Enola
Holmes: The Graphic Novels, Book Two.
By Serena Blasco. Translated by Tanya Gold. Based on the novels by Nancy
Springer. Andrews McMeel. $14.99.
The last three of the original six Nancy Springer novels about Enola
Holmes, 20-years-younger sister of Sherlock, are now available in their
graphic-novel guise as imagined by Serena Blasco for a French edition that has
been admirably translated by Tanya Gold. It is scarcely a surprise that this
second book of Enola’s illustrated adventures is every bit as satisfying as the
first, since it is a continuation of the Springer saga as imagined and
reimagined by the same creative artists. What is something of a surprise is the way the overarching themes that
Springer cleverly created continue to translate so well into visual form –
while the “meta” story arc, which flows from the title character’s name
(“alone” spelled backwards), bends more and more in a direction that results,
at the end, in Enola being reconciled with her brothers (Mycroft as well as
Sherlock) and no longer being “alone” anymore.
As for those recurrent themes, they are all about subtlety, disguise,
and women being more than society-at-large considers them to be in 1889 London.
A great many elements of these tales turn on Enola’s ability to do things right
under the nose of male-dominated society simply because it was unimaginable
that a woman would do such things.
This opens the door to creativity in cyphers, “fan language” lurking behind
those apparently modesty-preserving handheld fans, disguises of all sorts, and
the leaving of clues in ways that are particularly noticeable to women –
because in straitlaced Victorian society, men simply would not “go there” to
locate or interpret the information.
Certainly Enola has far more modern attitudes and approaches than would
have been likely in the time period in which Springer’s books are set – but
these books are, after all, works produced from 2006 through 2010 and designed
to appeal to 21st-century preteens and young teenagers (there are
also two additional books that Springer created subsequently and that are not
part of Blasco’s “graphic novelizations”). In fact, Springer does a good job
with the balancing act involving an exotic-to-modern-readers locale and a
recognizable-to-modern-readers protagonist – with Blasco’s visuals skillfully
maintaining the mixture of then and now.
The three books included here are The
Case of the Peculiar Pink Fan, The Case of the Cryptic Crinoline, and The Case of the Gypsy Goodbye – here
retitled The Case of the Baker Street
Station, presumably because of a misguided sense of political correctness regarding
use of the term “gypsy” (the text itself has been somewhat rewritten too,
awkwardly and presumably for the same reason). The first three graphic novels (The Case of the Missing Marquess, The Case
of the Left-Handed Lady, and The Case
of the Bizarre Bouquets) were all strongly connected to Enola’s search for
her (and Sherlock’s and Mycroft’s) mother, whose mysterious disappearance Enola
discovers on her 14th birthday and becomes determined to unravel.
The three books in this second collection move away from that preoccupation,
with Enola actually deciding in The Case
of the Peculiar Pink Fan that “everyone deserves freedom, including Mum.
And I have decided to stop looking for her. At least while she wants to stay
hidden.” As a result, these three books have a greater focus on Enola’s own
maturation as a character and a young woman – which makes her eventual
reconciliation with her brothers all the more believable.
All the Enola Holmes books have plot points that occasionally misfire – notably, master detective Sherlock needs Enola’s help to a far greater degree than would reasonably be the case, and becomes attached to her as a sister rather too readily to be credible (Mycroft’s old-fashioned protective instincts and tendency to dismiss Enola as a mere youngster, and a female one at that, fit the tales better). Still, the basic stories work well, and their mixture of scene-setting with suitable adventurousness is quite pleasant. And the glances into Enola’s personal notebooks, offered as supplements at the end of each tale, are engaging in themselves as well as being revelatory of Enola’s personality and Springer’s reasons for structuring some story elements as she has. Occasional “you try it” elements, such as how to write in invisible ink, create just enough participatory engagement to give young readers a tangible connection between Enola’s world and their own. These graphic novels are an unusually successful adaptation of an unusually successful update-and-modification of an unusually successful series of four novels and 56 short stories created from 1887 to 1927. Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s tales of Sherlock Holmes continue to inspire spinoffs, analyses and creativity of all sorts – and the Springer stories, in their original guise and now in these very fine graphic-novel versions, are worthy additions to the Holmes canon.
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