I’ve learn a lot of dry prose about Suzanne Lenglen. Phrases phrases phrases phrases . . . It’s stuffy inside and I open a window. The breeze coming in seems like turning the pages of Tom Humberstone’s new graphic novel: Suzanne: The Jazz Age Goddess of Tennis. Suzanne’s not a set portrait, however a river, a rhythm of feelings. A move of images and phrases like an ideal first date: new impressions, new data, new challenges, new concepts.
Pictures extra highly effective than phrases. (Is {that a} settled or unsettled fact?) When exploring the scandal Suzanne (that hussy!) created by abandoning chokingly restrictive Victorian gown for garments that allowed her to maneuver extra freely, Humberstone provides us a easy, highly effective picture: Elizabeth Ryan’s bare again with stripes left on it after eradicating her corset. (Elizabeth was Suzanne’s shut pal and doubles accomplice.) To depict Suzanne’s father’s coaching strategies, Humberstone attracts handkerchiefs dropping on a tennis court docket, every adopted by tennis ball touchdown with a smooth, agency “Pok!” Abruptly, a coin is flipped within the air. It lands on the court docket. You may learn its date: 1909. Suzanne’s father demanding unimaginable precision from Suzanne’s pictures. Demanding, demanding, demanding. That’s how an ideal athlete is made. Humberstone provides us photographs of Suzanne in coaching: strolling on stilts, lifting weights, leaping rope, dancing ballet . . . Psychological coaching, too. I preserve repeating this line from Joseph Negro, who helped practice Suzanne alongside along with her father: “A tennis participant will need to have, directly, the best tactical thoughts and the reminiscence of a concussed goldfish.”
Humberstone’s concise dramatizations of Suzanne’s first encounters with previous tennis legends–Invoice Tilden, Ted Tinling, Elizabeth Ryan, Dick Williams, Helen Wills—have been an absolute pleasure. These novelistic dramatizations are hanging for his or her capability to create intimacy/feelings/drama inside a really brief span of time. My favourite encounter was between Helen Wills and Suzanne Lenglen the evening earlier than they play the match of the century. Humberstone has them sharing an umbrella within the rain—28 totally different panels in 4 pages—they usually shortly strike up an in depth intimacy and respect for one another. Suzanne complains to Helen that males management all facets about their upcoming match: they write about it, become profitable from it, and reap all the advantages. Helen Wills asks about Suzanne’s father, who’s dying. Suzanne responds that he doesn’t even know that they’ll play the match of the century tomorrow. The scene ends with an settlement to play the match for themselves as ladies. As Humberstone states in a footnote, the one assembly Helen Wills and Suzanne had earlier than the match was transient. He needed to provide them an opportunity for a extra prolonged dialog: “I felt it was essential to the story for them to have an opportunity to talk to one another right here.”
Suzanne: The Jazz Age Goddess, then, just isn’t fairly goal historical past. But it surely’s rigorously researched and so near the reality, possibly nearer to the reality, than any grindingly goal historical past ever is. If you already know an ideal deal about Lenglen’s life, you’ll love this guide. If you already know little about Suzanne Lenglen, you’ll love this guide. She is, in spite of everything, some of the compelling figures of the 20th century. Her personal distinctive model appears greatest served by the distinctive model of Humberstone’s guide, with its fashionable succession of photographs and phrases interacting with one another in endlessly fascinating methods.
Artist Bio: Tom Humberstone is an award-winning comedian artist and illustrator based mostly in Edinburgh. His debut graphic novel – Suzanne: The Jazz Age Goddess of Tennis – was revealed by Avery Hill in September 2022. He writes and attracts non-fiction comics for the Ignatz award-winning The Nib, in addition to the New Statesman, Vox, Buzzfeed and others. He’s the editor and writer of the critically acclaimed UK comics anthology Solipsistic Pop and co-editor of Over The Line: An Introduction to Poetry Comics. You may study extra about Tom Humberstone and his work on his web site.
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