Thrilling Tom the Dancing Bug Stories

The political and social insights from years past are remarkable. One laughs while realizing that much of the humor is dead on serious business. I recommend this collection.

I've been reading Tom the Dancing Bug since '99 and I finally have all my favorite comics in one place. Now I can retire the torn-from-the-newspaper copy of "Crazy Morty" from my refigerator door. I would've liked to see more Super Fun Pack Comix in the compilation, but really, it's all good stuff.

First things first: Bolling's TDB is the best newspaper comic being written today. If you are considering buying this book, you probably already know that, and I encourage you to purchase this volume; you will enjoy it. This book was very entertaining, but I had some problems with it unrelated to the quality of Mr. Bolling's talent. Mainly, that this collection omits many strips from the sequence; it is not a comprehensive collection. I first noticed this when I came to where the first post 9-11 strip should have been. The Super Comix Fun Pak 9-11 strip is a classic, one of Bolling's most famous cartoons, and i was surprised to see it omited. I considered that this was perhaps because it was "dated" material, but many other topical strips are reprinted including several other terrorist themed strips from late 2001. This struck me as an odd editorial choice. In fact, only one of the 221 strips in this collection is a Super Comix Fun Pak, which was disapointing considering it's one of my favorite features. On the other had, dozens of the less stellar "Did You Know?" strips are included. Additionally, several redux strips are printed. For example Bolling draws "Bad Meat" a mock ad for meat made only from animals "convicted of a capital crime" and then a few years later uses the same format to revisit the subject with "smart meat" for "those morally opposed to the slaughter of mentaly retarded animals." To me these two strips were basicly interchangeable: the joke is that food animals are being executed. It's fine that bolling revists material when he thinks of an additional twist, but if strips are going to be omited from the book, why not omit one of the strips that is a slightly improved version of an earlier joke? There are a few of these pairs, and normally it would be fine to include them, but in this book they are bumping out other material that has fresh jokes. I hope that someday we'll get the sturdy comprehensive collection this strip deserves. Given how few papers TDB runs in, I won't hold my breath for when this will be a marketable reality. I guess we'll just have to settle for reading them online until then. Also of note is that nothing (or almost nothing) is reprinted from Bolling's two earlier out-of-print books, so once you've read this volume, don't be afraid to go ahead and spend the extra money it costs to get those.

But frankly, I like everything. One time a guy came up and smacked me in the nose. Sure there was some pain, but I had a new experience under my belt. Can't put a price on new experiences! Speaking of under my belt I also had a loaf of Wonder Bread in my back pocket -- which was the fashion in those days. I had my share of girlfriends, but always felt lonely when Arbor Day would roll around. Speaking of rolling around, I once had a flat on my tandem bicycle (I always rode in back -- even when I was by myself -- didn't want to seem uppity), so I lay down on the asphalt and rolled to my Uncle Phil's house. Uncle Phil was a bit of an eccentric and he was afraid to have his feet touch carpet of any sort. So he would either make you carry him on his back or he would jump from one piece of furniture to the next. When I pointed out that furniture is made of similar fabric to carpet he smacked me in the nose. Sure there was some pain ...