Striker's done...

[paulvonscott]

It always drew an unfair amount of hostility from people on the board, but what I always thought was a brave attempt at putting out a weekly footballing newstand comic has come to an end.

A shame, I think if it had been a success, other publishers might have been willing to give it a go, and is it is, no publisher is willing to invest in anything beyond a licensed tie in, Juvenile humour or repackeged material.

It was never my kind of comic, and I think it could have gained a broader appeal if it hadn't been so reliant on on what is still fairly primitive 3D software.  You can capture real dynamism with drawn art, it's not some sort of stone age relic.  

It also went for a footballers wives/sun readership outlook, which to my mind is slightly alienating in that it isn't exactly a family comic.  

It didn't have much strip content and eventually started reprinting old Billy's Boots stories.  A new drawn Billy's Boots story would have been good.

Anyway, I still think it was a good idea in theory.  But it's a hard cruel world out there on the newsagent's shelf.  Sorry it's gone, anyway.

[The Amstor Computer]

I detested the Striker strip for its content, quality & artistic approach, but it *is* a shame to see another comic fold.

To be honest, I think the writing was on the wall when they had to ask readers to invest, and I'm quite surprised it struggled on this long.

The interesting question - from my point of view, at least - is whether this is because of poor content or whether it's indicative of a market that simply won't buy *any* comic...

[Banners]

What about my shares? Argh!

M@

[Adrian Bamforth]

Ding Dong, The Witch is dead...

ADE

[Bico]

It's a shame, I'll agree, but you have to ask if something so steeped in machismo culture as football was going to readily accept something as girly, nerdish and obviously homosexual as a comic.

[GordonR]

Check out the letter they sent to shareholders breaking the bad news.  Watch out for the phrases "the big adversities were still staying away", and "W.H. Smith quoted us more than ?2000,000 to make Striker more visible in their stores".

Two million quid?  Blimey, no wonder they couldn't afford it.

Link: http://www.warburywarriorsfc.com/" target="_blank">illiteracy-R-Us

[The Amstor Computer]

One of my favourites:

"we still felt the comic needed moor pages"

3D Shakespeare?

[Dudley]

To be fair, that letter was copied by one fan onto the forum.  The webmaster simply copied and pasted it onto the front of the website so as to get the message out to the fans as fast as possible.  I'm sure the original letter didn't contain the same misspellings.

Pity.  I share all the reservations above, plus a couple, but all the same it's not like British comics are in a position to happily watch a competitor burn.  Wonder what'll hapen to War of the Worlds now?

[The Amstor Computer]

I suspect War of the Worlds is going to be quietly canned...

[paulvonscott]

All very sad.  It does sound like the reliance on 3-D art was a problem.  If it had just been artists who could draw, with their hands, then then might have faired better.

There are so few comics about, you can't call them compeition, just a couple o sad beans rattling round in a tin.

[KingPhone]

I only read the one issue, but wouldn't have paid a cent for it based on that.
  How many readers did it have? Should Tharg add a future sport strip, possibly using complex 3d technology to snap them up?

just kidding

[paulvonscott]

or even "you can't call them competition"

The typo craze spreads like wildfire.

I think too much about these things of course, but I think you either need talented people funded by people with big pockets, or you need talented people working at the lowest levels and a cult success.  Both happen rarely.

80-odd issues is by no means an unrespectable figure for a comic to achieve.  Most comics traditionally didn't last as long.  Scream - 13 issues, Starlord - 20-odd...

[The Amstor Computer]

I think it started with decent sales, but after hovering on the 20,000-ish mark for a while, it seems to have crashed. The letter talks about sales "soon dropping below 10,000", and I suspect this announcement will cause further losses before the final issue.

[Max Kon]

i don't think it will. Who would stop reading a comic just because they know that when the current story line finishes? And if they had been collecting since No1 they would have a full set.

Morons!! that's who would. So no sales drops.


Oh wait a minute, I forgot this was the striker readership we were talking about. Sales will drop suddenly :P

[GordonR]

Ahh, you're just spoiling the joke now - that they can't tell the difference between 'adversary' and 'advertiser', and had a habit of adding a few extra zeroes onto a financial figure.  Neither of which, you'll agree, are the basis of a sound business model.

"Dear Adversary,

Our rates start at ?500,000 for a half-page page ad in Striker..."