BEANOMAX!!!!!

Happy New Year sheep fans!

Brilliant news!!! I'm in the Beanomax EVERY. FLIPPIN'. MONTH. (Apart from March that is)!!!! Hooray!!!!

Yep, you read it correctly; I've come out of semi-retirement, put away my sun cream and lawn mower and have embarked on a plethora of mad adventures, which start THIS MONTH!!!111!!eleventyfour!38!!!wot?!!!?

Here's an exciting moment from this month's snowy issue...



HAHAHAAAR!!! Amazing. Nothing but topical, me. Did you enjoy the snow? I did. In fact I love snow and tend to hate all those who moan about it. Get with the program grandads; SNOW IS BRILLIANT. FACT.

Well anyway, I'm off to the shops to buy Fizzy Turnips, my favourite sweets.

Laters!!!

I'M BACK!!!

Yeah, I know it's been flippin' ages, but you know what, I'm here now and that's all that matters. Right?

I'm in this week's Beano, which is brilliant and I'm brilliant. And maybe you're brilliant too (well, most of you anyway). This week's episode involves an old boot, a genie, sausages and mash, Britney Spears... EVERYTHING!!!!

Here's a great moment to treasure forever...



Do you miss me? Then check me out on twitter!!!

http://twitter.com/Derekthesheep

It's a right laugh and apparently the only reason to read twitter, so I've heard!!

LATERS!!!!!!

Wayne The Whale!!

Well here he is!! Jack Rowland's brilliant character Wayne the Whale! Sorry I didn't put it up earlier; I moved barns since the competition and the drawing wasn't where I thought it was :(

Congrats again to Jack!!

Cor blimey! Look who's in the Beano!!

Yup! It's me!! Me and the lads are on the beach looking to get lovely tans, when a big flippin' whale turns up and spoils the party!

Mega thanks to Jack Rowlands who invented Wayne The Whale last year in a competition set by Mr. Northfield on one of his library trips to Newport Central Library (big thanks to Tracey Paddon who ran the event)!! Tomorrow I'll post his winning pic.

Don't forget to vote if you like the story! Thanks!

Big Twit

Hello!

Yeah, I know I'm never here no more and my Beano appearances have slowed down a bit, but life has been beyond hectic (moving barn, fighting chickens, catching cowpox etc, etc). But if you want to catch up with my latest bleatings I'm now over at Twitter!!

https://twitter.com/Derekthesheep

I'll be updating this old blog when any big news happens, so never fear, I'll always be around!

Thank you for all your patience and look out for a new Derek story in the Beano very soon!

Byee

Derek Christmas Extravaganza!!!

Yep, my book is out! Hooray! I could've mentioned it here earlier, but I forgot my password to get in :(. Cecil fortunately was at hand and he has a memory of an elephant, which is quite big apparently. Bees are quite small, so that memory is like one of those mega-computers that you see in mad films that take over the world. By the way, I've got the lurgey, so apologies if I don't make any sense whatsoever. Like usual.

The book is out from Bloomsbury and you can buy it from the usual places like amazon etc., so there's no excuse not to pick it up. I've not actually seen it in any shops (and boy I've looked in enough!), but I've been assured by Lenny that he saw one copy in a big Waterstones, although one branch actually refuses to sell it, which is a shame. Don't they know who I am? I'm in the BEANO!!!!! They'd be millionaires if they sold it!

Bah. Whatever.

You're probably better off buying it online is all I'm saying.

Anyways... My latest adventure is in the Beanomax!!

Here's an exciting clip:



Merry Christmas one and all!!!!

Quick!!! Buy the Beano!!!

I'm in it!! I've not been able to find a copy myself, so good luck. Apologies for not telling you sooner :(

Here's a panel to make up for it ....



Hooray!! It's a very silly story (as one would expect).

I'll put up a big post regarding my great new book from Bloomsbury tomorrow too! I hope you're all rushing out and buying it (if not, why not?)

Cheers!!!!

Shoutbox won't let me shout

For some reason I can't post in the shoutbox :(
So direct any queries to me on my messageboard or in the comments on this blog.

Ta!

Disco Fever!

Yup! I'm back in the good ol' Beano again this week! Hooray!
I'm stuck in one of those horrible Discos where no girls will dance with me... I've never understood it. I'm good looking, witty... I might have sheep-breath, but at least it ain't cowpat breath! Kevin Rabbit and Dave Goose are my fellow wall-flowers in a strange tale of haircuts and lettuce leaves.

Here's a lovely clip from the episode!



My book is due soon too, which is mega-exciting!! And the next Beano annual! There'll be Derek stories coming out of your ears if you're not too careful.

Meet the Author!

Howdy! Things are hotting up in Derek the Sheep land (where I live)! Gary Northfield, the chap who signs his name at the end of my strips, will be appearing at Newport Central Library, Newport, Wales this Thursday, August 7, 2008, between 11am and 12 noon and Malpas Library, Malpas, Wales between 2pm and 3pm. He'll be chatting about me, Derek, my brilliant stories and showing off my great new book out from Bloomsbury! (Which is lovely, I must say. I have an advanced copy and it looks fab!) There will probably be some children's workshop-type of thing involving some cartooning and creating characters, which should be fun.

ALSO - on the 23rd of August, he'll be getting involved in some more chat about me at the Cartoon Museum in London http://www.cartoonmuseum.org/ (click the link for "Cartoon classes and Events")
There's a big exhibition of Beano art on there too, so it'll be worth a visit at some point anyway. There's even an example of some lovely Derek artwork too, which makes even more brilliant than ever!

Flower Festival

Hello!

I've had an anonymous email asking me to announce that St.John's Church in Porthmadog will be holding a Flower Festival from Wednesday 16th of July to Sunday 20th. Open 10-30am - 5-30pm. Refreshments available. I did have a look on google to see if it's true or not, but I couldn't verify it I'm afraid. Why anyone would invent a Flower Festival I don't know, so I think it's safe to assume it's true! In fact, Bernard the goat has volunteered to check it out on the farm's behalf, because apparently he loves flowers. Although, now I've written that out in words, I'm not entirely sure he means just appreciating their "looks"... Oh well, I hope he doesn't eat too many of them, otherwise there won't be many left for Sunday!

If any of my readers wish to advertise their local fetes, jumble sales etc on my blog, then drop me a line. We will of course send round a member of the farm for authentification reasons and we'd appreciate some remittance towards travel and board. A bag of turnips and a cardboard box normally does the trick!

It might've been a quiet six months...

... But, you'll be seeing plenty of me for the rest of the year!

Some of you may have noticed that I've not had many adventures for a while, in fact I think I've only had three or four this year. Sorry about that! My regular monthly appearances will soon be back on track. Sometimes running about getting up to nonsense on a regular basis takes it's toll, and I needed a bit of a rest in preparation for the next onslaught of madness!!!

On the way soon is a jolly little tale of some disco dancing as me and the boys fight over who gets to dance with Vera the cow (who has a mean right hook!).



Then there's a mad story that pits me against Big Baz to see who can be the Biggest Turnip at the "Vegetable Fancy Dress"!

Then by the time you've read those, The 2009 Beano Book will be on the shelves and there's a lovely story depicting me and my pals on the trail of dinosaurs, as witnessed by Bert Worm!! Yes Bert makes his fully-fledged debut in a Beano publication and we're all very proud of him round 'ere. Well Lenny is proud I think. It's a weird story, I'll be honest with you, with a bizarre ending. In fact I think it was that particular story that nearly made me give up! I thought I'd lost the plot! Seriously.

Then of course, there's my brilliant book coming out from Bloomsbury, chock-a-block full of classic stories from a few years ago. I've got a special advance copy, and I must admit it's a very handsome book indeed!

So, there's plenty of Derek The Sheep Madness © coming up! Hooray!!!

Beanstalk Madness!!

I have a cracking new story in the current issue of the Beano! Hooray! About flipping time too, I hear you all cry. I've been a busy old sheep, so apologies for the delay in getting stories out into the world. Just to make up for it, my appearance is the first part of a two-part story! So, I'm in there NEXT WEEK TOO!!!

It's a particularly stupid story involving beanstalks, widescreen T.V.'s and maybe Noel Edmonds.. Here's a panel to whet your appetite!



Aw, ain't it loverly? Kevin the Rabbit has quite a starring role in this tale; Kev likes his daytime TV and woe betide anyone who gets in the way of his Bootsale Challenge!

tootlepip!

Norbert!!!!!

My French comic strip book Norbert Le Mouton, published by Editions De L'an 2/Actes Sud, is now available to buy! Yippee!!! How exciting is that?

 You can pick it up from amazon.fr and various other online French stores.

But, don't worry if you can't speak French, cos the British version will be available in September from Bloomsbury!

Merci beaucoup!

Loverly Poems!!!

Thanks to everyone who took the time to write a brilliant poem about me and my pals! You're all such a talented bunch and I'm very grateful for your efforts.

Mrs. Farmer Jack had a good read of the entries and decided on one particular piece of prose that impressed her no end!

And the prize of a signed "Norbert Le mouton" goes to......


Sylvia Cowplath!!!!

And here it is ....

The Ballad of Derek and the Gang

By Ewe 2

Rodney is a great big bully
Probably ‘cos his brain’s so woolly
But when we said ‘just do your worst’
He went and phoned that Damien Hirst.

And spare a thought for Daisy the Ewe,
A departed member of our crew
Daisy braved the fire troll’s bridge -
She’s now kebabs in someone’s fridge

Our barn got washed away last summer;
Farmer Jack was seldom glummer.
But I chummed up with Kevin Carrot.
He’s nice and quiet – not like a parrot.

Flippin’ ‘eck – I left out Lenny –
Who can forget that day when he
And I went sledging on the barn
And so did the entire farm!

We sheep wish that Jack the Farmer
Would treat us more as Samuel Palmer
Did. His sheep can safely munch
While Jack’s preparing us for lunch.

And now we’re going to be in French
And hope that you will soonest wrench
Yourselves from boring, dreary duties
Pour admirer we fleecy beauties!


Sylvia Cowplath


So BIG congratulations to Sylvia!

Mrs Farmer Jack was impressed with Sylvia's dexterous verbal rhymes and in-depth knowledge of my Beano shenanigans!

All other entries will receive a signed picture of me, so everyone's a winner really!

All the best

Derek

Update tomorrow!!

Apologies for the quietitude (is that a real word? Sounds great anyway!). Just got back from France and a successful weekend flogging "Norbert" books to a hungry French public!

The poetry winner will be announced tomorrow!! Yippee!!! So exciting!!!

Have you bought last week's Beano? I'm in there! Wrestling ladybirds! Quick buy it before this week's edition turns up!


Is it me, or is there just not enough exclamation marks in this mini-update?!

Christmas Winner!!!

We have a glorious winner in our "Christmas Derek Picture Competition"! And it is none other than Jordan Mooney!!! Congratulations!!!

Mrs Farmer Jack liked the use of colours and jolly expressive faces on each of the characters. I liked it, cos I look more handsome than normal.

One signed Beano 2007 Annual in the post for you old bean.

A special mention to someone called "Mad Nigel" (very familiar name that) for his nice pencil study of me and Santa:



Very nice hand-colouring in this one, although I don't look as good looking as in Jordan's pic. A special prize will be coming your way too!

Thank you to everyone who took part and don't forget to send in your Derek the Sheep poems!!

Thank you!!

ANOTHER competition!

You lucky people. We really do love competitions round 'ere, so much so, we're running a SECOND one!!! This time it's a poem I'm after.

I want you to write a hilarious poem about me and my pals! It can be as long or as short as you want. It can be a limerick or a 50 page Shakespearean soliloquy (good luck with that one).

It's probably sailing a bit close to the wind for Christmas but get your entries in to me by December 31st and the best one (as judged by Mrs Farmer Jack) will get a signed/scribbled on copy of my new French book "Norbert Le Mouton"! How's that then? Up for it? I know it's in French, but it's got me jammed in there to the rafters. And what better way to learn French than to compare French speechbubbles with English one's.

The book's due out at the end of January/ beginning of February 2008.

Mrs Farmer Jack's opinion will be final!!!

I thank you.

Christmas Competition!!

Oh yes, we love competitions round 'ere. Especially me! and Lenny. We love playing "guess the weight" of the various animals around the farm. I'm normally quite brilliant at this, especially with the fatter specimens (no names mentioned). I actually got Rodney the bull spot on with 38 stone!! What a lump! I won a curly wurly. I rule.

Anyway! It's Christmas and I want a lovely festive drawing of me and/or my pals! Doesn't matter about the size (under 10mb though) and in jpeg format and the winner picked by Mrs. Farmer Jack will win a Beano Annual 2008 signed by the creator of Derek the Sheep!!! Cor!! How marvelous. Previous winners of such prizes will attest that such a thing is lovely and you get a few more scribbles and graffitti sprinkled throughout too!

In fact ALL entries will get a free sketch of me (hopefully it's not more than five or six entries otherwise that's alot of drawing!).

So make it nice 'n' festive 'n' colourful 'n' stupid. Entries by Sunday 16th December and winner announced Monday or tuesday evening. you should get your pressies in good time for the last xmas post!

Send entries to dereksheep@yahoo.co.uk

Hopefully I haven't forgotten anything. Judges decision is final! (they always say that don't they?)

Thank you!

Christmas Comes Early!

Hooray! A new Derek the Sheep story hits the stands and it's in the new Christmas Beanomax! And, by gum, if it isn't my best story for ages! Check out those beautiful colours and hilarious gags. Aren't they brilliant? Here's a sneaky pic just to tip you over the edge, just in case you were thinking you might give it a miss...



Very nice too.