Derek the Sheep Unleashed!

By John Freeman on 2 September 2008

Gary Northfield’s popular Beano (and first creator owned) strip Derek the Sheep is out this week as a fab 64-page hardback from publishers Bloomsbury.

A day in the life of Derek the Sheep is no forage in the field. Oh no. It’s flippin’ hard work, what with all those other pesky animals on the farm! Wherever Derek might be or whatever he might be up to, you can be sure there’s something for him to get his wool in a twist about.

But the cantankerous Derek is also not one to miss an opportunity – especially if it means more juicy grass – and this collection features the first thirteen of Derek’s most heroically daft adventures, that appeared in the Beano from February 2004 onwards.

Priced at just £7.99, this edition comprises the same stories as the French-language Norbert le Mouton, published by Actes-Sud-l’An 2, earlier in the year but says Gary, “with Beano-esque speech bubbles as opposed to handwritten, and with a totally different cover.”

• Derek the Sheep fans (or, indeed, Gary Northfield fans), will be pleased to hear that the creator will be signing copies of the book at the Birmingham International Comic Show on the weekend of 4-5th October.

• Buy the Bloomsbury Derek the Sheep hardback
• Visit Gary Northfield’s web site
• View pages from Norbert le Mouton

About the Author
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John Freeman

John is the founder of downthetubes, launched in 1998. He is a comics and magazine editor, writer, and Press Officer for the Lakes International Comic Art Festival. He also runs Crucible Comic Press.

Working in British comics publishing since the 1980s, his credits include editor of titles such as Doctor Who Magazine and Overkill for Marvel UK, Babylon 5 Magazine, Star Trek Magazine, and its successor, Star Trek Explorer, and more. He also edited the comics anthology STRIP Magazine and edited several audio comics for ROK Comics; and has edited several comic collections and graphic novels, including volumes of “Charley’s War” and “Dan Dare”, and Hancock: The Lad Himself, by Stephen Walsh and Keith Page.

He’s the writer of comics such as Pilgrim: Secrets and Lies for B7 Comics; “Crucible”, a creator-owned project with 2000AD artist Smuzz; and “Death Duty” and “Skow Dogs”, with Dave Hailwood.