Pete Nash, creator of the football strip “Striker”, which first ran in The Sun, is wrapping the saga with an all-new story, as part of a mammoth collection, hopefully out in May.

Pete has collected the entire “Striker” strip in a set of impressive hardback volumes over the past few years, but Volume 26, currently in production, will be the last.

Volume 25 was released last year.

Striker first appeared as a daily comic strip in The Sun, Britain’s biggest-selling newspaper, on 11th November 1985 and is owned by its creator Pete Nash, a former Fleet Street journalist.

The strip has followed the adventures of its hero Nick Jarvis from his debut as a 20-year-old footballer to his present day role as the billionaire owner of fictitious football club Warbury Warriors.

Striker is unusual for a comic in that it is followed by a predominately adult male audience, with nearly 40 per cent in the 18-36 age group. Another feature that sets it apart from other strips is that its characters age in real time.

From its raw beginnings a hand-drawn, black-and-white comic strip, its style of artwork changed noticeably over the years until, in 1998, Striker became the first regular newspaper strip in the world to be created entirely in 3D animation software. Parting ways with The Sun, Pete made the strip of a short-lived but much enjoyed weekly comic, launched in 2003, and, down the years, has found it new homes in magazines such as Nuts, seen it returned to The Sun, and revived again as a limited series comic in 2018.

Now offered in collection, every volume of Striker is still in some stock, from volumes including its early days as a black and white line art strip drawn by Pete Nash himself, and John Cooper, but do note there’s limited availability of initial collections. if you want those, get them fast! 

Check out the Striker collections on the Planet Striker web site here

Last year, Pete announced his initial plans for Volume 25 of Striker, but the sheer size of the collection proved somewhat daunting. Taking suggestions from loyal fans, he opted to release not one but two new volumes, Volume 26 containing the last two or three comics from 2019, plus all the new material, now due in May.

“How many of you really thought this was going to be ready in March?” Pete asked fans on the StrikerWorld Facebook page recently. “That was the intention, honest, but the new and final story for 2024 has turned out to be much longer than I envisaged. I orginally thought it would run to around 40 pages, but it soon became clear that I’d need more space – and time! As I write this, I have completed 82 strip pages, and the final count will probablty be over 90. With the addition of new feature pages, including a catch-up and ‘Where Are They Now’ features, there will probably be more than 100 pages of new material.

“I always worried about whether fans would like the stories and this is no exception, particularly as I want it to give it a suitable send-off,” he continued. “There will be the usual highs and lows, surprises and twists, and I hope the fans will be happy with the ending, but I won’t know until I see the verdicts afterwards!”

The additional pages will mean the final volume of Striker will have a higher cost, but Pete suspects there will be strong demand for this final book, particularly as it has a new story. So look out for the launch a pre-order opportunity later this month, with these orders taking priority.

“These are tough times for so many people, so I hope you’re managing to stay upbeat,” Pete notes. “If not, hopefully Volume 26 will cheer you up!”

• Check out the Striker collections on the Planet Striker web site here

John Freeman

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, Comic Previews, Comics, downthetubes Comics News, downthetubes News

Tags: downthetubes News, Football Comics, Pete Nash, Striker, The Sun