Ruben Bolling - Biography

Biography

Bolling, who has no formal art training, read many comics when he was a child, 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. It was at Harvard in the mid-1980s that Bolling came up with the idea for "Tom the Dancing Bug" and his pseudonym, Ruben Bolling (which is a melding of the names of two old-time baseball players, Ruben Amaro and Frank Bolling).

After graduation Bolling practiced law for several years before resigning to pursue comic writing full-time. When that didn't work out, comic writing became a side interest and Bolling became a full-time bank employee. He is currently working on building a full-time writing 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."

His pieces demonstrate concern about the power of large corporations and satirize the way government has been corrupted by money. Particularly since 9/11, Bolling's work often concerns war. 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.

He is a member of Cartoonists With Attitude.