Chapter: SOLVER

Based on a true story. It wasn’t me endlessly defrosting and refreezing chicken. I’m so paranoid about salmonella that I’ll cross the road to avoid a Chick-fil-A.

Process servers are a standby of US legal dramas but I was interested to learn while writing this page that we have them in the UK too. Why not serve legal papers to a friend today? Make ’em feel seen.

I watched this video several times. I think there’s a whole Stath Lets Flats-style sitcom in it, waiting to emerge.

If you’re not acquainted, Claire’s father is the fire chief of Tackleford. We’ve never seen any of the other members of her family. That is not to say that we never will.

Show some respect for the flip chart easel.

This page took a bit of wrangling. A group of four characters who move as one are a bit of a chore. A lot of little details to keep in line. Anyway, what’s going on with Glenn and Claire?

Since his earliest appearances in Giant Days, Dean has lived under the shadow of legal action. So I like to think that as long as he’s been in Sheffield, he’s had a lawyer he calls on. Ideally, one very near to the university, for convenience back in the day. So I put Mr Khan’s office right over Scott’s Pantry, where I used to get my sandwiches back in 1995. It’s still there. The sandwiches, however… long digested.

Christmas comes early for Charlotte, she’s found her perfect problem person. And Christmas will come early for you too, dear reader, as due to a terrible accident of scheduling, the Solver Christmas story will run in the early summer. If I hadn’t done Savage Sword of Susan and two lots of NEMS, it would have neatly landed in December 2025. In my defence (and this may not be mitigation), I hadn’t started thinking about what was in it until about October last year. But keep a bit of tinsel handy for June.

I wonder how many appearances in my comics Bobby Problems will rack up. He’s immediately compelling. I think history (and bitter experience) tells us that it will either be one, or one thousand.

Giant Days seldom entered a lecture theatre. I always felt that it was cruel to ask an artist to draw one, having done it once or twice myself. But Little Days goes where Giant Days dared not. I’m not going to lie: we’re still in a lecture theatre in the next comic.

We’ve met Claire’s admirers before.

At this point, I’d like to thank the University of Sheffield for providing a full virtual tour of their new Social Sciences building, “The Wave”. A big help, lads. Offsets how the virtual tour of your student accommodation now auto-rotates. That was a low freaking blow.