I Am What I Am...

By Tony Lee

And so we're back, kiddies, after a couple of weeks of glorious rest, following our something o'clock posting on Christmas Day. And of course, like returning to school after the Christmas vacation, we have a lot to talk about.

Firstly, thank you for the emails over the holidays, yes I did indeed have a good time over Christmas and New Year. I managed to finish Pendragon: The Legend Of King Arthur for Walker Books, as well as end book one of "Necrophim" for 2000 A.D.. But a lot of the holidays were just that for me, and I spent some quality time with the lovely Tracy, even attending Victor Wynd and the Last Tuesday Society's Masked Ball for New Years Eve, with bands galore, the Pearly King of Thornton Heath and a cheeseboard to die for.

Tony and Tracy, New Years Eve...

But enough about holiday shenanigans, I want to talk about something very important to me today, something I haven't really touched on much in these columns. I've spoken at length about my mother, and how she shaped the writer that I became, but the one person who started all this, whether he realised this or now, is my father, Patrick Lee.

I love my father – it goes without saying, really, but we've only really gotten close again since my mother, Doreen, passed away. It wasn't anything in particular that pushed us apart, it was just that my mother was the solid book devourer, and we would find ourselves talking for hours. When I visited home my father would be on the computer, or watching a film, and I'd be loath to interrupt, whereas my mother could simply put down the book. I'd pop in, say hi to him, chat for a few minutes, and then leave him to whatever he was watching and then go and speak to my mother in the other room, where she had a wall's worth of arts and crafts that she liked to work on. And of course, in the final three or four years of my mother's life, I would make a point of spending more time with her, as I never knew how much time I had left to see her, before I lost her forever – and because of this, my time with my father suffered greatly.

This is a hard column to write, as I still miss my mother terribly – and even though I'm not writing specifically about her, the tears still rise - but the focus isn't her death, it's what happened after. You see, my dad is a practical man, and I was the dreamer of the family. One brother, Chris, has designed space probes for British Aerospace and been involved with NASA – and to cap it all, the National Space Centre in Leicester used to have a hologram of him appear hourly on stage to explain space travel to people. I kid you not. My other brother, Kevin, is one of the guiding lights in touch-screen technology. And then there's me, the guy that writes the funny books. Of the three? I was Jo Jo the idiot clown boy. And for years I bounced around, leaping from full time job to full time job while building my real career of writing. And I knew that my father wasn't happy with me or my life choices. Or so I thought.

After my mother died, I spent more time with my father by default and something miraculous happened. I stopped thinking of him as my father, and started to see him as a man.

As a kid, my father would tell me stories at bedtime – and I don't mean read them, I mean that he would improvise them for me on the spot. He would tell me of great dragons, of knights on quests, of Irish faeries and heroes – and as a small child, these were the stories that inspired me to create more, fantastical tales as I went along. My mother had me reading at a very early age, but even so, it was my father's tales that truly placed me on this path.

Patrick and young Tony – around 1972...
And now, years later, I'm finally making it as a writer, and I'm never prouder than when I'm telling my father of what I've done. To be able to call him up and inform him that I'm being flown to an event, or that I've won an award, these things make me feel that I have finally made it in his eyes, finally proven myself. But in doing so I realised one very important thing: my father was never unhappy with me. He was simply worried about my well-being, as any father does. And I misread that. And now, I believe my father is actively proud of me, and has even been to a signing of mine and seen the reaction that my work gets from fans. (although he did claim to be my manager and charged money for photos..)

And I realised this year, as I stood at my mother's stone, that I never tell him enough, or show him the fact that I love him. That he, as much as my mother through the lessons he taught, the stories he told and the love and encouragement that he gave me while I grew up, made me the man that I am today, a man who I hope will one day be able to take the same lessons I was taught and pass them to my own son or daughter. Even when I went off the rails in the early nineties he still believed in me, walking the streets of London for me when he thought I was homeless when I was twenty, driving to a hospital in Cardiff to see me when I was paralysed at twenty-one, bailing me out of countless problems over the years and more importantly, never giving up hope in me, hope that I now believe I am proving correct.

I owe everything that I am to my parents. And I owe as much to my father as I do my mother. I also owe who I am to my brothers, who influenced my likes and dislikes at an early age.

I am what I am because of you all. And I love you for it. And I'm never prouder than when I stand beside you.

I just don't tell you enough.

Chris, Kevin, Tony, Patrick – The Lee family, July 2007....

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So. Other stuff. What else has happened while I've been away? Well, there have been three big things that have hit while I've been away - firstly, Regie Rigby has announced the remainder of his incredibly coveted 'Jester Awards' at his Fool Britannia column. And I've somehow managed to win the award for 'Best Writer', an award that in the past has been given to luminaries that include Garth Ennis, Bill Willingham and Warren Ellis.

"The Jester for Best Writer, 2008 goes to the incomparable Tony Lee. Tony had a remarkable year. "Prince of Baghdad" is proving to be a romp and a half for younger readers of all ages (I know I'm loving it), and Doctor Who: The Forgotten is one of the most enjoyable Doctor stories I've ever come across - it's certainly held its own against most of the TV episodes, except of course they'd never be able to get the cast together.

So, thanks Tony - in a year that needed some serious brightening you provided some of the comics that did just that."

As you can guess, Regie Rigby drinks a lot. (I might be lying there)

I'm in mild shock. But not as much as I was when I received an email from my editor at Walker Books, Lizzie Spratt just before Christmas about next June's Outlaw: The Legend Of Robin Hood. For those who don't know, it's a 145-odd page retelling of Robin Hood by Sam Hart, Artur Fujita and myself and the cover looks like this:

Anyway, the email went as follows -

Dear Tony and Sam

I just wanted to let you know that Robin Hood is a Junior Library Guild selection. This is a wonderful thing and means that Robin Hood will be in every library in the States - it's a real mark of quality. Congratulations!

As you can imagine, I'm over the moon. The Junior Library Guild is well known for many years for only choosing the best books every year, and a large percentage of them go on to win multiple awards. And we're a 2009 choice.

And finally, my celebrity chum, Burn Notice consulting producer Michael Wilson pointed out another link that he found – that Ain't It Cool News have voted Doctor Who: The Forgotten as one of their favourite reviews of 2008. You can see this on the AICN site - So that was an incredibly nice Christmas surprise!

Other stuff happened – but I need some to keep until next week...

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Some Tony & Dan news now – raise a glass, dear chums, as it looks like finally, after months of wrangling, this is coming out in May, from Markosia...

HOPE FALLS: THE COLLECTED EDITION

By Tony Lee & Daniel Boultwood

Twenty years ago they murdered her - and now she's back to even the score, as Helen, a falling Angel returns to the town she died in to extract revenge on the four men who killed her. But in doing so she learns the true reason for her murder and the truth about her killer, discovering an Angelic conspiracy that dates back to Jesus Christ. Will she succeed? Will God allow her to gain vengeance? Or is the Angel Michael right about her true purpose?

Hope Falls collects the Eagle Award-nominated five-part series by Tony Lee and Dan Boultwood with an all-new introduction by Ben Templesmith.

I'll be honest here – apparently Diamond don't think this is going to sell well, so I need everyone to start spreading the news. It comes out in February's PREVIEWS I believe, and as soon as I have the Diamond Code, I'll be passing it on. I urge you all, every one of you that promised to buy this, or informed us that you were ‘waiting for the trade' – please, this is the trade, so please pre-order it...

Also, Dan Boultwood has been an adulterous harlot and run off with Gillen and McKelvie to draw the backup story to Phonogram 2: The Singles Club #5 from Image. It is a work of beauty and you must buy it when it comes out in April. And it isn't by me, so of course will sell oodles.

Actually, anyone who isn't buying Phonogram 2: The Singles Club, or even the original Phonogram trade should be beaten with sticks until they are very, VERY sorry.

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And finally, it's that time of the year again, when I talk about where I'll be, as in three months or so, I'll be off on a plane and whizzing over the pond to jolly old Americaland. Of course, it won't be so jolly for us Brits, as the damned Americans have gone and hired someone competent for the job and the exchange rate (which was rather advantageous to us) is now back to how it used to be, which is annoying.

Still, I shall be in New York in the first and second weeks of February (and as ever, will be trying my best to provide a daily blog about this at my website, www.tonylee.co.uk), there might be a couple of store signings being sorted – but if not, you'll be able to find me at the New York Comic Con, at the Jacob Javits Centre from Friday 6th to the 8th of February, where I'll be spending an hour or so each day signing copies of Doctor Who: The Forgotten at the DoctorWhoStore.com stand, booth 2067. I'll possibly also be at the Image booth if there's a This Is A Souvenir signing, and I'll be around the Moonstone booth talking about MILF Magnet and Lady Action (these are two books, by the way – and not one totally not-safe-for-work toy license), although neither will be out at the convention due to printer delays, apparently...

I'll also be on the stage on the Friday afternoon –

IDW 10th Anniversary Celebration and the Road Ahead: Room 1A07 - 3.15pm

Hosted by IDW Editor-in-Chief Chris Ryall, this key panel features upcoming news and announcements as well as a great Q&A with guest panellists Peter David (Fallen Angel, Sir Apropos of Nothing), Mike Costa (GI Joe: Cobra), J.K. Woodward (Fallen Angel), Tony Lee (Doctor Who), Andy Schmidt (Transformers and Star Trek), and Scott Tipton (Star Trek)! Find out what's new with Locke & Key, Star Trek, Doctor Who, and more!

So come along to that – it should be a wheeze. With The Forgotten out by then (as issue #6 comes out on the 21^st January), I'll most likely be speaking about my next 22 page one-shot, Doctor Who: The Time Machination...

And then after the convention, the other guests might have left, but I'll still be going, as I'm a returning guest on the following Tuesday's Comic Book Club Live...

COMIC BOOK CLUB - A Live Weekly Talk Show about Comic Books, Hosted by Justin Tyler, Pete LePage, and Alex Zalben: Tuesday, February 10th @ 8:00 PM

Featuring: Tony Lee (Doctor Who: The Forgotten), other guests TBC

Tickets: $5
Online: ThePIT-NYC.com
Phone: 1-800-838-3006
Questions? 212-563-7488

The Peoples Improv Theater, 154 West 29th Street, 2nd Floor (Between 6th and 7th Aves.)

And then of course, I'm off to Los Angeles to the Gallifrey One Doctor Who convention. But more about that, next week...

Until then? Have a good New Year, kiddies. I'm off to call my father.

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

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