Roy of the Rovers returns in special Daily Mail strip

By John Freeman on October 21, 2011

The Daily Mail has published a special Roy of the Rover strip to mark this weekend’s biggest match of the season, the 161st Manchester Derby.

Featuring Champions Manchester United versus super-rich City, the strip emphasizes it’s the hottest ticket in football and United fan Neil Mason has managed to get his hands on a pair! It means Neil can take his seven-year-old son Ben – a new City follower – to his first ever Barclays Premier League match – but he spots a famous face in the crowd…

Written by Ian Rimmer, the strip is drawn by longtime Roy of the Rovers artist Barrie Mitchell.

“It’s a one-off at the moment,” Ian tells us, “but who knows..?”

I’m sure there are plenty of ROTR fans out there hoping there will be more.

• Read the strip: www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-2051567/Roy-Rovers–Manchester-derby-Comic-book-hero-United-v-City.html

Roy of the Rovers © Egmont UK

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.