insideKENT Magazine Issue 37 - April 2015 | Page 21

page children’s graphic novel, Teenytinysaurs (2013), about a young gang
of dinosaurs.

“My big leap in my career came after a year of working on Horrible Histories.
Having seen how a fortnightly magazine worked from the inside and how
often the designers were scrambling around for new artists to cover their
regulars who fell sick or were on holiday, I decided it must be the same at
all magazines. The Beano and The Dandy editors were coming to London
for a comic fair, so I put a portfolio together of my work, including a short
comic strip about a sheep called Derek. The Beano editor, Euan Kerr, loved
my sheep story and within three months, my strip was published in The
Beano. It was a boyhood dream come true! Every month I would write and
draw Derek the Sheep stories, with fantastic editorial assistance from Euan,
who helped me learn how to write funny, punchy comic strips.

“My Beano work came to an end after seven years with the introduction
of a new editor, but I quickly found work with the brilliant weekly children’s
comic, The Phoenix, with a strip called Gary’s Garden, starring all sorts of
jolly back garden critters (also available as a book!). And now, 12 years
after my big break on Horrible Histories Magazine, I’ve come full circle with
my own historical humour series – my first novel with Walker Books – Julius
Zebra, all about a zebra who becomes a gladiator in Ancient Rome!”
Gary Northfield's book, Julius Zebra: Rumble with the Romans!, is available
to buy now.

“My confidence grew and before long I was writing and drawing comics for
other magazines, such as National Geographic Kids, The DFC and The
Dandy. I even had a book published in 2008 with Bloomsbury, collecting
the first 13 Derek the Sheep stories. My editor at Bloomsbury moved to
Walker Books and invited me to pitch ideas there too, resulting in the 80-

www.garynorthfield.com
@gnorthfield

Gary Northfield

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