Tag Archives: ruben bolling

Exclusive: Clover Press to Collect Ruben Bolling’s Tom the Dancing Bug Strips from 1990-1998 in Two New Volumes!

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Ruben Bolling’s groundbreaking and wildly popular comic strip Tom the Dancing Bug is a two-time Pulitzer Prize Finalist that has won multiple awards including the Herblock Prize, the Berryman Award, and a Robert F. Kennedy Journalism Award. Now Clover Press is completing its eight-volume collection of definitive editions of the award-winning political humor comic strip with the release of two new volumes of Tom the Dancing Bug, which collect seminal strips originally published from 1990 to 1998. Fans can now follow the pre-launch page for the Kickstarter page to get an email when the project launches later this summer.

Just a year ago, in an article about Bolling, The New Yorker extolled the 1990s Tom the Dancing Bug comics that will comprise these two volumes: ”In the nineties, ‘Tom the Dancing Bug’ felt like a quietly thrilling revelation, beloved by many but never a household name. Bolling seemed to tease all of pop culture, much of human nature, and comics history at once, always with sensitivity and an eye for the subtly absurd.”

Blending a surreal sense of humor with razor-sharp political satire, Tom the Dancing Bug has delighted fans for decades, and Bolling’s work remains as vital and important as ever. Clover Press’s new collections will give readers a chance to see the strip and Bolling’s art evolve throughout the 1990s. Tom the Dancing Bug: Secret Origins collects Bolling’s early comic strips from 1990 to 1994, and Sex, Tom the Dancing Bug, & Rock ‘N’ Roll will collect Bolling’s strips from 1994 to 1998. In addition to the two 200+ page 8″ x 9″ books, the Kickstarter campaign will feature a collectible 11″ x 13″ lithograph print, a slipcase that will hold all 8 volumes of Clover Press’s Tom The Dancing Bug, t-shirts, and more to celebrate Bolling’s beloved dancing bug. 

Fans can support Tom the Dancing Bug on Kickstarter by signing up now so you know when it launches later this summer. 

Small Press Expo 2022 reveals its Special Guests

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Small Press Expo has announced the first Special Guests for SPX 2022. The first in-person show in three years takes place on Saturday September 17 and Sunday September 18 with programming and workshops about the amazing world of independent comics and an exhibitor floor with over 500 creators.

Additional Special Guests will be announced over the next few weeks.

Keith Knight is the inspiration and Executive Producer of the Hulu series Woke, as well as being a current nominee for the  Cartoonist of the Year Reuben Award. Among Keith’s many other awards are the Glyph Award, the Harvey Kurtzman Award for Best Syndicated Comic Strip, the Inkpot Award from San Diego ComiCon along with receiving a NAACP History Maker Award. His latest cartoon collection, Good On Both Sides, the fifth collection of his socio-political single-panel cartoon, (th)ink.

“Radical: My Year with a Socialist Senator is a remarkable first-hand account of New Yorker cartoonist, Sofia Warren’s experience embedded with New York State Senator Julia Salazar and her staff during their first year in office. “So much of this experience was a surprise to me,” says Warren: “that for their entire first legislative session, Julia and her staff let me be in the room.” Sofia will be making her first appearance at SPX.

Ruben Bolling is the author of the weekly satirical comic strip “Tom the Dancing Bug,” which has appeared in hundreds of publications, including The Washington Post, The Village Voice, and The New York Times and currently appears on the online publications BoingBoing.net, DailyKos.com, and GoComics.com.  Ruben has won the Herblock Prize, an RFK Journalism Award, a National Cartoonists Society Award, a Society of Illustrators Gold Medal, and a Berryman Award from the National Press Foundation and is a two-time Pulitzer Prize Finalist (2019 and 2021).

Lonnie Millsap has been twice nominated for the prestigious Rueben Award and has won the Los Angeles National Cartoonists Society Dingy Award along with the Comic Art Professional Society’s Don Rico award. In 2018, his first cartoon was accepted by The New Yorker, which used his cartoons for their renowned Caption Contest. Millsap was also the character designer for Donny Hathaway’s Official animated ‘This Christmas’ music video released by Warner Records that has well over two million views. His work has also appeared in season one and two of Keith Knight’s television show, ‘Woke.’ Millsap’s latest cartoon book release is titled ‘Hit It To The Mermaid!’ (2022).

Megan Kelso has been drawing comics for over 30 years. In 2007, she was invited by The New York Times to serialize her “Watergate Sue” comic as part of the weekly “Funny Pages” feature. In 2019, she was selected for a public art commission for Climate Pledge Arena in Seattle.  Her books include The Squirrel Mother (2006), Artichoke Tales (2010), and Queen of the Black Black (2011).

Tommi Parrish is a cartoonist and painter based in Montreal, QC. Their debut work, The Lie and How We Told It, won the 2019 Lambda Literary Award for the best LGBTQ graphic novel, was nominated for the Ignatz award, and was featured in several best of 2018 lists and translated into several languages.

“Weird Al” Yankovic & Z2 Comics Join Forces For The Original Graphic Novel The Illustrated Al: The Songs of “Weird Al” Yankovic

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Z2 Comics has announced a collaboration with pop culture icon “Weird Al” Yankovic to publish The Illustrated Al: The Songs of “Weird Al” Yankovic. Written by “Weird Al” Yankovic, this career-spanning visual feast unites some of our top cartoonists and illustrators to express Al’s “Yankovisions.” The Great AL-merican Songbook features 20-plus classic Al songs interpreted by such artists as Bill Plympton, Aaron Augenblick, Peter Bagge, Steve Chanks, Felipe Sobreiro, Gideon Kendall, Michael Kupperman, Wes Hargis, Ruben Bolling, Fred Harper, Ryan Dunlavey, R. Sikoryak, Jeff McClelland, Jeff McComsey, Hilary Barta, Johnny Sampson, Tom Richmond, Bob Fingerman, and many more! The book also features cover art by Drew Friedman and Mike & Laura Allred, as well as a custom art print set from Jesse Philips, a collector’s card set by Danny Hellman, and a foreword from legendary comic Emo Philips, who is also opening for Al on his current 133-show tour of North America, with an accompanying illustration by master MAD alumnus Sam Viviano.

Z2 Comics and “Weird Al” Yankovic present The Illustrated Al: The Songs of “Weird Al” Yankovic in both softcover and hardcover formats, as well as oversized hardcover deluxe, and an oversized hardcover deluxe hand-signed edition. Drew Friedman and Mike & Laura Allred provide cover art. Deluxe editions include a wax pack of collector’s cards illustrated by Danny Hellman, a 3-piece art print set from Jesse Philips, a vinyl slipmat, drink coasters, and, in the Super Deluxe Edition, Al-signed books as well as a “Weird Al” Yankovic branded mini-accordion.