I have a whole lotta junk to say in regards to this so brace yourselves...

Firstly, I'm a big Queen/Freddie Mercury fan, and I didn't know until recently that today (September 5th) is his birthday. Also, with the help of a random angry birds toon I stumbled across, I learned that it's also deemed 'Freddie for a day'. I thought this was really neat and kept reminding myself to do something in that theme when the time came...so naturally I forgot and didn't remember again until 3 days before the date. Sooo...while jugging inking/coloring/sketching commissions, I whipped up this. I didn't really want to do something with the traditional inking as, it takes me forever and it's very dull for me so yes, it's supposed to look sketchy.

I remember WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAY back, when Waynes World was being shown on tv like, every other month on basic when showing theater releases on the small screen was still a big deal, I was always fascinated by the song featured in it. 'Bohemian Rhapsody', the epic ballad of operatic proportions that had pre-Austin Powers Mike Myers and that blond guy that weirded me out, headbanging recklessly in a moving vehicle immediately got my attention. i think I was like...12 or something, and wasn'ty able to get a cassette collection of some of their songs 'Classic Queen' until a few years later. I think It must have been '95, as we didn't have a cd player until then, and my first 'cd' was actually the live action Casper movie soundtrack...but I digress. I listened to some of their lesser known 'hits' and at first...I didn't really care for them. I have this thing that, upon listening to some albums for the first time I'm not immediately drawn to them. But come the second listening, I fell in love with every song and found myself listening to it nonstop for several years. So much so, I wore out the tape and had to get the cd.

One of my favorite songs, 'Radio Gaga', was on that album, and Freddie actually preformed an outstanding version of this live in '86. I based this picture off of a still from the recording of that concert (rather than just finding any old picture online), as his 'shorot-hair, mustache tank-top and jeans era was my favorite. I'm not so crazy about the poofy-hair rhinestone bodysuit phase...

So, though this isn't quite as 'polished' as I would've liked it to be, it's my little tribute to a guy who gave me so much joy and uplifting music when I was a young teen. Especially when I was utterly miserable for having to go to summer study/school for a social studies test I failed (fucking thing was HARD) and listening to him singing always made me forget about how utterly stupid I felt at the time.

I'm saddened for his passing, but feel fortunate he left so much wonderful music behind.

Happy Birthday, Freddie.