''Sisterson!'' was a short-run
comic book
A comic book, also called comicbook, comic magazine or (in the United Kingdom and Ireland) simply comic, is a publication that consists of comics art in the form of sequential juxtaposed panel (comics), panels that represent individual scenes. ...
which ran for three or four issues around 1990 and was circulated among London comic shops. "Sisterson!" was a "
jam comic", i.e., a collection of comic strips each of which was an unplanned collaborative effort, with one creator drawing the first panel and then passing it on to another to be continued, usually resulting in a comic strip far more strange and unpredictable than any one artist would be likely to devise. Essentially, the comic was used as a method to teach sequential thinking and for studying the approach of other artists and creators.
Notable creators who contributed to ''Sisterson'' included
Nick Abadzis
Nick Abadzis ( el, Νικ Αμπατζής; born 1965)
Lambiek's ''Comiclopedia''. Retrieved Jan. 28, 2020.
,
John McCrea
John is a common English name and surname:
* John (given name)
* John (surname)
John may also refer to:
New Testament
Works
* Gospel of John, a title often shortened to John
* First Epistle of John, often shortened to 1 John
* Second ...
,
D'Israeli,
Hunt Emerson
Hunting is the human activity, human practice of seeking, pursuing, capturing, or killing wildlife or feral animals. The most common reasons for humans to hunt are to harvest food (i.e. meat) and useful animal products (fur/hide (skin), hide, ...
,
Woodrow Phoenix
Woodrow Phoenix is a British comics artist, writer, editorial illustrator, graphic designer, font designer and author of children's books.
Phoenix is best known for ''Rumble Strip'', published in 2008, a non-fiction look at the difficult social ...
,
Darryl Cunningham
Darryl Cunningham (born 1960) is a British author and cartoonist who has written the books ''Science Tales'' (also known, in the US, as ''How to Fake a Moon Landing''), ''Psychiatric Tales'', ''The Age of Selfishness'' and ''Billionaires: The Liv ...
,
Charlie Adlard
Charles Adlard is a British comic book
A comic book, also called comicbook, comic magazine or (in the United Kingdom and Ireland) simply comic, is a publication that consists of comics art in the form of sequential juxtaposed panel (comics ...
,
Roger Langridge
Roger Langridge (born 14 February 1967) is a New Zealand comics writer, artist and letterer, currently living in Britain.
Biography
Langridge originally came to public prominence most notably with the '' Judge Dredd Megazine'' series ''The St ...
, and
Simon Fraser.
History
"Jam comics" have many other origins: "Sisterson" was named after a particular example that took place in the Humour Comic Strip class at the London Cartoon Centre (LCC), a series of comics classes that took place at various venues in West London in the late 1980s and early 1990s. Taking an idea from then-student/future LCC course director Steve Marchant, one of the attendees, Dennis Sisterson, initiated a jam comic, and it became a regular feature of the class. Tutor
Donald Rooum
Donald Rooum (20 April 1928 – 31 August 2019) was an English anarchist cartoonist and writer. He had a long association with Freedom Press who have published seven volumes of his ''Wildcat'' cartoons.
In 1963 he played a key role in exposin ...
dubbed it "The Sisterson Game" and the name stuck; years later it re-emerged as a
postal game. Among the participants at the original London Cartoon Centre class were comic artist/teacher Steve Marchant and writer Andrew Pilcher.
Rules
Rules were developed over the years by various players, eventually distilling into this form: ''Sisterson'' is a game for three or more people. A cartoonist cannot draw a panel if one of his or her previous drawings appears within the two prior panels. Participants should follow the story through sequentially, panel by panel; they can not skip a panel or two because they cannot think what should go next. No "unnecessary" sex or violence.
One variety played at the LCC involved placing a panel at any unused point in the strip, not necessarily the panel following the one previously drawn, but this made things just a bit too difficult.
References
External links
Sisterson!at Comix.org.uk, with scans of 50 pages
Sistersonat Concepts.org
British comics titles
Comics anthologies
1990 in comics
{{UK-comics-stub