After bouncing around at a few local colleges in upstate New York, Randy Gentile made the decision to move to New York City where he attended Pratt Institute. He landed an internship in the famous Marvel Bullpen and was able to turn that into a full-time gig in the now defunct Marvel in-house lettering department. He later transitioned to Chris Eliopoulos’ Virtual Calligraphy lettering studio.
With VC he lettered damn near every Marvel book at one time or another including Amazing Spider-Man, Fantastic Four, Incredible Hulk, Iron Man, Uncanny X-Men, Punisher, and Marville… wait, Marville?
Anyway, after 7 years of lettering Randy decided to make a go of it on his own without the aid of Chris “Obi-Wan” Eliopoulos. Since then he’s begun lettering for DC Comics where his work can be seen in funny books like Batman, Detective Comics, Gotham Underground, Teen Titans and Booster Gold.
Outside of his lettering work he self-publishes an autobiographical comic called NYComix and an uber-fast paced superhero strip called Randall. Both comics have been featured on Comic Geek Speak and Fanboy Radio.
When he’s not wallowing in lettering self-pity he spends his time in Brooklyn along with his lovely wife, Ereisa and their three cats Finnian, Don Fanucci and Olive.
All Star Wednesdays
You know a comic is great when you're excited about it Wednesday morning. Right now I'm sitting in a café here in NYC and it's about 8:15 am. I usually get to the city early Wednesday mornings, sit down at this café, scarf down a ham, egg and cheese sandwich, read one of the daily rags and then write about as much of this column as I can.
But today I'm a little antsy. Jim Hanley's Universe (my local LCS) is about 3 blocks away and it opens at 8:30. I'm thinking of heading over there so that I can get my hands on the latest and final issue of Grant Morrison and Frank Quitely's All Star Superman. 
But then the following problem pops up…I can't really peruse the shelves right now like I would during my lunch hour, ya know? Wednesday morning Door Bangers are a whole different breed of fanboys… they go in and get out like Navy Seals in an Afghan cave.
I'm comfortable with the Wednesday lunch hour crew. Those cats are more my speed. Hanley's prints up these great little pamphlets listing all the new releases for the week. So I grab one of those, see which of the usual suspects are on the shelves and then I hit the aisles. Lately I've been picking up more indie books so as I walk up and down each aisle I let covers do the talking. I know, "never judge a book by its cover" but sorry, a great cover is a great cover. Plus, at the end of the day covers are really all you have to go on with an unknown independent book.
Anyway getting back to All Star Superman. I can't think of another mainstream book that has blown me away like this one. What is it that Morrison and Quitely have done on this book that is so original while at the same time oozing with Silver Age fun?
Maybe it's the feeling that Morrison and Quitely are telling a story that is the complete opposite of the decompressed trend that is dominating the industry today.
A one-page, eight word telling of Superman's origin that speaks to longtime fans as well as to that guy living under a rock who hasn't been privy to the most famous superhero in history. Show that page to an aborigine and they'd get it. It's beautiful sequential storytelling.
The Absolute All Star Superman can't come out fast enough.
Another book I really want to talk about this week is Jim Mahfood's Kick Drum Comix #1. I did an entire column on Food One months ago and if you've read it you know that I think Mahfood is doing some of the most innovative work in the industry.
Kick Drum Comix is released by Image and when you pick it up you'll notice right away that is doesn't feel like a comic. It's more like a magazine. (Hence the $5.99 price tag, but it's worth it.) From page one you'll notice that you're not holding a regular comic in your hands. Mahfood's work continues to evolve and his work in this book has progressed to the realm of fine art. His work, while taking on a more expressive and gesture like tone is at the same time exhibiting very strong sequential storytelling. His writing has even gone up a notch topped off by "Contrane's Reed" a funny and touching story about a young man who is inspired by jazz music.
One aspect of Food One's work that I've always loved is his lettering. KDC is his best lettering to date. He's blended not only his balloons but also his type into the work so well that they're every bit as important to the art as everything else on the page.
While Mahfood's work is usually black and white KDC's coloring is some of the best I've seen. Justin Stewart, a talented artist in his own right, letters the first of the 2 stories in the issue, check out his work. Anne Masse letters Story 2. Both color artists have done amazing work here and I think you'll agree by page 1. It's unlike anything you'll see in other comics.
Kick Drum Comix is a 2 issue mini series and as I've said before… creators who are pushing the boundaries of what comics can be are the creators who deserve our support. Mahfood continues to be one of those creators.
I hope you check it out.
My favorite column here on Comics Bulletin is Beau Smith's Busted Knuckles. The guy should be punching grizzly bears in the snout instead of writing kick-ass comics… actually he's probably doing both.
Anyway a while back Beau did a column called "In My Opinion" and I loved it. So with apologies to Beau here's the Font You! version.
- Letterers are the reason a lot of books hit the stands on time.
- I've never heard of a book being late because the letterer took too long.
- Letterers are obsessed with hitting their deadlines.
- I lettered the same Marvel title for over 50 consecutive issues with the same writer and every single issues' script read: "???????? Letterer" in the credit box.
- I think over coloring ruins too many pencilers work.
- "Event" comics have lost all of their steam.
- I haven't read an issue of Amazing Spider-Man since the Green Goblin boinked Grew Stacy.
- I notice lettering more than I do penciling.
- I still haven't read Civil War.
- I still haven't seen Spider-Man 3.
- I did see Fantastic Four 2 and I'd rather cut the Central Park lawn with nail clippers than watch it again.
- I'm geeking out in a big way for the Clone Wars cartoon series.
- I recently got a Star Wars tattoo.
- Yeah, I'm that much of a Star Wars fanboy.
Alright… that's enough from me this week.
Thanks for reading.
Font You!
-Randy
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