Birthdays and Deaths...

By Tony Lee

Today, Monday the 20th of October. is my father's birthday. His seventy fifth, to be precise. And over the last few years he's had his share of ups and downs. He lost his wife, my Mum, a few years back to cancer and earlier this month he lost his sister Maureen to what is believed to be kidney failure.

Some of you may remember my aunt Maureen, she was one of the Irish family I went to visit a month back, when I was treated like a lord (or at least one of the family) by the entirety of Dundalk. But when I was there I said to Tracy that Maureen didn't look that well, and in fact she wasn't. Barely a month passed before my father returned once more to her bedside.

I didn't go, as I had the Birmingham Comic Con to attend, but asked Dad to let me know what happened. As it was, because of the whole phoning from abroad thing, he called the wrong number on the Saturday of the convention to inform someone else's voicemail that Maureen had passed away – and by the time I'd discovered what had happened, she had already been buried. They work fast in Ireland.

Alvaro, Maureen, Tony, Patrick – Dundalk, Sept '08...

But this is my column, and as such I am king. And I feel that I owe it to Maureen – and more, I owe it to the people of Dundalk to give thanks to the turnout that my late Aunt's funeral received – apparently there were thousands, and I shit you not, thousands of people who lined the streets of Dundalk that rainy Monday, and my father was both shocked and gratified to see such a response.

He's written a thank you to the people of Dundalk that I edited, cleaned up and passed to the Dundalk Argus for them to publish, but I don't just want people who buy the paper to see it – I want every man, woman and child of Dundalk to see my father's words.

So here they are.

A Thank You to the People Of Dundalk.

Monday the 6^th of October was a very sad day for my uncle John Lee, better known to his friends as Jack and my father, Patsy Lee. For on that day they said farewell to their beloved sister Anna Marie 'Maureen' Lucchesi (Nee Lee) at St.Patrick's Cemetery, Dundalk.

To Alvaro Lucchesi, her ever loving husband we extend our sympathy and prayers for his loss, as we do to his sons Riccardo and Alvarino, to the daughters Santina and Luana and to all his grand children, friends and so on.

But more importantly, to the very people of Dundalk we give a very special and heartfelt thank you, for you have restored something that my father, as a native of Dundalk who left there some sixty years ago, believed had gone forever; tradition and friendship. My father, who was at the funeral and was with Maureen until the end said -

"To see the love and affection shown to our sister Maureen is something we shall never forget."

The love and affection that he spoke about was shown by literally hundreds, if not thousands of people who lined the route in the pouring rain as the funeral party left Aghameen Park, via Quay Street, passing by the Lee family's old home at No.2 Ship Street (where they all grew up as children), before finally arriving in a sombre silence at St. Patrick's Cathedral.

My father told me that as they approached St. Patrick's Cathedral, while walking behind the hearse he nearly came to an emotional crisis when he saw all those people, standing outside the cathedral in the pouring rain, waiting to pay their respects to Maureen and her family. And due to the size of the packed Cathedral, hundreds still were not able to enter the funeral service to hear the wonderful service that Father Kevin Conney performed. A man who knew Maureen from childhood, his heart-felt service and eulogy had the right amount of religious instruction as well as a personal memory from his youth about Maureen, which was very much appreciated by our family and the congregation.

At one stage my father remarked jokingly to his brother Jack that they should have sold tickets, for with such a crowd they would have made a fortune.

My father also told me that "as a young lad I was instructed by my parents Packie and Kathleen Lee (Lord rest their souls) to stop when a hearse was passing by, bow your head and make the sign of the cross, and I was pleased to see that the tradition is still carried out to this day. As we travelled to the Cathedral we saw young boys and girls from the local schools on their lunch break carrying on the tradition. However one little boy got carried away; he was crossing himself frantically to every car that was following behind the hearse. He had to be dragged away by one of his friends, and the incident made me smile."

At the graveside amongst the hundreds of people there getting soaked to the skin was a little girl who my father could see was getting very upset by the unrelenting rain. He smiled at her as she held onto her mother's hand and asked her if she knew what an angel was, and after a while she nodded yes. He asked her if she was crying and if so, why. She replied that she cried when she was sad, to which my father explained that when all the angels up in heaven are sad, they also start crying; he held his hand out, letting the rain drops fall onto it.

'This isn't really rain, these are angel's tears.' He explained.

The young girl turned to her mother and exclaimed 'it's not raining, it's the angels crying.'

When I came to Ireland a month back, the people of Dundalk made me feel like I was family, and everywhere I went I was welcomed with open arms, a wide grin and a pint. I know that the tourist brochures make a point of stating that 'Ireland is the friendliest place in the world' but for them to truly believe that they must have spent time in Dundalk, spoken to its inhabitants. Never have I felt so welcomed, felt so much a part of something. I was incredibly lucky to see my aunt before she passed away, and that I was unable to make the funeral saddens me more than words can say. But the fact that so many of you came out to pay your respects to my aunt and my family – well, let's just say that I now owe you a debt that I can never pay, for on the 6th of October the entirety of Dundalk proved to me, my father and my uncle Jack that you were still our family, no matter how far we had strayed.

When my mother, Doreen Lee, died four years ago from cancer, my father Patsy found this little verse that we would both like to end this letter with, by sharing it with you.

God looked around his garden and found an empty place
He then looked down upon the Earth and he saw poor Maureen's face
He put his arms around her and then lifted her to rest
God's garden must be beautiful, for he only takes the best.
- Patsy & Tony Lee, 13^th October 2008

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But of course we must discuss comics, and things that are also happening in my world. Well, as many of you know, last week I got engaged to my beautiful and wonderful girlfriend Tracy.

We had discussed in the past about getting married down the line, we knew that it would pretty much go move in late next year, get married a year or so after and that kind of thing - we kind of already knew the end of the story, so it didn't really matter when the chapters turned up.

So a couple of weeks ago I spoke to a lot of friends asking them their thoughts on Tracy and all that, and every single one was overwhelmingly positive. Lee 'Budgie' Barnett even started the conversation with me the following day after the Birmingham Convention with 'so when are you going to make an honest woman of her? ' Which was typical Budgie - knowing what I thought before even I did.

But I had a couple of hurdles. Firstly, I wanted something spectacular for a ring. Nothing cheap or hastily bought - I wanted to spend thousands on it, you know? And secondly, I wanted to get her parents permission first before I popped the question.

Mum's ring, Tracy's finger, my fiancιe...

On Friday I saw my Dad for a couple of hours while on my way down to her, the first time I'd seen him since my Aunt's funeral and I mentioned that I was considering proposing. Dad was over the moon - he already treats Tracy like a daughter and he told me that I was a fool if I didn't. I decided there and then that the moment I had the money? I'd get the ring and I'd propose.

But then my Dad threw me a curve ball - as I was leaving, he went upstairs and came back with a box - my late Mother's engagement ring, the one he gave her over fifty years ago. He gave it to me, telling me that he would be honoured if Tracy wore it. I couldn't take it, it was too big a thing - and Dad pointed out that it was just gaining dust, and he wanted to give it to me and Tracy. End of discussion. So, ring in possession, I went to Tracy's and spent the night in quiet terror. What if her parents, who I was seeing the following day said no? What if she said no? I was terrified.

The following day at around 3pm, we went to Essex to a friend's wedding party (they'd got married in Las Vegas a week or so earlier, this was the UK piss up) via her parents. While we were there I asked if I could get some hints on Christmas presentss for Tracy, so she left the room so I could 'plot' - and the moment she was gone I asked their permission. I was worried here - if they had said that it was too early, or that they wanted to get to know me more I would have honoured it - but they both gave me their blessing and I was set. I was proposing that night.

We went to the friend's party and while out on the balcony under a clear warm sky I got on one knee and proposed. And Tracy accepted. But as the ring was too big, she couldn't wear it, so kept it in the box.

The following day we went to Hatton Garden to get the ring resized and found a shop that could do it within a couple of hours. And so by the end of the weekend, Tracy was able to wear it proudly on her finger.

I think it was a mixture of adrenaline, nerves and worry that fuelled me that weekend, because the moment it was done, I came back to Birmingham and was instantly hammered with a bad cold, laying me up for two days...

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So, places I'll be? This weekend is the MCM London Expo and I'll be sharing tables and hotels with a variety of creators including overseas visitors Ethan Van Scriever and celebrity chum Ben Templesmith who's over purely to judge the cosplay based on Steve Niles' stirling review of it. It should be much fun, and it's a chance to hang out with Dan Boultwood again, and those times are always fun.

It's on Saturday and Sunday, and it's always worth the admittance. Especially as this time the show guide you pick up has an eight page IDW preview including Ben Templesmith's Doctor Who cover...

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And finally, some comic news. A while back, I had the opportunity to pitch to Eric Stephenson for a new music anthology book in the style of Comic Book Tattoo, but this time based on the songs of the indie Britpop band Spearmint, a band I remember seeing somewhere near Bexleyheath in 1995 due to my then girlfriend being a massive Laverne and Shirley fan.

This Is A Souvenir cover...

Fast forward thirteen years and I'm suddenly taking one of their songs and reinterpreting it, turning it into an eight page story for Fishtown genius Kevin Colden to draw, colour and letter. We'd been allowed to take our pick from an ever dwindling amount of available songs, but the moment I saw the list I knew that "A Bench in a Park" would be the one for me. It had rung a bell somewhere when I'd first heard it, and I remembered hearing it shortly after my mother's death in 2004.

The song sang about coming to terms with the loss of someone to illness - but it was more than that, and I wanted to show this, show my own opinion of what this song meant. Well that story was written, drawn, coloured, lettered and now the book has just been announced in Image's January solicitations...

This Is a Souvenir: The Songs of Spearmint & Shirley Lee OGN
by Chynna Clugston-Flores, Jamie S. Rich, Scott Mills, Kieron Gillen, Jamie McKelvie, Rich Johnston, Salgood Sam and many more! (Cover by James Parsons)

In the tradition of Image's bestselling Comic Book Tattoo and Put the Book Back on the Shelf comes This is a Souvenir, an all-new anthology showcasing the very best creators comics has to offer reinterpreting the popular music of indie Britpop band, Spearmint! Features over two hundred pages of stories from such names as Blue Monday's Chynna Clugston-Flores, Phonogram's Jamie McKelvie and many, many more!
JANUARY 28 - 208 PAGES - FC - $29.99

I've seen a couple of the stories though, and this book will be phenomenal. And if you don't know the music of Shirley Lee? Shame on you.

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And there you have it. It's a bit of a mish mash, but the flu, engagement and my new website going live pretty much killed a lot of my time this week – and I really wanted to thank the people of Dundalk for the respect that they showed my family.

See you in seven – and next time I'll be more with it...

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Discuss this column at the Only A Forum forum.
© 2008, Tony Lee

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