Long published in The Sun newspaper and much-missed by is fans, the Striker football strip created by Pete Nash lives on in the Striker Books: The Complete Collection – and Volume Thirteen is available now.
Striker first appeared in November 1985, as a black-and white, three-panel comic strip in The Sun, becoming the first comic strip in the world to be created in 3D animation software in 1988.
Over its 34 year life as an ongoing strip, largely in The Sun, Striker also span off into its own weekly comic between 2003 and 2005, featured in Nuts magazine, and was again revived as a comic in 2018 but, sadly, this run did not prove as long lasting.
Although The Sun finally dropped Striker last year, Pete Nash has continued to publish his Striker Books: The Complete Collection books, with Volume 13 bringing the project to the halfway point in the series.
These hardback collections have been published more frequently since the first COVID-19 lockdown ended. Volume 13 is the fourth book to be released this year. Pete says that he’s aiming to bring a new collection out every quarter, with Volume 14 planned for release in February 2021 – COVID permitting.
As ever, as you can see from the sample pages presented, this Volume offers the usual crazy stories featuring the Warbury Warriors, both on and off the pitch!
For those of you pining for new Striker, Pete revealed back in June that he’s returned to pitching the story as a TV show, abandoning his idea to write a novel.
“I have a hunch that finally, 35 years after Striker was created, it’s the perfect time to turn it into a TV series,” he explained, noting a demand for distracting entertainment from grim world events, arguing people are looking for feel-good entertainment.
Plus, he says, “the current demand for content is unprecedented thanks to the advent of streaming networks like Netflix, Amazon, Apple and HBO in addition to the established TV channels.”
Never say never to more Striker!
• Striker collections and more are available from the Planet Striker web site: www.planetstriker.com
• If football isn’t your thing, don’t forget Pete has also published a collection of Psycops, a complete compilation of his paranormal adventure comic strips that were featured in The Sun between 1994 and 1999
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.
Categories: British Comics, British Comics - Collections, British Comics - Newspaper Strips, downthetubes Comics News, downthetubes News
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