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.”

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John Freeman

The founder of downthetubes, which he established in 1998. John works as a comics and magazine editor, writer, and on promotional work for the Lakes International Comic Art Festival. He is currently editor of Star Trek Explorer, published by Titan – his third tour of duty on the title originally titled Star Trek Magazine.

Working in British comics publishing since the 1980s, his credits include editor of titles such as Doctor Who Magazine, Babylon 5 Magazine, and more. He also edited the comics anthology STRIP Magazine and edited several audio comics for ROK Comics. He has also edited several comic collections, including volumes of “Charley’s War” and “Dan Dare”.

He’s the writer of “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.

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Categories: Uncategorised

Tags: Bloomsbury, Derek the Sheep, Gary Northfield, The Beano