For over three decades, Ruben Bolling’s comic strip Tom the Dancing Bug has been entertaining audiences with its weird, wild, and wonderful installments. Depending on the week, you might encounter characters you’ve grown to love, new characters that may not stick around, and political commentary and social satire. Bolling experiments with the comics medium in ways that it hasn’t been stretched before, all in service of entertaining and educating and making readers take pause. It’s no wonder that Tom the Dancing Bug has garnered multiple awards–all well-deserved==including the Robert F. Kennedy Journalism Award, and the Herblock Prize.

Bolling and Clover Press recently teamed up for a Kickstarter campaign to print the first two volumes of Tom the Dancing Bug–covering strips from the years 1990 to 1994–into prestige hardcover books. (And they are gorgeous! Just check them out in the article below!) I spoke with Ruben Bolling recently about the conceit of Tom the Dancing Bug, the Kickstarter itself, and how he works to keep the comic strip unpredictable.

FreakSugar: For folks who might not be familiar with the comic strip, what can you tell us about Tom the Dancing Bug?

Ruben Bolling: Tom the Dancing Bug is a long-running, award-winning, free-format weekly comic strip featuring many styles of cartooning and humor, including social and political satire.  It has a sketch comedy format, and any given week could feature political content, or recurring characters, or brand new characters and formats that may or may not return.

FS: Why did you decide that this is the project you wanted to focus on?

RB: As a comics and comic book fan, it’s always been a dream that my comic strip would deserve the be fully and completely collected in book format.  I collect these books myself, like Marvel Masterworks, and The Complete Carl Barks Disney Library.  When Clover Press got in touch with the idea of creating a multi-volume complete Tom the Dancing Bug set of books, I was delighted.  And they’ve done a wonderful job in creating these beautiful, prestige books.

I’m especially excited about the next two volumes to be published by Clover Press through this Kickstarter campaign.  Volumes 1 and 2 contain the earliest Tom the Dancing Bug comics, with some of my most creative and audacious work, and showing the origins of many of the strip’s most enduring characters and formats.  And once they are published, all eight volumes of the set will be available, and my entire life’s work will be available in these gorgeous books.

FS: The strip is known for its satire and political commentary. What do you see as the legacy of Tom the Dancing Bug?

RB: I’ve never thought about the comic in those terms. Each week, I just try desperately to think of something funny and interesting for my readers, and then the weeks and comics just pile up.

FS: I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention the tone of Tom the Dancing Bug. The press release for the book had endorsements from creators like Matt Groening and Patton Oswalt, and Ruben Bolling’s work stands shoulder-to-shoulder with some of the best storytelling of the last three decades. Why do you think readers keep coming back to Tom?

RB: I’m not sure, but I’m so honored and grateful that they do.  One thing I’m sure of – I work as hard as I can to be original, unpredictable, and entertaining.

FS: If you had a final pitch for the Kickstarter, what would it be?

RB: Buy these books so my babies can eat!

The Kickstarter for Volumes 1 and 2 of Tom the Dancing Bug, collecting the early years of the comic strip, has already met its initial goal almost FIVE TIMES over, with 22 days left to go in the campaign. Make sure to check out the kind of comics we need in this sometimes gloomy day and age and fall in love with your new favorite comic strip!

From the official press release about the Kickstarter:

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.

“With the announcement of these two volumes, The Complete Tom the Dancing Bug program will soon stand as a full eight-volume chronicle of 35 years of comics – my life’s work,” said Ruben Bolling. “I’m grateful to Clover Press for its commitment to the project.  The quality of the books has been extraordinary, and I’m honored to have this complete set in print.  These two volumes will document this strip’s earliest years, and in some ways, my most audacious and ambitious work.”

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.

“Tom The Dancing Bug has been running in newspapers for 35 years. This is a direct look at its roots, proving it is as timely and sharp as ever,” said Clover Press Publisher Hank Kanalz. “Ruben’s fluid style provides the right delivery mechanism for his chosen send up du jour.”