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A writer for over twenty years, Tony spent over ten years working internationally for a variety of television, radio and magazines as a feature and script writer, winning several awards doing so.

In 2003 he returned to comic writing, and since then has written for Marvel Comics, Walker Books, AAM/Markosia Entertainment, Panini Comics and Titan Publishing, for properties such as X-Men, Amazing Fantasy, Doctor Who, Starship Troopers, Wallace & Gromit and Shrek. With 'Two Drunk Guys In A Bar' partner Dan Boultwood he has created The Gloom for APC and in 2006 he adapted G.P. Taylor's The Tizzle Sisters and Eric and the bestselling children's book Shadowmancer. His creator owned book, Midnight Kiss, was nominated for an Eagle award in 2006.

His upcoming work includes Hope Falls for AAM/Markosia (again with Dan Boultwood), Dodge & Twist for AiT/PlanetLar, Warrior Nun Areala: Excommunicated for Antarctic Press, Robin Hood: Outlaw's Pride and the comic adaption of Anthony Horowitz's Raven's Gate series, both by Walker Books. He's also the writer of the new IDW series Doctor Who: The Forgotten with Pia Guerra on art.

Prodigal Son...

By Tony Lee

There aren't many things in this world that surprise me, that really make me go 'oh wow, I totally wasn't expecting that.' Now of course, I get surprised all the time. I watch TV shows and go 'wow, that was a great twist' and that, but it's not often that I get to sit there and go 'Oh. Wow.'

Last week, I did.

It's nothing major, really. And to most people you'd just go 'yeah, whatever', but to me? It's one of those moments. The points in your life that you know that this moment, this point in your life? You'll remember.

What am I talking about? Yeah, I ought to explain really. My school, my old Junior school has invited me to return to talk to the entire school at assembly about being a writer. And, it looks like in the afternoon of the same day, I'll be speaking to my senior school.

Speaking to the headmaster of Minet School, my old infant and junior school, the place I spent my schooldays in until I was eleven years old, was actually incredibly weird. I mean, this guy probably wasn't even a teacher when I left twenty six odd years ago – but the fact of the matter is? He's still the headmaster. And that to me is a venerable and respected position. When I was a kid, I always wanted to be an English teacher, and maybe down the line a headmaster – growing up watching Grange Hill, an English version of, well probably Degrassi Junior High. I always felt that the teachers were so cool. They looked like they really had fun, you know? Not like my teachers, who always look tired and depressed. Of course, now I'm older and many of my friends are teachers – and I've learned the reasons why teachers can look down in the mouth, and they're reasons that make me quite happy that I didn't actually follow my childhood dream.

But now they're not only my age, if not much younger, they're also more human. And to them, someone like me, even someone 'who writes the funny books' is an opportunity to show the kids in their classes that hey, you could do anything you want out in the big wide world. All you need is ambition.

It was a teacher called Miss Rogers actually who made me the man I am now – she was my English teacher at my senior school, Hayes Manor Comprehensive, a school now apparently renamed Rosedale College for some reason. Miss Rogers was an unassuming woman, a mousey blonde with large glasses that made her look like an owl, well, probably not, but I wasn't even a teenager at this point, and to me she looked like the wise old owl of the stories. She was the first person to ever accuse me (quite rightly) of plagiarism, before I even knew what the word meant—we had to write a story one week and, ever looking for the easy way out I pretty much surmised a movie that I'd seen on TV the previous weekend, a story where two Mexican children were lost after a plane crash. Of course, my 'treatment' of this movie took no more than about four hundred words total, but I felt I'd done what I needed to do. It didn't even occur to me that Miss Rogers? She might actually have seen the film I was talking about. She might actually have watched the movie. Oh, whoops. I got a good mark for my story structure, but she did write, in red pen 'A nice story—but I liked the movie better'. Busted. And that was the last time I ever stripmined another story for inspiration.

That said, I was a nightmare with my creative writing. The problem was that I had a Doctor's scrawl for handwriting, something I had never been able to change, yet at the same time something that made me embarrassed to show. I hated my handwriting; ergo I wouldn't do that much of it.

Instead, I wrote (and still do, to this day) in a bastardised form of capital letters. I wrote in block capitals, with slightly larger ones for the actual capital letters themselves, and I found it much easier to write. The school, however didn't like this, and Miss Rogers was asked to pull me aside and speak to me about this. She could have told me to go back to the 'joined up' writing, something that would have probably stopped me writing altogether and most likely would have shaped me in a whole new direction. Instead, she asked me why I did this, why I wrote in capitals and, when I explained my reasons, she nodded slowly and never mentioned it again. In fact, she told the school to get off my case and spend their time doing something else instead.

She also, when I was fourteen wrote 'Tony has a comic book style of writing' in my end of year report card – something I still have and actually show quite proudly. At the time it was meant as a veiled criticism, something to kick me up the arse – at the time I had a serious problem with the story structure, especially the path of going to point B from point A, and so on. I would much rather write about point A, have them leave for point B and then write something like 'two weeks later, they arrived'. And then I would write point B. I hated the journey in between. It wasn't until after I had left school that I realised how much more important the journey was compared to the destination. And no, it wasn't an Aerosmith song that showed me this, but it did hammer the point home one day.

But she was correct, Idid have a comic book style. I would write a scene and then bam! Next scene. Next panel. No link between. Now I write much differently, but when I started to write comic scripts and at one point started to lose faith in my own abilities, I remember my Mother (who was still alive at the time) finding and showing me this comment in a moment of synchronisation, or serendipity – and these words alone were enough to spur me on.

When I had my first comic published, I tried to find Miss Rogers to thank her—but I never did manage to. She'd left, got married, fallen out of the system. I do hope however that one day someone will find me Miss Rogers of Hayes Manor School English department in the early eighties. I really would like to thank her.

Because it's come full circle. Miss Rogers was the teacher who arranged for us to have a freelance writer to come in and show us that writers didn't have to be journalists, or novelists—and now I'm being brought in to do the same to a new generation of students. There's a part of me that already wonders whether there's a young Tony Lee in this generation, just waiting for the spark of inspiration to strike, waiting for someone to come along and remind him that hey, comics are cool and that he should be writing them.

When you return to a school? You have the ability to shape lives. It's an incredible power to have over children, to be such an icon in a young child's schooling. And at the same time, it's an incredible responsibility to them, to not give them bad advice – the last thing I want is to see one of these kids, twenty years from now drunk and on the streets all because they followed what I had told them and never made a penny.

It's a tough choice – but as all those who have worked in and read comics before knows— with great power comes great responsibility...

On the subject of shaping hearts and minds and careers and telling people that I know best and that they should totally listen to me, I've just seen the schedule for the New York Comic Con panel that I'm doing, 7pm on the Friday night as part of Andy Schmidt's COMIC EXPERIENCE panel...

Comics Experience: Breaking into comics - 7-8pm, Room 1E09
So you want to make comics? This panel is your first step towards actually doing it! Top comic book creators discuss the ins and outs of the comic industry - specifically, what it takes to break into comics and how it's done! This is the panel that no writer and no artist dare not miss...

Great, eh? However, we might have a problem on the 'Dare not miss' - as we're up against DC Nation, Jenna Jameson in the panel Girls Who Kick Ass, a Bryan Hitch Spotlight and An Evening With Neil Gaiman...

Should be amusing... Still, We are talking a panel on breaking into comics run by an Ex-Senior Editor at Marvel. And, well, I'm on it. So it'll rock...

And of course as well as the above panel and many hours spent signing at the AAM/Markosia booth from the 18th to the 20th, I'll be performing live at Comic Book Club from 8pm on the Tuesday 15th April - with Robbi Rodriguez and Christos Gage. So it should be a giggle. There's even a rumour that I'm the first Brit they've ever had on the show, so they'll probably be giving me an award or throwing me a party or something. They'd better. Because I'm totally worth it.

But, if you want to learn how to break into comics? Or at worst learn the best ways not to? Then you should definitely attend one of these.

Although if you chose Gaiman or Jameson? I'd totally agree with you...

On the subject of the New York Comic Con, I've got a week and change before I strap myself into a metal missile with wings and blast my way over to your side of the pond.

And this week I realised something that I'd been unconsciously doing. I've been to the San Diego Comic Con now three times, and each time I spend the month before frantically arranging meetings with editors and arranging every minute of my day to maximise the investment that I've spent in flying over and staying out there for six days.

But with two weeks to go until New York, I've barely done this. Granted, I have a couple of DC and Marvel meetings the week before, but that's mainly having drinks with mates and unlikely to get me work. It's more catching up with cool people who'll be too busy to hang out with me on the weekend.

So why is this convention different to SDCC in my mind? I've organised no meetings during the convention itself. Is it because I'm too busy? No. But I do think it's because I'm not as hungry as I usually am when I hit SDCC, I'm doing well at the moment, and although I'd love a bite of the mainstream pie, it's not going to kill me if I don't get it. I'm making a comfortable living without it, thank you. Which is a strange place to be.

Still, now I've realised this, I'm going to rectify this. So, if you're an editor or publisher going to NYCC?

It's time to hide under the desk now.

It's all rather exciting really, I get to do loads of things and see old friends and oh, hang on. There aren't enough evenings to do all I want to do. And, I have a dilemma.

You see, I've got an opportunity to get to the Mets game on the Wednesday before the con, and, what's more it's possibly even in the press box. Which would rock mightly, as the last time I was in NYC? I was lambasted for being a Mets fan—especially when I wore my Mets top to a Midtown Comics signing. Apparently I'm not from New York, or even the country —and therefore shouldn't have a favourite baseball team. Yeah right, I say. And try telling that to the millions of Manchester United FC fans around the world. There's more of them than people living in Manchester.

But, digressing aside, we have a problem. You see I also have four passes to Jon Stewart's The Daily Show for the same day. We're sorting out tickets for the following day instead, but it does mean that I have these tickets. So, here's my pre- NYCC contest just for you, because I love you. The first person to email itsonlyacomic@gmail.com with a reason why I should pick them? I'll forward the email The Daily Show gave me, and you can go instead.

Wow. I really am that great. All I ask is that when you've seen it? You write me a report. Because after all, I might feel that you have a comic book style of writing...

Right. And with that it's time to bring this to a close. The next seven days are spent approaching T-Minus NYCC and counting, and the column in a weeks time will be written with barely a couple of days to go – so expect some screaming...