I can scratch another item off of my bucket list . . . to see a comic book that features Wolverine — Marvel Comic’s favourite Canadian superhero — and Freddie Mercury!
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What madness is this?
Apparently, it was a mid-1990s pitch to Marvel Comics by an unspecified artist looking to break into the industry as either an artist or writer, or both. (You can read about it here.)
When this pitch was made public in 2010, another comic artist felt compelled to take the unbelievable story and tighten up the visuals and the Mercury-Wolverine pairing went viral again with this more polished panel from Colleen Coover:
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Wow, this storyline is full of potential, eh? Perhaps Roger and Brian should sponsor a contest to have fans explore this idea even more.
Now that I’m thinking about it, this could easily have been an issue of Marvel’s old “What If…” series from the late ’70s and early ’80s. Those “alternate universe” story lines would have been perfect to allow these two characters to share the same page. As a matter of fact, I wouldn’t be surprised if that series served as inspiration for the pitch to Marvel.
Freddie was featured in a now discontinued digital comic called Black Opus Vol. 1 that was a free download from Dog Star Comics back in 2010. Below is a sample panel that was used as a promo back in 2010.
The comic has since disappeared from the Internet and even the Dog Star website now defaults to a web design company, presumably affiliated with Dog Star in some way.
I do own a copy of a Queen-themed comic called — surprise, surprise — Queen, A Night at the Opera. It’s been a number of years since I flipped through it but I seem to recall that it was essentially the story of the making of ANATO with comic book panel interpretations of a few DoRo videos.
The big difference between the ANATO comic and the Marvel pitch, in my opinion, is one of fantasy and escapism. The Hard Rock comic (shown to the left) is grounded in reality whereas the Wolverine and Freddie story is pure fantasy. This opens up a myriad of possibilities for what to do with the Freddie Mercury persona.
He covered a lot of fertile ground from a storyteller’s point of view. It’s all there: kings, queens, fairies, ogres, far away lands, religious overtones, killer robots, sports anthems, vaudeville, and even pet cats. Throw in Brian’s time travel themes, Roger’s political angles, and John’s Emerald Bar location and storylines can go in any direction.
What if Freddie had never died? Maybe Marvel should tackle that one.
What madness is this?
Apparently, it was a mid-1990s pitch to Marvel Comics by an unspecified artist looking to break into the industry as either an artist or writer, or both. (You can read about it here.)
When this pitch was made public in 2010, another comic artist felt compelled to take the unbelievable story and tighten up the visuals and the Mercury-Wolverine pairing went viral again with this more polished panel from Colleen Coover:
Now that I’m thinking about it, this could easily have been an issue of Marvel’s old “What If…” series from the late ’70s and early ’80s. Those “alternate universe” story lines would have been perfect to allow these two characters to share the same page. As a matter of fact, I wouldn’t be surprised if that series served as inspiration for the pitch to Marvel.
I do own a copy of a Queen-themed comic called — surprise, surprise — Queen, A Night at the Opera. It’s been a number of years since I flipped through it but I seem to recall that it was essentially the story of the making of ANATO with comic book panel interpretations of a few DoRo videos.
He covered a lot of fertile ground from a storyteller’s point of view. It’s all there: kings, queens, fairies, ogres, far away lands, religious overtones, killer robots, sports anthems, vaudeville, and even pet cats. Throw in Brian’s time travel themes, Roger’s political angles, and John’s Emerald Bar location and storylines can go in any direction.
What if Freddie had never died? Maybe Marvel should tackle that one.
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