Beano's Derek The Sheep On Stage

While there have been a good few British comics characters that have made it onto the cinema and television screen, from the infamous Sylvester Stallone Judge Dredd to the delightfully unique BBC TV version of Jane, there have been very few that have made it onto the theatre stage. It is good therefore to report that Gary Northfield's Beano character Derek The Sheep will be appearing at Merton's Colour House Theatre over the course of the next week.

As part of the south London Merton Abbey Mills complex's AbbeyFest 2011, Derek will be appearing in The Quest For The Googly Glasses, written by Gary Northfield and performed by the Legend Theatre Company. Already previewed on Sunday 24 July at the New Cross Turn Left small press event, the show will take run from Tuesday 9 to Friday 12 August with a final show on Saturday 13 August. All shows take place at 2pm with adult tickets priced at £7 and concessions at £5.

As for other British comics characters that have appeared on the theatre stage we know of two different versions of 2000AD's Halo Jones from last century plus the somewhat bizarre sounding Dan Dare The Musical in 2003, while 2009 brought us The Sunday Post's matriarch in The Maw Broon Monologues and Kate Brown's The Spider Moon from The DFC. If you know of any others that we may have missed then leave us a comment.

There are more details about the play on Gary Northfield's blog, Stupid Monsters.

There are more details including booking information for Derek The Sheep in The Quest For The Googly Eyes at the AbbeyFest 2011 website.

Panel Borders: Derek the Sheep, the Mouse Guard and other Comical Animals

In a packed final show on radio show Panel Borders for 2010, Alex Fitch concludes his look at anthropomorphic comics, with a survey of recent titles for all ages – Gary Northfield’s ‘Derek the Sheep’ who appears in The Beano and Beano Max comics; Mouse Guard, a series of adventure comics and graphic novels by David Petersen; and ‘Comical Animal’, a new website devoted to funny animal strips, curated by Jim Medway.

The show features interviews with all three creators, recorded variously in Streatham Library, near Euston Station and via transatlantic phone line!

• Panel Borders: Derek the Sheep, the Mouse Guard and other Comical Animals airs at 5.00pm today, 16th December on Resonance 104.4 FM (London) / streamed at www.resonancefm.com


• Resonance FM will be running repeats from 20th December 2010 - 9th January 2011; each of the three interviews will be available at www.panelborders.wordpress.com as extended half hour podcasts between now and the end of the year: David Petersen at 5.30pm 16/12/10; Jim Medway by 5pm 23/12/10 and Gary Northfield with Ellen Lindner and the Streatham Library Graphic Novels Reading Group by 5pm 30/12/10

In Review: Derek the Sheep

We mentioned Gary Northfield's popular Beano (and first creator owned) strip Derek the Sheep earlier today with good reason. The first collection of the strip, published back in September by Bloomsbury but which just arrived here at downthetubes (thanks, Gary!), is an absolute gem.

This quirky collection features the first 13 of grumpy Derek's daft adventures, which appeared in the Beano from February 2004 onwards. This edition comprises the same stories as the French-language Norbert le Mouton, published by Actes-Sud-l'An 2, earlier in 2008 (below), but the stories are presented more Beano-style in this version.

It's interesting to see how quickly the character and supporting cast develop, including an irritated squirrel, annoyed Derek's antics have interrupted his TV viewing; Bernard the Goat, who will eat anything (unless Derek and his mates get there first); and Cecil, a bee that just wants a friend (especially a friend that will help him find a flower he can call his own) and loves snow. (I told you it was quirky).

Gary's artwork is confident in its 3 x 4 grid styling throughout, its simplicity disguising just how much work has gone into storytelling and layout.

With is eclectic collection of characters and absurdist humour that reminds me of the work of Glen Dakin and James Tunrer, Derek the Sheep is a wonderful invention. Its success is well deserved (the more so for being creator-owned in a title that in the past rarely credited its makers, an age now thankfully over). The tales, which include Gone with the Wind (Derek gets blown up a tree), Let's Bee Friends (Bee seeks friend, obviously, but with motive!) and One for the Pot (Red Riding Hood wolf decides to make Derek lunch), work on several levels like all the best humour -- true fun for all the family and not just the core target age of Beano readers.

If you've never read Derek the Sheep before then this is as good a place as any to start. This collection is a perfect Christmas present for any Beano or animal lover!

(Beano readers should of course be bought the The Beano Annual 2009 and The History of the Beano: The Story So Far, too!).

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

• Buy The Beano Annual 2009
• Buy The History of the Beano: The Story So Far, too!

Derek the Sheep Unleashed!

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