By PETE NASH
It's been really tough producing and distributing the weekly comic with a team of just three people on production and one handling admin - and just as we were hoping for a break, we were hit with a real body blow as we were going to press at this weekend (September 22-23).
Our distributor informed us on Friday evening that WH Smith had failed to allocate their copies of issue 2 to their 260-odd branches that were due to stock it, with the bundles being dispersed to independent newsagents who hadn't ordered it and weren't expecting them - so what they'll do with them is anyone's guess.
We went into damage limitation mode and decided to reprint 1,000 copies of issue 2 and send them to WHS asap. Those issue 2 copies should be in their branches on Tuesday,September 25, and will stay on sale until Wednesday, October 3 - as will all copies of issue 2 elsewhere.
The knock-on effect of this is that issue 3 - which went to press yesterday - will now go on sale on Wednesday, October 3 (when issue 2 goes off sale). Weekly publication will resume from then on.
Subscribers may find that they will receive their copies of issue 3 on time as usual - if so, please note that there will be a one-week delay in receiving issue 4.
We don't yet know what impact Smith's error will have on us, but all we can do for now is to try and make the best of a very bad situation. With your continued support, I am hopeful we can survive and eventually thrive.
On the plus side, we were finally able to bring you the animated highlights of Warbury's opening World League game against Mombasa Mambas.Unfortunately there were some flaws in this as well (are you getting the impression last week wasn't a great week?) but at least we have got the animation up and running, and hopefully you can see the potential for the future.
All being well, we'll eventually be able to show you highlights from all the World League games, along with commentary and a weekly show with a studio presenter.
Our small team has done a superhuman job on severely limited resources, so please bear with us on any shortcomings. Rome wasn't built in a day and neither will this new era of Striker be - but I hope you'll all stay with us for the ride!