Creator Ken Fisher, better known to GoComics readers as Ruben Bolling, has been awarded the 2017 Herblock Prize for his editorial cartooning on Tom the Dancing Bug.

Launching in 1990, Tom the Dancing Bug satirizes human nature, popular culture, politics, religion and other topics -- often all at once -- through a mix of one-shots and recurring segments. The Herblock Foundation named TtDB's focus on the 2016 election and its reverberations across society as the impetus for Fisher's candidacy and ultimate selection for this year's Herblock Prize.

In addition to Tom the Dancing Bug, Fisher authors the all-ages Emu Club graphic novel series through GoComics parent company Andrews McMeel's AMP! Comics for Kids imprint. Releases to-date include Alien Invasion in My Backyard and Ghostly Thief of Time.

Fisher, also a finalist in 2016, received not only the acclaim of his peers, but also the Herblock Prize's sterling silver Tiffany trophy and tax-free $15,000 in cash.

The annual Herblock Prize is awarded by the Herblock Foundation, which commemorates the life and cartooning of Herbert Lawrence Block, known professionally as Herblock. Block worked as an editorial cartoonist and illustrator for 72 years, starting in 1929 with a pro-environmental conservation cartoon in the Chicago Daily News. This began a lifelong career -- principally at The Washington Post -- challenging politicians, corporations and other powerful entities that would seek to undermine the common person. His efforts earned him three Pulitzer Prizes, the Presidential Medal of Freedom, two National Cartoonist Society Editorial Cartoon Awards, a Reuben Award, a Gold Key Award and more. He continued working until his passing in 2001, at the age of 91.