Hana to Yume ("Flowers and Dreams"), is a shoujo manga publication that began in May 1974 and continues to this day. In the 1970s, rock'n'roll music and bands were a focalpoint of many works published in this magazine. Hana to Yume is published twice a month, and the works published therein were also serialized in tankoubon, or volumes.
One of these volumes is titled Rock'n'Roll from Top to Bottom. This volume features works by manga artist Nachi Mikami, who drew many rock'n'roll-inspired comics, including illustrated accounts of band formations and their histories. (Incidentally, she also happens to be the wife of the late Akira Toriyama, creator of the Dragon Ball franchise.). This particular volume includes her comics about KISS, Bay City Rollers (another band that had a huge fanbase in Japan), and of course, Queen.
The Queen-centric story in this volume, titled The Red Rose of King's Road, is a mix of nonfiction and creative fiction that illustrates the early history of Queen and the circumstances of their formation. (Don't miss cameos of Steven Tyler and Joe Perry of Aerosmith, as well as the reference to the doujinshi group Rose Cross, to which Mikami contributed under a pseudonym.) This comic originally appeared in Hana to Yume vol. 8 in 1977.
