Norbert le Mouton

By John Freeman on February 18, 2008

(via Blimey! It’s Another Blog About Comics): Gary Northfield’s popular Beano (and first creator owned) strip Derek the Sheep has been collected into a 64-page softback book for the French market.

Published by Actes-Sud-l’An 2, the full colour Norbert le Mouton album collects the early Derek material.

Sales of the French edition at last month’s Angouleme Festival were apparently brisk, according to Gary, who owns the rights to the character.

Bloomsbury will be publishing a Derek the Sheep hardback this September in the UK. “It will comprise the same stories (as Norbert le Mouton)” says Gary, “but with Beano-esque speech bubbles as opposed to handwritten, and with a totally different cover”.

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

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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.