Luke Healey of the fantastic webcomic Swanny Nook sent me this brilliant picture of Nob Mouse yesterday. I recommend you have a look at his recently-rebooted comic as it is great.

I have to say I like the idea of Nob Mouse wearing shoes with recognisable soles but my own drawings of him lost that aspect years before the comic actually started.

By way of apology for missing two updates this week, The Life of Nob T. Mouse will run Monday to Friday next week (i.e. starting tomorrow), before returning to its regular Mon-Wed-Fri schedule.

Wilf would like it to be known that the residents of Blob City wish you all a Happy ∏ Day.

Have a good one*.

* what you have one of is up to you.

It was with great sadness that I last visited my old friend Nob Mouse for while in the past I have leaped with joy through the portal under my stairs, keen to partake in his village of strangely saccarine-scented hills and valleys, this time I was unfortunate enough to need somewhere to hide – and fast – because I’d forgotten to pay the latest instalment on my hired buttocks and now the Drumley Green Gentlemens’ Club were after me.

You’ll have to excuse the length of that sentence. I am not one for editing, what with it being bedfellows with effort and the ever-dreaded workplace.  That is not to say I am a skiver by any means, dear fellow.  It’s just that when it comes to work, I prefer to do it outdoors, which is why I am as yet unopposed in my mastery of both the 100 metre free-form hairdressing and the rhythmic balloon blowing competition.

Some people scoff at that but it is usually because they forget that in order to win, one must inflate the balloon and perform a dance with sufficient skill, precision and timing that you can complete five sockets before touching down.  Get it wrong and you’ll have a field in the face; as Charlie Thunkscurton would attest were he still with us.  Sadly, he has gone to Spain for tax reasons and the post office keep returning my mail so it’s impossible to get in touch with him.

Anyway, where was I?  Oh yes.

I arrived at Café Nob on a fine summer’s morning, to discover my generous host was in the middle of building a new form of transport to a distant moon.  He had perfected a complex system of pulleys, levers and reticulated Orvol panniers (which I’ll tell you about another time.  They really are fascinating) that he insisted on calling the net-launch-a-me-do although I think it was too similar to the Johnston System to be fully deserving of this new name.

‘What’s all this about, me lad?’ I asked.

‘Oh it’s really quite simple,’ he assured me.  ‘I want to settle a long-standing argument over whether there is a fresh source of cheese on the seventh moon of Edametrius; which I’m sure you’ve heard all about.’

‘Ah, yes.  The Pungent Planet.  I know it well.  Did my Masters on it, you know.’

‘You did?  I had no idea they had established a collegiate system, never mind a full university!’

I explained that this was not what I meant and after a while, he began talking about his contraption once more.

‘Anyway,’ he said.  ‘I’ve been busy making this thing and now it seems ready, I’m going to test it.  Will you accompany me?’

‘How can I refuse?’ I asked.  ‘You are undoubtedly aware of my situation with the fellows from Drumley Green?’

Before he could answer, the aforementioned gentlemen arrived at the Café.  In the ensuing struggle (during which I was able to demonstrate my immense skills in the art of soundly kicking a man’s backside while tripping over my own feet), our assailants found themselves caught up in the workings of Nob’s machine and before we knew what had hit them, the hot air basket had launched the poor sods into the atmosphere!

My eyes were glued to the fading image of three terrified old men being propelled into space in what looked very much like a bathtub, two springs and a packet of cheap scouring brushes.  Nob did explain to me what those were for but I’m sorry to say I was not paying attention.

‘Was that supposed to happen?’ I asked him.

‘Oh yes,’ he assured me.  ‘Of course, if I had known they were going to leap in there after you set fire to that man’s shoes, I’d have given them the instructions to build a return flight.’

And so, dear readers, the moral of this story is to always plan ahead.

Sorry about the delay in getting the comic up.  Sometimes the dreaded lurgy strikes when it’s least inconvenient.  Still, at least we managed to maintain getting the comic up on the right day, even if we missed the target hour.

Sorry, everyone but my illness is making it hard to produce the comic so it will be slightly delayed. I’m hoping to have it finished tomorrow, but I can’t give you an exact time. Please accept my apologies for this delay, which is totally out of my control right now.

There are complex parts to what I’m producing, so the comic that should have been up yesterday is still being worked on. I hope when you see it you will understand why.

Thank you for bearing with us.

Since the beginning of The Life of Nob T. Mouse in 1996, I have been using a Microtek Phantom 336CX scanner to get the hand-drawn comics onto my computer.  I bought the scanner around 1995 to make producing my first comic,Portly Stoutmaster’s Journeys, much easier.  It has worked flawlessly until a month or two ago, when the drive belt started failing.

I am sorry to say that it has now failed almost completely.  As a consequence, the sketches I have produced for both comics (Nob Mouse and All over the house) cannot be ported onto the computer for inking and colouring.  This is making comic production difficult.

I will get back on track as soon as I can but in the mean time, please forgive the delay; which is totally out of my control right now.

While this does not pertain to The Life of Nob T. Mouse itself, our resident artist and co-writer, Zoë Robinson, won an Editor’s Choice Award at Suite101 yesterday for her article on The Webcomic List Awards, which are running at the moment.  You can find the article in question here.

‘The Life of Nob T. Mouse’ will recommence on Monday 12 October and normal service will be resumed from then on.  Sorry for the delay, it was totally out of our control.