Freddie & Me: A Coming-Of-Age (Bohemian) Rhapsody

One of my earliest memories in my life was in the living room in my family's old house in Commack, NY.  I had to have been 4, maybe 5, and I remember my Dad blasting a Queen record.  I remember it vividly because the cover of the album had a robot holding the bloody bodies of men and quite honestly, it scared me a little.  But I remember loving the songs and my father was quite fond of it as well.  It could probably be said that Queen was one of the first bands I was "aware" of, raised on "We Will Rock You."  I think it's because of this early memory, I've always had a soft spot for Queen, even before Wayne's World.

It's this soft spot that made me stop in the aisles at a comic book store and notice Freddie & Me by Mike Dawson.  I noticed the cover and immediately thought "a comic about Freddie Mercury? Awesome!"  And even though it jumped out at me, I moved on, adding it to my mental list of comics I would eventually get around to.  It was nearly a year later that I found myself in that same comic book store purchasing my weekly stack of issues, which for this specific week was unusually low.  So given that I was spending less than normal I thought it would be fun to go find a book I wouldn't normally buy.  As I had this thought, I walked by Freddie & Me again, and this time I stopped and grabbed it.  

Freddie & Me is an original graphic novel by Mike Dawson, telling his autobiographical tale of his childhood, growing up, family issues he dealt with all within the shadow of his obsession with Queen and the vocalist Freddie Mercury.  Now, it's already clear about my obsession with comics, or else I wouldn't be writing for this site that you come and read quite often (thank you for that by the way.)  But I also tend to get a bit obsessed with music, specifically a few artists, much to the chagrin of my friends (who I also thank for putting up with me and my blind devotion). So the idea of a comic book about a guy with a similar obsession seemed to be something I should be reading.

My original expectations for Freddie & Me was for a book filled with camp and over dramatic anecdotes playing off easy jokes such as Freddie Mercury as both a performer and a homosexual as well as tons of Wayne's World references.  I was delighted to find out that it while it was filled with dramatic anecdotes, they weren't the type I was expecting.  Instead what Freddie & Me is an amazingly honest and sincere autobiographic comic that was amusing but also gripping in its honesty.  Mike Dawson really put himself and his life and relationships out there with this book in a way that was a pleasant surprise and earned a massive amount of respect from me.

The book begins with a timeline, outlining the career of Queen and alongside it snapshots of Mike and where he was in his life at those various times.  Beginning in 1984 we see as Mike discovers Queen in all their cross dressing glory during "I Want To Break Free."  We watch in 1986 as Mike and his family move from England to New Jersey and how hard it is to fit in (especially in New Jersey) and grow up as an outsider.  Years later, in 1992 teen angst is defined for Mike with a major hatred of grunge music and coping with the death of Freddie Mercury.  And finally we see Mike as an adult dealing with the loss of his Grandmother and finding the inspiration for his career as a graphic novelist.  All along the way we see as relationships come and go and a life develops and grows, much in the way that you and I have grown up.  In fact, it's that very aspect that I found so compelling about this book.  Mike Dawson is a normal guy.  Swap out a few of the specifics and this could be a story about me, or you even.  But this is Mike's story, and while his story isn't exotic or over the top, it's extremely relatable.  

Mike's art style is more on the cartoony side of the fence, often reminding me of the work of Alex Robinson.  Usually this isn't a style that I love, but in this instance it worked.  Throughout the book, which is black and white, his use of blacks and negative space to denote sections of the story are done in a way that helps move the reader along.  His layouts are a combination of simplistic in that they don't get in the way of the story to immensely complex and unique, providing dramatic control of the pace and the moments being told.  I've really come to respect original graphic novelists who do everything from writing the script to the layouts to the finished art.  It truly is a labor of love, and with Freddie & Me, you get a real sense of the love Mike Dawson has for both Queen as well as those in his life.

Another aspect of the story of Freddie & Me that I really enjoyed was the juxtaposition of Mike Dawson's personal obsession with Queen with the fascination with Wham and George Michael that his sister had at the same time.  The use of Wham and George Michael as a narrative thread, tying both Mike to his sister as well as the connection between Queen and George Michael (who performed at the the epic Freddie Mercury memorial concert that I totally remember watching on TV), provides a clever bookend to the story beginning and ending with Mike and his sister both loving their personal music idols.  Elegantly showing how siblings can fight and hate one another in their youth, but grow to adulthood and maturity and with that comes understanding, toleration and even respect.  Again, I find myself connecting with Mike's life and his life story as my sister and I couldn't be further away from one another in our musical tastes, and yet as we grow older I can understand and respect where she's coming from.  What I realized from reading Freddie & Me is that while I may think I am the sole arbiter of what's good and worth listening to in the world, so does everyone.  Everyone creates this universe where they are the center of it and how anyone could disagree with you is beyond comprehension.  It's this aspect of the story that provides just another layer of the depiction of getting older and the maturity that comes with age.