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UPDATE 9/15/26: 🇺🇸 The Tom the Dancing Bug Community Saves America Drive

UPDATE TO THE UPDATE 10/1/26: This offer has now expired, but don’t let that stop you from checking out SPREAD THE VOTE, or The Complete Tom the Dancing Bug Library. THANK YOU to everyone who participated and helped promote voting in the U.S.A.

I’ve set up an offer for the remainder of the month of September: Purchase any signed and/or sketched Tom the Dancing Bug book or book package from my website during the The Tom the Dancing Bug Readers Save America Drive, and I’ll donate $20 to Spread the Vote to help their efforts to get all voters across the United States to make their votes count.



From Spread the Vote:

“Democracy only works when everyone can access it. But millions of Americans face barriers to basic civic participation, from obtaining identification to understanding how, when, and where to vote.

Spread The Vote bridges that gap.

Through direct support, voter education, and on-the-ground programs, we equip people with the tools they need to engage in civic life. Whether it’s providing trusted voter information, or increasing turnout among underserved communities, our work is rooted in one belief:

Participation should be possible for everyone.”

Just purchase any book or book package at this link, the Tom the Dancing Bug Store, and it will trigger a $20 donation to the organization.  You’ll get an email confirming the donation in your honor.

So help me help these guys help America, and help yourself to some books.



The Tom the Dancing Bug Community Saves America Drive starts today (9/15) and ends 11:59 ET September 30. One twenty dollar donation per order.

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Announcing the now completely complete Complete Tom the Dancing Bug Library!

I’m amazed to announce that the entire run of Tom the Dancing Bug is now contained in eight beautifully published volumes (Clover Press), all in print and ready to find their forever homes.

The final two volumes to be published, paradoxically, are Volumes 1 and 2, compiling the earliest Tom the Dancing Bug adventures, from 1990-1994 and 1995-1998, respectively. The publication of these two volumes have completed the full eight-volume set.

These two volumes are finally now for sale at the Tom the Dancing Bug Store, signed by Ruben Bolling. And you can also purchase them in packages with the other volumes, signed and/or sketched in by Ruben Bolling.

Also brand new is the new comic book Trump You!, which curates the most infamous Trumpcentric Tom the Dancing Bugs of 2024-2025. This is also for sale, signed by Ruben Bolling, at the Tom the Dancing Bug Store, here.

(UPDATE 9/15: A purchase of the Trump You! comic book is not part of the Tom the Dancing Bug Community Saves America Drive)

About The Complete Tom the Dancing Bug Library

• Volume 1, Tom the Dancing Bug: Secret Origins (1990-1994), published July 2026
• Volume 2, Sex, Tom the Dancing Bug, & Rock ‘n’ Roll (1995-1998), published July 2026
• Volume 3, On the Trail of Tom the Dancing Bug (1999-2002), published June 2023
• Volume 4, Tom the Dancing Bug: All-Mighty Comics (2003-2006), published October 2022.
• Volume 5, Tom the Dancing Bug: Eat the Poor (2007-2011), published June 2022.
• Volume 6, Tom the Dancing Bug Awakens (2012-2015), published December 2021.
• Volume 7, Tom the Dancing Bug: Into the Trumpverse (2016-2019), published August 2020.
• Volume 8, “It’s the Great Storm, Tom the Dancing Bug!” (2020-2023), published July 2024

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Praise for the Tom the Dancing Bug books:
 

“God bless Tom the Dancing Bug! Funny, succinct, and highly original, Ruben Bolling is able to make sense from the chaos and tragedy of America’s political nightmares and make you laugh while doing it. An increasingly rare and more difficult feat these extra bleak days. This is worth your time and money. Do it!”
-David Cross
 
“Behold the wondrous, whimsical, witty world that is Tom the Dancing Bug! If you’re someone who’s not a fan of potent political humor with an incisive absurdist twist that’s not only consistently funny, but downright therapeutic for an ailing world, I suggest you avoid this book like the plague. For everyone else, it’s a MUST-READ!”
-Mark Hamill
 
“Delve into the dementia, the dread, and the delightfulness of this collection of Tom the Dancing Bug’s strips — it’s history through the lens of a self-loathing insomniac. In a way, it’s all of us.”
-Patton Oswalt
 
“Ruben Bolling has been sending me his secret messages for years, in the form of comics printed first on paper, and then, once paper became extinct, on the internet. I don’t know exactly what he’s trying to tell me, except he seems to know about everything I find funny, delightful, strange and inexplicable to get my attention, from obscure literary references to negging deep dish pizza. I don’t understand exactly what exactly he’s trying to say to me, but I still obsessively keep reading, not just because he’s hilarious, but because someday I hope to find out who this Tom the bug is, and why he is dancing.” 
-Peter Sagal
 
“This fine collection of work by Mr. Bolling provides ample evidence as to why he is unanimously considered one of the greatest cartoonists in the known universe. How he would rank in that other part of the universe is, of course, a matter that’s still being hotly debated within the scientific community.”
-“Weird Al” Yankovic
 
“I am a HUGE fan of Tom the Dancing Bug! It makes me laugh and think of course but it makes me feel better. No kidding, I read it and I think, someone else thinks like me, only funnier and better informed and I feel good. Thank you Ruben Bolling for giving us Tom The Dancing Bug. (Can’t decide whether to capitalize ‘the’).”
-Gary Gulman
 
“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!”
-Seth Meyers
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All orders come with an “It’s the Great Storm, Tom the Dancing Bug!” sticker and an On the Trail of Tom the Dancing Bug sticker, as well as an authenticated bookmark(s) for the ordered volumes(s) if available.

Link to the Tom the Dancing Bug Store

Here is this week’s Tom the Dancing Bug.

I’ll be spending a couple of hours at the MoCCA Arts Fest in NYC, a very cool alternative comics festival, this Sunday, signing/sketching/selling books*, palling around, chin wagging, fist-bumping, moonwalking, kissing babies, and toasting beers (you bring the beers, and we’ll toast!)

As always, check my Bluesky account just in case there are any last minute changes.

Sunday, March 29
11am-2:30pm, Table 68 (National Cartoonists Society Table)
MoCCA Arts Fest
125 West 18th Street, NYC

Admission required
*Signed/sketched books sold at cover price

Okay, if you’ve ever thought of signing up for Tom the Dancing Bug’s Inner Hive, doing it now would do some extra good.

From now (Tuesday, 3/10/26, 4pm ET) until midnight, the night of 3/27/26 (ET), if you sign up for any annual Inner Hive membership, I’ll donate $33* to the Democracy Defenders Fund.

“At Democracy Defenders Fund, we take action to ensure we will keep—and strengthen—our republic and democratic institutions. We are leading the fight to defend the rule of law, end corruption, and protect democracy.”

These guys are constantly litigating, successfully, to protect Americans’ Constitutional rights, including the right to vote. They’ve sued the Trump administration 265 times.

More about what they’ve done and what they are doing can be found below. But first:

👉 You can purchase an annual membership on Patreon here (Toggle the “Pay annually” switch, then choose a Tier).

👉 You can purchase an annual membership on Substack here. (Hit the Subscribe button, and choose a paid annual membership).

Members of the Inner Hive get each week’s Tom the Dancing Bug comic emailed to them at least a day before it’s published, plus extra comics, commentary, exclusive info, jokes, puppy pics, process photos, inside scoops, juicy celeb gossip, etc., etc.

So, join the Inner Hive today, and you’ll not only join the team that supports Tom the Dancing Bug’s very existence and get exclusive Tom the Dancing Bug comics and content, but the base rate* of an Inner Hive membership will be donated to fight the Trump Administration’s anti-American, anti-Democracy fascism.

And here is more about what the Democracy Defenders Fund has done and is continuing to do:

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*$33 (comes to $2.79 per month) is the base price of an annual Inner Hive membership on Patreon.

(If you want to avoid automatic recurring payments and third-party corporate subscriptions, you can join the Inner Hive on a two-year non-recurring membership, directly from me. Joining on this type of membership will also trigger the donation.)

Having completed the Daily Countdown on social media in these final days of 2025, I present here, in one virtual space for your reading convenience, the scientifically accurate, objectively unassailable list of THE TOP TEN TOM THE DANCING BUGS OF 2025.

Please do follow along with Tom the Dancing Bug in 2026, in your local newspaper (if you live in one of the few geographic locations that still sees the comic strip in print), on one of its fine online clients, on social media, or, best yet, join the team in the Inner Hive.

1️⃣0️⃣ THE NUMBER TEN TOM THE DANCING BUG OF 2025

“Strike Force Five,” from the week of September 22, when Jimmy Kimmel was suspended

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9️⃣ THE NUMBER NINE TOM THE DANCING BUG OF 2025

“MAGA Goggles,” from the week of July 21

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8️⃣ THE NUMBER EIGHT TOM THE DANCING BUG OF 2025

Elon Musk and His Doge Pals, in “Auto Graft,” from the week of March 10

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7️⃣ THE NUMBER SEVEN TOM THE DANCING BUG OF 2025

SeverVance, from the week of March 31

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6️⃣ THE NUMBER SIX TOM THE DANCING BUG OF 2025

“A Trumpian Christmas,” from the week of 12/15/25

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5️⃣ THE NUMBER FIVE TOM THE DANCING BUG OF 2025

Q-Nuts, in “All Hail the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown,” from the week of 4/28/25

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4️⃣ THE NUMBER FOUR TOM THE DANCING BUG OF 2025

Hollingsworth Hound, in “The Devil Went Down to HoundCo,” from the week of August 11

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NOTE: The Top Three Tom the Dancing Bugs of 2025 were submitted to the definitive wisdom of the intrepid Inner Hive, and their exclusive vote, one of the many privileges of their membership, determined this final TOP THREE ORDER:

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3️⃣ THE NUMBER THREE TOM THE DANCING BUG OF 2025

“A Busy, Busy Day in Washington, D.C.” from the week of September 29

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2️⃣ THE NUMBER TWO TOM THE DANCING BUG OF 2025

“Know Your ICE Agent,” from the week of June 30

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And

1️⃣ THE NUMBER ONE TOM THE DANCING BUG OF 2025

“The N-Word Is Back!” from the week of March 24

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Thank you for your readership, support and enthusiasm in 2025. You can’t read these comics and fail to realize what a horrible year it was. Sticking together and fighting the oppression, through communication, commiseration, and humor, but also very real protest and democratic mechanisms, is our only hope. Let’s hope for more of that in 2026.

You may purchase the entire 2025 run of Tom the Dancing Bug, top ten and bottom forty, in the form of this handsomely bound pdf, THE 2025 TOM THE DANCING BUG ANNUAL.

Wishing you all a healthy, safe, and prosperous 2026, from all of us (i.e., me) here at Tom the Dancing Bug.

For the first time since their triumphant (and then disastrous) 1995 world tour, Null and the Void tour t-shirts are available, featuring Charley the Australopithecine, the front man for the pioneers of Scream Rock.

They are available in two options (with numerous colors and styles within each):

The darker colored t-shirts

And lighter colored t-shirts

The full Null and The Void epic is contained in Volume 2 of The Complete Tom the Dancing Bug Library: Sex, Tom the Dancing Bug, & Rock ‘n’ Roll

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And the full array of available Tom the Dancing Bug t-shirts can be found here.