 |
| Welcome to the Original Un-Official Striker Web-Site Welcome to Warbury.cjb.net, the Original Un-Official Web-Site dedicated to the Nations Favourite Cartoon Strip, Striker. Well... it's been an interesting few weeks for Striker. The launch of the comic has been great and it has taken Striker to a completely new level! However, The Sun have tried their best to spoil this, and many of us Striker fans have shown we're not happy and boycotted The Sun. To see how the campaign is going, see the campaign section below. To see just some of the response we have been getting, Click Here. Come On Warbury!, David Bott - 13th September 2003 Web-Master of Warbury.cjb.net |
 |
 |
| LATEST NEWS (Last Update: Saturday 13th September 2003) |
| The Sun ban Striker Ads Saturday 6th September 2003 - Courtesy of Striker3D.net An extraordinary war has broken out between The Sun and Striker, on the day the strip left the newspaper after 18 successful years. Striker 3D Ltd, the creators of the cartoon strip which has millions of fans, had paid The Sun £85,000 to run a series of ads, announcing the arrival of the fantastic new comic. The first advert, due to be run last week, was pulled by deputy editor Fergus Shanahan because it announced Striker was leaving before The Sun had told it's readers that they were about to lose their favourite strip. The following day The Sun devoted an entire page announcing the end of Striker, saying Warbury Warriors, the team which is featured in the Striker story, were struggling in the second division and were ending their association with the newspaper. Many fans interpretted that as the newspaper trying to suggest they had dumped Striker when it was a decision taken by Striker 3D Ltd. It said the strip would be replaced by a new 3D football cartoon, following the fortunes of a Premiership team, without detailing exactly what it would be like. The Sun then allowed the Striker ads to appear in the newspaper until a shock move tonight (Thurs). Striker had paid for a half page advert to appear in the newspaper tomorrow (Friday), the first day The Sun would be published without Striker. The ad was designed to let Striker fans know that although the strip had finished in the newspaper it was alive and kicking in its own comic. At 5.45pm Striker 3D Ltd received a telephone call saying the ad had been kicked out of the newspaper because Striker "was now a competitor" and would not be allowed to advertise. Pete Nash, Chief Executive of Striker 3D Ltd, said: "The Sun pulled our ads at 5.45 pm on the eve of publication and didn't even have the courtesy to notify me officially. We only found out about it in a tip-off from someone in their advertising department. I immediately phoned Fergus Shanahan, who told me it wasn't in their interests to publish an ad for the Striker comic when they were trying to launch a 3d football strip of their own. "When I pointed out that not only had The Sun accepted and booked the ads but they had also taken my money, he simply said that was regrettable but that he wasn't responsible. I am absolutely appalled by The Sun's behaviour. Only last week they published a full page editorial which implied to their readers that they had dumped Striker, when in fact we had terminated the contract. Fortunately, we have received hundreds of emails of support from Sun readers saying they were not fooled and that the article smacked of sour grapes. " Many of them have said they will not be buying the paper in future. My biggest concern now is that we have been denied a legitimate commercial right to advertise our product whilst being led to believe that the ads would be run. In my view this is an attempt to put us out of business." The decision by Nash to take Striker out of The Sun has sparked a 3D football cartoon war between The Sun and The Star, who had twice attempted to sign up the strip for themselves. The Star, having failed to get Striker, have been running tasters for a new strip which is being launched on Monday while The Sun have still not revealed the full details of their new strip which is due to launch on Saturday. Meanwhile the Striker comic, the first weekly comic to be launched in Britian for 25 years, has already attracted a huge following. What do you think of The Sun's behaviour? Send your emails to fanmail@striker3d.net. |
| Reasons Behind Striker Leaving The Sun Saturday 16th August 2003 As announced above, Striker is leaving The Sun after almost 18 years of appearing in the newspaper. But why is Striker leaving The Sun? It all began when Striker 3D wanted to launch their official web-site. In 2001, Striker 3D were making plans to launch their Official Web-Site. It was later announced in The Sun in February 2002 with the words 'Coming Soon'. However, nothing was ever said about this and fans were left wondering what was going on. This was because The Sun had blocked the idea. The Sun would only allow Striker to launch a web-site if The Sun could have total control of it. Obviously, Striker didn't want this (who would). In August 2002, Creator Pete Nash served a Years Notice to The Sun stating that his cartoon strip would soon be leaving the newspaper after that time. Following this announcement, Virgin Mobile pulled out of sponsorship in May 2003. Within the next week or so, Striker will appear in The Sun for the final time. However, as stated in the article above... Things are looking up! Not only will this cool magazine be launched, Virgin Mobile should also be continuing their sponsorship of the cartoon and Warbury Warriors. An Official Striker Site will also be launched! More on this as we get it! |
|
| OUR BOYCOTT CAMPAIGN! (Last Update: Saturday 13th September 2003) |
 |
| Warbury.cjb.net get an Independent Campaign going... Saturday 6th September 2003 The Sun have done dirty deeds towards Striker in the past couple of weeks. I feel that The Sun are so out of order that I shall be boycotting their paper in future and I am hoping the the rest of you will join the Warbury.cjb.net campaign! Just to note for legal reasons... this campaign is run independently by David Bott and has nothing to do with Striker 3D Ltd! It all started on Thursday 28th August... The Sun done a full page article on Striker leaving The Sun. It didn't mention about it becoming a comic, it simply mentioned they were stuggling in Division Two. The Sun announced in the same article that a "brand new cartoon strip with the glitz and glmour of the Premiership" would be replacing Striker.... this made it sound like Strikers ratings had fallen and it'd been cancelled in place of a Premiership strip! Then on Thursday 4th September... The Sun accepted money from Striker 3D for adverts to be published in The Sun letting fans know that Striker is going on to bigger things in the form of a comic strip! However, even though they'd accepted the money, The Sun didn't publish the adverts claiming Striker was now a competitor! This was a sad thing to hear following 18 years of a good relationship and the fact that earlier in the day, Striker had gone out of The Sun on a good note with this strip seen below... |
 |
 |
| Then on Saturday 6th September... The Sun published it's new strip "The Premier". What's the problem? you may ask, well there would be no problem... but the two facts above and todays strip which made out as if Warbury Warriors had been killed in a plane crash prooved one thing... The Sun wanted a War and they are going to get one! JOIN WARBURY.CJB.NET AND THOUSANDS OF STRIKER FANS IN BOYCOTTING THE SUN! To join the campaign.... SEND ME AN EMAIL! To send Striker your thoughts... CLICK HERE! Tell The Sun how pathetic they how and let them know you'll be boycotting them by CLICKING HERE! |
| Latest News on Striker Leaving The Sun Saturday 16th August 2003 Striker is now preparing to leave The Sun after almost 18 years of appearing in the newspaper daily. The good news behind this is that Striker The Magazine will be released in all good newsagents (and some bad ones too) from Thursday 28th August. All ideas for this magazine were released when I went to the Striker Seminar day at the Striker 3D headquarters in Tonbridge back in June. Here is a brief outline of what the magazine will be about... - The Magazine will cost around £1 a week and will be aimed at those who enjoy magzines such as FHM and Loaded. - The magazine won't be aimed at children, it will be aimed for teens and above... just as the cartoon strip is! - The magazine will contain cool stuff such as Eric Openshaw's Car Review's or something along those lines... and may also include a Page 3 spoof with a Warbury Female Fan of the week. - The magazine will feature about 14-16 pages of the cartoon. The remaining pages (the mag will be around 32 pages) will feature fun stuff based on the Warriors and characters of Striker. All these details were announced back in June, so things may have changed since then. However, I can confirm that the Release date will be Thursday 28th August. |
| Click the picture to see other peoples responses. To find out what the campaign is all about, see below... |
| Pete Nash thanks all Striker fans for their support! WARBURY.CJB.NET EXCLUSIVE! Saturday 13th September 2003 Following The Sun's behaviour and their treatment to Striker, Warbury.cjb.net set up the Campaign to boycott The Sun. The past week, we have seen many fans contacting us with messages of support. The Striker Official Site (Striker3d.net) has also been overwhelmed with great messages of support from fans. Just minutes after setting up the campaign, I contacted Pete Nash to let him know what we were doing. Pete found time from his busy schedule to reply to us. "Hi David... Many thanks for your message. We've had hundreds of fantastic emails like yours and I want you and everyone to know how much they mean to us in these very difficult times." Pete said of The Sun's behaviour "Their behaviour is so appalling I can hardly find the words to describe it". I'm sure this is the view of thousands of Striker fans up and down the country! Pete also announced "Rest assured we are taking legal action against The Sun. They can bully us but they ain't gonna beat us! They may have shed loads of money but the public can hit them the hardest buy refusing to buy their paper. And you can tell that to your readers." Striker will receive full support from Warbury.cjb.net as always. The Striker team work their socks off to provide us with what we want, so let's get behind them! It may take time, but Striker will become bigger and better, as Pete continued "It will be a hard slog but Striker will not only survive this but will become bigger and better. That's what the fans want and that's what we are going to give them. Sometimes there will be a wobble in quality but ultimately it will continue to improve. "What keeps us going are the messages of support and the encouraging sales of the comic." |
| 38,000 Copies of First Issue Sold Saturday 13th September 2003 - Courtesy of Striker3D.net After an agonising, nail biting wait, the figures are finally out -- the first issue of Striker sold a fantastic 38,000 copies -- and it's all down to you our loyal fans. So a big thank you to every single one of you we couldn't have done it without you. The figures are better than we dared hope for, and a brilliant result for a brand new publication especially with all the launch problems - from distribution difficulties, to The Sun refusing to publish our adverts and then running a new strip implying Striker was 'lost forever'. Far from it, Striker is very much alive and kicking with a fantastic future ahead. |
| Gazza Becomes a Warrior! Saturday 13th September 2003 After weeks of negotiations, Paul Gascoigne put pen to paper last week and finally became a Warrior... at least for now anyway! Connecting with real situations, Gazza's transfer storyline also mentions about his registration with his club in China and the fact they are seeking compensation. There are also appearances from Gazza's agent, Wes Saunders, plus Gazza's best mate, Jimmy 'Five Belly's' Gardener. Wes wonders off with Vanessa as Eric negotiates with Jimmy. In the story, Eric being his usual self keeps refering to Gazza as 'Bazza'. To see how the team react to his arrival, buy Issue 3 from shops now! |
| Striker to sue The Sun! Sunday 7th September 2003 - Courtesy of Striker3D.net AStriker creator Pete Nash announced today that he intends to sue The Sun for banning his adverts for the new weekly comic and for trying to fool readers into thinking Striker was "lost forever". His move follows The Sun's publication this morning (Saturday) of their copycat 3D cartoon strip, which showed a plane carrying "the city's other team" crashing into the sea. A distraught child wearing a shirt in Warbury Warriors colours was seen placing flowers at some gates which had a "Closed Until Further Notice" placard over a sign bearing a word that began with W and ended in Y. In the next panel the child was beaming with delight, saying he never believed he would have switched teams. Readers may find it hard to believe, too. In the final panel, the new club's chairman says of the "other team": "It is with deepest regret that I hear they are to be pronounced lost for ever." Pete Nash said: "I wanted our parting with The Sun to be friendly. They have decided otherwise. Launching a new strip by pretending that Striker had died was merely pathetic. But telling us that they would only run our ads for the comic if we paid them up front, and then pulling them, is beneath contempt. In my view, they want to see us go out of business. They may be rich and powerful but they can't beat us - and they won't fool their readers, who they must think are stupid. So much for The Sun's stance on supporting free enterprise and competition. This shows they're terrified of competition - even when it's from a small company like ours." "I have taken legal advice and shall be taking the matter further." "The only people who have the power to decide Striker's fate are the readers. We won't be beaten by a newspaper that has no honour." |