Ruben Bolling

Ruben Bolling (born c. 1963)[2] is a pseudonym for Ken Fisher, a cartoonist, the author of Tom the Dancing Bug and Super-Fun-Pak Comix. His pieces demonstrate concern about the power of large corporations and satirize the way government has been corrupted by money. Particularly since 2001, Bolling's work often concerns war.[1] Many of his strips admit no political interpretation, instead featuring absurdist humor or parodying comic strip conventions. Bolling's lampoons of celebrity culture, such as in the parodic series of comic strips labeled "Funny, Funny, Celebs", can be scathing.

Ruben Bolling
Ruben Bolling speaks at a Borders Books in Washington DC, July 7, 2007.
BornKenneth Fisher
1963 (age 56–57)
New Jersey, U.S.[1]
NationalityAmerican
Area(s)Cartoonist
Pseudonym(s)Ruben Bolling
Notable works
Tom the Dancing Bug and Super-Fun-Pak Comix
AwardsAssociation of Alternative Newsweeklies, Best Cartoon, 2002, 2003,[2] 2006
Society of Professional Journalists Award for Editorial Cartooning, 2011, Herblock Prize for editorial cartooning, 2017.
Children3
Ruben Bolling on Twitter

Career

Fisher, who has no formal art training, read many comics when he was a child (his biggest influence being Garry Trudeau's Doonesbury),[2] and sometimes features their styles in his work. However, he didn't aspire to be a full-time cartoonist; instead he studied economics as an undergraduate at Tufts University and later attended Harvard Law School (graduating in 1987).[2] It was at Harvard in the mid-1980s that Fisher came up with the idea for "Tom the Dancing Bug" and his pseudonym, Ruben Bolling (which is a melding of the names of two favorite old-time baseball players, Ruben Amaro and Frank Bolling).[1] Tom the Dancing Bug originally ran in the Harvard Law School Record.[2]

After graduation, Fisher practiced law for several years before resigning to pursue comics full-time. When that didn't work out, comic writing became a side interest and Fisher became a full-time employee at a financial services company.[1][2] Tom the Dancing Bug was picked up for weekly syndication in 1997 by Universal Press Syndicate.[2]

Fisher was working on building a full-time comics career, driven in part by an ongoing project with New Line Cinema to produce a movie about his character Harvey Richards, Esq., a "Lawyer for Children."[3]

In 2012, Fisher founded a subscription service, the Inner Hive, for Tom the Dancing Bug.[4]

In 2015, Fisher published the first in a series of children's books, The EMU Club Adventures.[5]

He is a member of Cartoonists With Attitude and the winner of the 2017 Herblock Prize for editorial cartooning. In 2019 he was a finalist in the Editorial Cartooning category for the Pulitzer Prize.[6]

Personal life

Fisher is married to a lawyer; they have three children.[2]

Bibliography
  • 1992: Tom the Dancing Bug ISBN 0-06-096949-0
  • 1997: All I Ever Needed to Know I Learned From My Golf-Playing Cats ISBN 1-56163-183-3
  • 2004: Thrilling Tom the Dancing Bug Stories (oversized treasury) (Andrews McMeel) ISBN 0-7407-4737-1
  • 2015: Alien Invasion in My Backyard: An EMU Club Adventure (Andrews McMeel) ISBN 978-1449457099
  • 2015: Ghostly Thief of Time: An EMU Club Adventure (Andrews McMeel) ISBN 978-1449457105

References
  1. Bolonik, Kera. "The World According to Ruben Bolling," Tufts Magazine (Spring 2006).
  2. Elder, Robert K. "Being Ruben Bolling: An alter ego and a day job let Ken Fisher draw comics precisely as he pleases," Chicago Tribune (May 4, 2004).
  3. Bolling interview, Deconstructing Comics Podcast #228, (April 19, 2010).
  4. Come on and join Tom the Dancing Bug's INNER HIVE! Boing Boing (May 9, 2012)
  5. Book: Alien Invasion In My Backyard Boing Boing (April 7, 2015)
  6. Finalist: Ken Fisher, drawing as Ruben Bolling, freelancer
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