Graphic Novel Review - 'Leap' by Simina Popescu

Ballerinas and lesbians. What sequential art was made for.

'Leap' (no relation to the 2016 animated film, thank goodness) is a quiet, gentle little LGBTQ+ coming-of-age graphic novel. Well, maybe not little as it is close to 300 pages long, but the whole story - how it plays out and progresses, during an important, crossroads period in teenage girls' lives - is understated, unpretentious, sincere. It feels honest, and therefore all the more heartwarming, heartbreaking, and real. Real and lovely.

It's like the best, most fluid and ethereal ballet performance; not haunting, exactly, but it will feel like it's touching on enough human experiences to stay with you for a long time after you've watched it. Its ghost lingers within your heart.

It helps that it's an autumnal and wintery graphic novel, cold yet cosy, with snow. Feel the atmosphere this holiday season.

It's also a bit like a rom com (except definitely not, but I'll get to explaining that) or a sitcom miniseries, but the laughs are underplayed, and the moody drama that is life takes over, pouncing, punching on every page.

I like ballet, and I'm all for more queer stories being told, so I had the mystical, prophetic foresight that 'Leap' would be right up my alley. My ballet alley.

I don't want to spoil anything about the story and the characters, because it is nearing the end of the year now and I am beyond exhausted--oh, and because it is best to leap into 'Leap' (sorrynotsorry) - to go into any slice-of-life, coming-of-age experience blind; as unknowing about the lives, the revelations, the shocks, and the turns and changes of the characters as they are. Into the unknown indeed.

I will add, however, that 'Leap' manages to subvert practically every LBGTQ+ cliché in storylines everywhere ever. And it ends up becoming - blossoming, blooming into - a big platonic love story; any romances and crushes are in the process of being moved on from. That's change. That's life.

So, not a rom com or a sitcom.

'Leap' is a comic about friendship between queer girls.

The ending isn't rushed and underwhelming - the last few pages are perfect.

Sorry, I won't reveal why, because spoilers. Read 'Leap' to find out what I'm talking about.

The diverse rep is great, to boot (to pivot). It is set in Bucharest, Romania. There are queer girls and women, fat girls, and foreign girls and women. No disability rep, as far as I could tell, however. There are nearly no male characters.

The ballet aspect sort of takes a backseat to the drama going on, too, but not by much. Side characters, like in the main girl friend group, are not as developed as I would have liked them to be, sadly.

'Leap' is a look into the lives of ballerinas, young and older, and it is a Swan Lake portal-mirror into the hard reality of growing up and discovering you are queer in a society that largely won't except you for who you are. You may have to live in fear and hiding. Any coming out or nonconsensual exposure could damage your personal life and career. Hiding who you are might be surviving, but it won't make you happy; there is constant constraint and stress, and no joy and freedom, and it may negatively effect others as well as yourself. It will effect your relationships.

Everybody suffers in ignorant, queerphobic communities.

The art is simple and shadowy, with pinks and beiges, and a few full colour pages, like during dancing sequences, which are beautifully drawn. I'm not a big fan of the art, overall, but it works for what it is, and what its heartfelt purpose is.

I'm confused about the stylistic choice of not every line of dialogue being surrounded by a white balloon - it looks like a character's thoughts sometimes, instead of what they are actually saying. But the lines have, well, a line connecting them to a character, so we know it is supposed to be dialogue. What is the meaning behind that? Is it to do with a particular mood?

Ah, well. I love and appreciate everything else about this taffeta tome.

'Leap', what a charming, personal queer book.

Sapphic ballerinas, leap and soar! You deserve it. You deserve to be loved and valued, for all your worth. You are worthy. Of all kinds of love and connection. Every kind of relationship is open to you.

Final Score: 4/5