Striker creator Pete Nash still hopes for TV series

Striker © Pete Nash

Pete Nash, creator of the long-running football strip Striker for The Sun newspaper, still has hopes the strip will jump from the printed page to TV.

Answering fans questions on the StrikerWorld forum (membership required to view), Pete, who successfully secured sponsorship for the strip in the past, said that in order for Striker to be a real success, it needs to evolve from being just a newspaper strip.

"It has been produced with 3D animation software since 1999 because I believe animation is the future for Striker, whether as a TV series or film," he said. "The costs are significant but I am optimistic it will happen before I kick the bucket!"

Pete Nash has been writing Striker since 1985, first as a line art strip for The Sun, then moving to its current 3D presentation. In 2003 he withdrew the strip form the paper following a dispute over intellectual property rights then launched Striker comic, which closed after an impressive 87 issues in 2005.

Striker returned to the pages of The Sun, but it was dropped in 2009 and found a home in Nuts, then eventually returned to The Sun earlier this year.

It's clear from questions asked that many fans of Striker were supporters of his attempt to turn it into a news stand comic and hanker for its return, but Pete knows this would be no easy journey, even with the ability to promote such a title through social media and with the online support and promotion by the stripe's many fans. 

"Production costs would only be lower if we operated as an online comic without a print issue," he argues. "Would an online comic have been profitable, or could it be? Who knows. The Dandy has ended its print run after 70 odd years but only time will tell if it will thrive online.

"Having said that, the online platform does offer opportunities in the areas you've suggested - for instance, one activity that will be launched in the near future is an iPad app and mobile app for past issues of the comic and newspaper strips. The overheads are quite low so hopefully this can generate some reasonable revenue, but we will have to see how they sell."

At present, it seems really promoting the title online is a little hamstrung: Pete revealed "certain contractual issues"currently prevent him from forming an official website and Twitter feed or Facebook page –  "but at least Striker is back in the country's biggest-selling paper and being enjoyed again by millions of readers.

"One interesting aside about Facebook and Twitter is that Striker's return to The Sun generated thousands of posts and tweets around the country," Pete revealed. "It certainly shows the strength of Striker's appeal and following but it's frustrating that it's been so difficult to reflect that popularity with the emergence of spin-off activities. We must keep the faith, though!

"For Striker to evolve creatively, more money needs to be generated. The Sun will be trying to generate extra revenue through new opportunities and possibilities so we will have to see how these develop."

Pete also says he still hopes the whole strip will be collected, perhaps aiming for release in time for the strip's 30th anniversary in November 2015. Meanwhile, plans are afoot for new merchandise.

It's clear he is still thinking long term about Striker, in terms of the strip and its possible adaptation in other mediums. Clearly a man who has fought long and hard to make the best of his creation, we wish him every success.

Striker returns to The Sun

As rumoured last week, the Striker comic strip has returned to The Sun newspaper, after a long absence - ousting vampire comic Shadows.

Returning on Monday, the strip began with longtime soccer hero Nick Jarvis being interviewed on TV about the perilous state of Warbury Warriors, a team he both played and then managed, taking it from non-league football to the Premiership and Champions League glory.

The club have been given three weeks to pay a £9million tax bill or face winding-up proceedings - and Jarvis lets the club’s Arab owners know exactly what he thinks.

Created by Pete Nash, Striker had a long run in the daily paper before Pete decided to go it alone and create his own weekly comic. The strip has also appeared in Nuts magazine, and there has been previous interest in turning the comic into a TV series.

• More news and images her on The Sun's web site

Sun drops "Shadows", Striker return rumoured

(Updated 9th January) In a story that echoes the final days of Pete Nash's Striker comic strip, The Sun newspaper has decided to drop its vampire-inspired Shadows saga on Friday, leaving creator Kevin Richter little time to wrap the current storyline.

Posting on the Shadows Facebook page, Kevin announced yesterday that "Shadows will come to an end this Friday (4 January).

"The Sun have decided they would rather have a former comic return to the paper than carry on with Shadows," he explained. "I was only told this news about two weeks ago and have had to wrap up the current story rather quickly. Which is a big pity as I had a lot planned for The Hunted, and future story lines, that I won't get to finish properly now. The Hunted will be ending on page 99, which is roughly 200 pages shorter than what I had planned for this story."

The announcement prompted speculation from fans that the "returning strip" might be football strip Striker, although creator Pete Nash has previously stated he felt the story had run its course. Update: On 7th January, the football strip did indeed return to the newspaper.

When Striker was dropped from the newspaper in 2009, Nash was also forced to shorten his final story in the newspaper, although as the series' creator he went on to publish the strip online and it found a temporary home in Nuts magazine.

It's been some time since Pete made any further announcements about the comic, despite hopes in 2010 that a new outlet for the story would come to fruition by the end of 2010. Update: However, his persistence now seems to have paid off with a return to the paper where the strip began.

Another strip, fantasy tale Axa, was also dropped mid story with a few strips unpublished and the story was never resolved.

Unlike Striker, Kevin Richter does not own Shadows, so it seems there seems little hope for any further stories at this time, and the story's Facebook page is facing deletion.

"It would be good to carry on with it, if we could get the copyright, but there's probably no chance of that happening," says Kevin. "It is literally more than a full time job creating something like this and the chances of making money on it away from the newspaper is very slim.

Despite the sudden end to the saga, Richtman is keen to thank his fans for their support. "I just want to thank all of you for reading Shadows," he says, "and for your thoughts and comments here on the Facebook page, it really encouraged me and helped me, hopefully, write better stories. I will miss working on Shadows.

"... Comics are what I do though, so I will continue," he insists. "I have many ideas waiting to happen and will be concentrating on them this year. I will of course keep you guys informed. That is assuming you want to read anything else besides Shadows that I produce!"

The Sun also publishes a Wallace and Gromit daily strip, produced by Titan Comics. There is a roster of six writers on that strip - Richy K. Chandler, Luke Paton, Mike Garley, Gordon Volke, Will Dawbarn and David Leach - three artists - Mychailo Kazybrid, Jay Clarke and Sylvia Bennion - and Bambos is the strip's inker and John Burns is the colourist. The strip is lettered and edited by David Leach.

• Kevin Richtman's official web site: www.kevinrichter.com

• Kevin Richtman on Twitter: https://twitter.com/kevinrichter

 

Striker site down - but no early bath for the strip, says creator

Football comics seem to be getting it in the neck this month - after the demise of the print edition of Comic Football (due to return online later this year), fans have alerted us to say that the official Striker comic web site and forum have now gone down.

But don't be alarmed - the situation is only temporary, according to creator Pete Nash, who will be sorting out the problem, he hopes, in the next week, so fans will hopefully soon regain online access to the Striker strips.

Responding to concerns over the site's problems has also prompted Pete to reveal some tantalising hints that the strip - which used to be published The Sun and Nuts - is about to step into the limelight once more, in some form.

"As quiet as everything has been, there is a lot that has been going on with regard to Striker and the other projects, which I and the consortium I am working with hope will come to fruition by the end of the year," he told Striker fans.

"Sounds cryptic, I know, but confidentiality issues prevent me from saying more."

• Official Striker site: www.striker3d.com (not live at present)

Striker on the Subs Bench Again...

Episodes of the 1987 Striker
story 'Dirty Money'. The strip
today is published in CGI.
Striker © 2010 Pete Nash.

Long-running football strip Striker’s run in Nuts magazine will come to an end next month, creator Pete Nash reports.

Sadly for Striker fans who have followed the strip from The Sun to its weekly own comic, then back to the daily paper once more and now, Nuts, the magazine has told Pete they haven’t been able to secure a sponsor which means the income is insufficient to cover the artwork and production costs.

Striker, which has been produced as a Computer Generated strip for several years, has previously been sponsored by big brands such as Virgin.

"It simply isn’t viable to continue," Pete told fans on the official StrikerWorld web forum, revealing the last issue of Nuts featuring Striker will be the one from 5-11 October.

"There will be no big bang ending, just a wrapping up of the current story," he added, before also noting that this might, finally, be the last hurrah for the strip.

"I am long enough in the tooth to know you should never say never but I don’t see any likelihood of Striker re-emerging elsewhere," he says. "Twenty five years is a hell of a run and I feel the time to stop, or at least take a substantial break, is probably overdue. I am finally going to concentrate on my other writing projects."

Striker today. Find out how it's
produced here on the official
Strikerworld web site

Despite the bad news for the strip, there is some good news for its fans - the StrikerWorld web site, which is publishing an archive of past strips, is doing well and Intelligence Ltd – its designers and hosts – are committed to keeping the archive and forum going.

"We are going to shoot a promotional video for the archive to host on Youtube," Pete reports, "so hopefully visitor traffic will improve and the forum will eventually attract more members."

• Visit the StrikerWorld web site at: www.striker3d.com

• Pete's guide to producing Striker in CG

Striker comic to go free-to-view online in July

The entire 25-year archive of the football strip Striker, first published in The Sun and now featuring in mens magazine Nuts, is to be available online as free to view comics on the Striker website when it relaunches in early July.

Creator Pete Nash told fans via the Strkerworld forum (registartion required) earlier this week that the stories will be released in stages of at least one page a day, seven days a week, with five strips to a page.

"The rationale for doing this is to build up as big an audience as possible so that potential licensees in publishing, computer games and film/TV can assess Striker’s appeal through its website following," Pete explained. He says there is strong interest from a film company that’s seeking to raise finance for a film or TV series but it’s making slow progress so far. Similarly, there is keen interest in creating a computer game from three developers - but once again the problem is raising finance.

"To print and market the entire Striker archive as a series of books would cost well into six figures and publishers are cautious about taking this on without an idea of how many books would sell," Pete adds.

"We know Striker is read by over 200,000 people who buy Nuts - but what we don’t know is how many people will visit the Striker website every day to read the free strips. It’s this figure that will be so important to potential investors in the Striker brand."

"I've met many licensing agents who want to represent and market Striker but they would all like to know just how many fans – both existing and potential – are out there. That’s what we shall start to find out by the end of this year."

The web archive will include the first Striker story that was reprinted in the comic, which was the shortened version that was created for the Striker annual published in 1989. The story that will be released on the website will feature the original Sun strips that have never been seen since 1985.

The availability of the archive will be promoted through the Striker page in Nuts and also on Facebook and Youtube in order to reach a global audience.

Striker bounces back again - into Nuts

Football comic Striker has kicked off its 25th anniversary year by signing exclusively to Nuts, Britain’s biggest-selling weekly mens lifestyle magazine published by IPC. (We're betting the team mascot might just be a bit racier than its past cheerleader, pictured here). The computer-generated adventures of Warbury Warriors football club, which previously featured daily in The Sun and, for a time, in their own weekly comic, will launch in the issue going on sale on Tuesday 26th January. Striker will have its own page in Nuts and will feature all-new adventures, starting with the resurrection of the destitute Warriors by Arab billionaire Sheikh Mustapha Futti Kulub (Gedditt!?). Striker was created by journalist and artist Pete Nash back in 1985 and made its debut in The Sun newspaper in November of that year as a three-panel black-and-white cartoon, switching to colour four years later. In 1999, Striker became the first daily newspaper strip in the world to be created entirely in computer-generated 3D software. “Nuts will be the perfect new home for Striker," says creator Pete Nash. "The magazine’s readership of young adult males matches Striker’s core following and the cheeky, entertaining style of Nuts is exactly on a par with Striker. “What’s more is that a weekly format, rather than daily, will give me time to work on developing Striker into a movie and possible TV series. Talks are at an advanced stage with two producers and I can’t wait to see the Striker characters come to life in Nuts and on the screen.” Launched in 2004, Nuts has established itself as the biggest brand in men's media and is the PPA Consumer Media Brand of the Year 2009, accounting for one out of every two men's lifestyle mags purchased at newsstand. Online, Nuts.co.uk is Britain's number one men's lifestyle website, according to the Hitwise UK Online Performance Awards 2008, and gives IPC an unparalleled total reach into what;s often regarded as the most elusive and hardest to please audience there is – young men. “Pete Nash's Striker strips are legendary," added Nuts editor Dominic Smith. "To sign him up and bring the Warbury Warriors to Nuts readers exclusively every week is a dream come true. "Without a doubt Striker is a perfect fit for Nuts, with our mix of sport, girls and humour. "Striker will be must-read material for our football-mad fans - and we've got much more planned for the magazine this year that will underline Nuts' premier league position." • Nuts is on sale every Tuesday, priced £1.70, and online at www.nuts.co.uk

Striker Returns

Long-running football strip Striker is set to return - this time as a weekly strip in an as yet unnamed magazine.

A Striker movie is also again in development.

Announcing the return on the official Striker forum (membership required to view link), creator Pete Nash told fans of the strip, which reached the end of its run in British national newspaper The Sun earlier this year, that the strip looked likely to resume towards the end of January.

"It will be one page in a weekly mag but as I've said before, I can't mention [its name] until the contract's been signed and both parties have agreed to it being made public," he said.

Although the strip reached a natural conclusion in the The Sun, the new home for the strip will feature all-new adventures from Warbury.

"It will pick up from where it left off in The Sun but the beauty of it being one page a week is that it will give me the time to work on Striker the movie," says Pete.

Striker remains one of few "3D" comics to have enjoyed ongoing success, both as a newspaper strip and, for a short time, as part of a weekly comic. Although it no longer features in The Sun it continues to enjoy a fan following and various tie-in projects are "in the works".

New Striker Collection Online

A new collection of Striker stories has just been published online via MyEbook.com.

"Dead Man Walking", set in Haiti, was a fan favourite, but creator Pete Nash warns that it should not to be read by the politically correct! Pages will be added regularly.

Striker recently completed its 18-year saga as a newspaper strip and comic (see news story)

Striker Heads Into the Net

Long-running soccer strip Striker recently came to an end in The Sun - catching many fans by surprize, even though creator Pete Nash had been saying for some time he planned to end the saga. But, after 24 years of publication, both in The Sun and as a self-published nationally-distributed comic, Pete still hopes the series will enjoy new life in new forms - including the online publication of the first ever adventure on myebook.

When Striker came to a conclusion earlier this month, Pete, tells downthetubes he had a holiday, a little relived at no longer being beholden to the deadlines the strip imposed on his life. But on his return he was gobsmacked to find his inbox full of emails from anxious fans, wondering what had happened to their favourite football comic, as The Sun itself had given no indication it was coming to an end!

"I received hundreds of them and they're still arriving," says Pete, "so I hope fans will forgive me for not replying to each one personally." Instead he is posting news about the strip's post-Sun developments on www.striker3d.net, which has long been its official internet home. This includes hopes Pete's long-held dream that the Striker saga will become a blockbuster movie or TV series as well as releasing the entire archive into a volume of books available in print.

"I have been warmed by so many kind comments and somewhat surprised by the strength of feelings expressed," Pete told fans via the StrikerWorld forum (registration required), also revealing the ending of Striker was rather more rushed than he would have liked because The Sun decided to stop the Saturday pages in August, so he had to reduce the final episode he had written by five or six strips. "I left the story with an open ending to allow for the possibility of an eventual relaunch (Romeo and Todd would provide excellent scenarios) but The Sun clearly want to pursue their own ideas. Having said that, one would have thought they could have come up with a better replacement for Striker than web virals."

Explaining the strip's completion, he told fans, "Last year, I gave notice to The Sun that I felt the time was approaching to end Striker as it was becoming increasingly difficult to create fresh storylines for the characters and I did not want to run the risk of it becoming stale.

"There was always the possibility of re-launching it in the future and to this end I offered to create a replacement strip for The Sun or to rerun earlier adventures showing how Warbury Warriors were formed when Nick and Eric first got together. Sadly, The Sun did not wish to discuss this possibility.

"I ended the strip with a scenario that both wrapped up the storyline and left it open to the possibility of being restarted at a later date. I had no idea The Sun would leave their readers in the dark by failing to announce the strip was ending."

This, of course, is not the first time The Sun has decided to leave fans in the dark about the strip's future. Back in 2003, when Pete decided to launch his own weekly Striker comic, The Sun gave readers every impression the strip was over for good, even featuring the Warbury Warriors team being killed in a plane crash in its replacement strip, The Premier.

Behind the scenes, as the Press Gazette reported, the paper also accepted £85,000 for a series of adverts to mark the end of the comic strip appearing in The Sun and to tell readers it was launching as a comic in its own right - then refused to run them. The paper also touted replacement strip The Premier in a news item, only mentioning the new Striker comic toward the end, declaring it would be "The most exciting and innovative strip to be launched in a British newspaper for decades". (It wasn't).

Despite this - and the unfortunate demise of Pete's Striker comic after 87 impressive issues, which even offered shares to readers to try to keep going, with huge success (but not enough to save it) - eventually Striker returned to The Sun, ousting The Premier, reaching a finale this month, much to the dismay of many fans of the strip, which has been created in digital form using Maya software for over 10 years. But even though the strip has ended its daily newspaper appearances, Pete still has plans for its future now he is back in full control, owning all rights to the saga.

"For a long time now I have wanted to publish the entire Striker archive as a series of books and develop it into a movie or TV series," he says. "I now have the time to explore those possibilities."

• Striker fans wanting to keep up to date on Striker developments should visit www.striker3d.net where you can also read some of the earlier Striker adventures free online.

Crikey! Goes Colour

The latest issues of British comics magazine Crikey! is on sale this week - and has made the leap to full colour throughout.

Running to 84 pages the first issue of the now bi–monthly Crikey!, with a Dennis the Menace cover, boasts some of the best talents around. Interviews include Dez Skinn, legendary publisher of such notables as Warrior and Comics International; Steve Holland talks about Bear Alley Books, which has just released collector editions of The Phantom Patrol and Cursitor Doom; plus Beano editor Euan Kerr takes a bow as he leaves Beanotown but not before giving us an exclusive interview about his life at DC Thomson.

Last, but certainly not least, Pete Nash offers an insight into creating Striker, one of the longest running comic strips ever produced.

Also featured are the usual favourites: Nutty Notions and My Comicy Saturday, and Glenn B Fleming's strip cartoon 'Hatch' makes its debut. There are also articles on David Wright's Carol Day, Sydney Jordan's Jeff Hawke, and the one and only Dennis the Menace.

"This is an issue dear to this sad fanboy's heart," says Tony Ingram, co-dditor of the magazine. "Not only is it effectively the first issue of the new and (hopefully) improved Crikey! but also the issue in which we got to talk to a couple of the most revolutionary thinkers in British comics.

"Dez Skinn, of course, first came to prominence in many people's eyes with what was more or less a literal revolution, the 'Marvel Revolution' of 1979 when he revamped Marvel UK's moribund reprint line, but far more significant was his creation of Warrior, a magazine in which, against decades of traditional thinking, the creators actually owned their own characters (and yes, one of Warrior's characters was Marvelman, also in this issue)! Heresy!

"Pete Nash is no less forward thinking. He has, for 24 years, been charting the course of Nick Jarvis in Striker, both in The Sun and (from 2003-2005) his own comic. But when Striker ran into trouble financially, how many publishers would have thought of seeking investment from the readers? America might claim it invented comics, but if you want some examples of re-inventing comics, look no further than these guys..."

• Pick up your copy for just £4.99 at your nearest Borders or Forbidden Planet and a host of other comic outlets thoughout the UK or order through the official Crikey! website: www.crikeyuk.co.uk