{
  "id": 15508744,
  "title": "Tom the Dancing Bug’s Inner Hive, and Harvey Richards, the Greatest Lawyer in the History of Fiction",
  "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/10/18/tom-the-dancing-bugs-inner-hive-and-harvey-richards-the-greatest",
  "topic": "tech",
  "section": "Tech",
  "published": "2026-10-18T22:53:00.000Z",
  "source": {
    "name": "Daring Fireball",
    "slug": "daring-fireball",
    "url": "https://tomthedancingbug.com/the-inner-hive/"
  },
  "original_language": "en",
  "account": "Tom the Dancing Bug, a long-running comic strip created by Ruben Bolling, has been one of the reporter's favorite comic strips since the early 1990s. Bolling first started the comic in alternative newspapers, which were like modern-day websites but published daily or weekly. In 2012, recognizing that the comic was more popular than ever but generating less revenue, Bolling introduced a subscription membership called The Inner Hive. The reporter supports Bolling's work and appreciates the additional content that members receive, such as fun extras. One recurring character in the comic, Harvey Richards, is the reporter's favorite. Richards is a lawyer for children and has been a part of the strip for many years. The reporter recalls an early reference to Richards' \"He Who Smelt It, Dealt It\" doctrine in National Lampoon in 1990 and another appearance in Boing Boing in 2012. However, the reporter couldn't find any old strips featuring this particular reference to Richards' doctrine. After searching online and consulting language models, the reporter reached out to Bolling for confirmation. Bolling not only confirmed the reporter's memory but also granted permission to reproduce the 1993 strip featuring the \"I'm Rubber, You're Glue\" doctrine.",
  "summary": "Ruben Bolling’s long-running Tom the Dancing Bug is one of my favorite comic strips. I’ve been a huge fan since the early 1990s, when I started reading it in alternative newspapers. (Newspapers were sort of like websites, excepted they were printed daily or weekly. I swear.) Back in 2012 Bolling — noting that the comic was more widely read than ever yet generating less money than ever — started a…",
  "key_points": [],
  "editors_take": null,
  "illustration": null,
  "coverage": {
    "outlets": 1,
    "also_reported_by": []
  },
  "ai_generated": true,
  "disclaimer": "Summaries, key points and the editor’s take are written by software from other outlets’ reporting and may contain errors — always check the linked original."
}