before diving into it. However, the more I read, the more I realize what I have missed. I really love the cover of “Secret Origins” and its homage to Jack Kirby’s Fantastic Four. Was this cover created specifically for this collection, or is it from an earlier release?
RUBEN: I just drew that Secret Origins cover a few months ago, for this upcoming volume, and it comes from my love of comics. In fact, I learned early on that it’s tough to satirize TV shows and movies in a comic strip because it’s a different medium. But parodying comics in a comics medium is very effective because I can evoke the source material directly, which suits me just fine. I have an absolute blast drawing in the styles of Kirby, Bill Watterson (Calvin & Hobbes), Charles Schulz (Peanuts), Carl Barks (Donald Duck), or Curt Swan (Superman), to name a few recent comics I’ve done.
The Kickstarter Campaign
GVN: I mentioned the Kickstarter campaign managed by the great team at Clover Press. What else can fans discover when visiting this campaign besides the two exciting additions to the “Tom the Dancing Bug” collection?
RUBEN: I know that Clover has plans for a collectible print, t-shirts, a slipcase for the entire 8-volume set, and more, but I’m honestly most excited about something I’m currently working on that hasn’t been announced yet. How’s that for a teaser?
Following Ruben
GVN: Thank you again, Ruben, for your time. Before I let you go, I want to give you the chance to remind our readers about the upcoming Kickstarter and where fans can go to check out you and your work.
RUBEN: Thanks so much. Readers can track the Kickstarter for Volumes 1 and 2, and sign up to be notified when it launches, at this site:
And you can follow the comic strip from its website tomthedancingbug.com, where you can link to comics and news, and join Tom the Dancing Bug’s Inner Hive to get exclusive pre-publication access to the comic strip every week.
Senior Writer at GeekVibesNation – I am a 60 something child of the 70’s who admits to being a Star Trek/Star Wars/Comic Book junkie who once dove headfirst over a cliff (Ok, it was a small hill) to try to rescue his Fantastic Four comic from a watery grave. I am married to a lovely woman who is as crazy as I am and the proud parent of a 21-year-old young man with autism. My wife and son are my real heroes.
