Breakout Cartoonists: Mike Dawson
Our Top Indie Cartoonists to Watch For in 2008: Keeping true to our “Anti-Superheroes in Tights” mood at fanboy, we took a look back at the comic books and graphic novels that caught our eye:
Freddie and Me, by Mike Dawson
When you’re a kid, you don’t have much say so over how you live your life. It’s all about the rents who call the shots, for the most part, and that’s part of the reason that outward manifestations of personality such as choice of clothing or cliques one associates with take on utmost importance. They’re early ways of asserting who we are, sometimes before we even discover who we are for ourselves. And nothing is more important in asserting who we are in youth than the music we listen to. And it’s never a simple matter of liking a catchy tune. The musical artists we prefer are alignments, social statements about who we are and what we stand for, and I’m sure everyone reading this has those bands that swept them away, whose lyrics were something we fiercely identified with, even if we hadn’t realized it until we first heard the songs. And for comic artist Mike Dawson, this musical epiphany came through Queen.
The Freddie of the books title is none other than Freddie Mercury, and although he and Mike Dawson never actually meet (except in the best/worst case scenarios Dawson imagines), his life’s work influences Mike Dawson’s life from childhood to the present day. This is a memoir of a life told in relation to music what Mike was doing when he discovered which song, how the music influenced his own art and creative process, how his love of a classic rock band contrasts with his alternative and hip-hop loving peers and George Michael obsessed sister. Mikes family moves from England to America where he introduces his new friends to Queen, discovers girls, and continues to develop as an artist and would be songster in his own right. He records how he is profoundly affected by Freddie Mercury’s death in 1991 and his bemusement at the revival of Bohemian Rhapsody a year later with the release of the film Wayne’s World.
Dawson’s art is clean and has some nice stuff going on with facial expression and gesture, and the mix of crosshatching with starker white images makes for an interesting, textural work. Freddie And Me, which is due out later this year, should make a wonderful read for anyone who is a fan of Queen or simply of good comics.
Jenny Gonzalez is a New York City cartoonist and punk rock singer. You can see her stuff at jennydevildoll.com.