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.
A Font Farwell
I don't know how else to put it other than to say that this will be the final Font You!
I want to send my deepest thanks out to those of you who have taken the time out of their day to read this column. I hope you have gotten a little enjoyment out of it.
Why am I stopping the column, you might ask?
I've been working on my first online graphic novel. I had originally planned for my first OGN to be a story called "Brooklyn Lights"--a story centered around an aging Brooklyn boxer who had his life turned upside down after the 1977 New York City blackout. And while I did extensive rewrites for well over a year, I decided it wasn't strong enough to devote at least another year to drawing.
So I went back to the drawing board and have finally hit on a story I really believe in. While I'm not done writing yet, I know exactly where I'm headed with it, and I'm even knee-deep in character designs. I can honestly say I'm inspired to do this more than I've ever been, so much so I'm putting all of my energy into it. I'm not even lettering as much as I used to. I'm planning on beginning the journey of drawing this thing sometime this summer, with a release date after I stockpile a healthy amount of pages sometime near the end of this year.
I'll still blog as much as possible at my site (www.LazyComix.com) so when you're done catching up on the goings on here at ComicsBulletin, stop by.
One thing I tried to do with Font You! was to get folks to try new comics, and I hope I did that. My best advice is don't be afraid to try out a new book. If you find yourself walking around your local comic book store, and the pile of funny books in your hands is a little lighter than usual, pick up a book from Image or Oni Press or Darkhorse. Take a look at something from Top Shelf or Fantagraphics. And don't forget about the wealth of amazing free comic books on the web.
Anyway, big thanks to Jason and the rest of the crew here at ComicsBulletin. You guys are doing an amazing job with the site, and it's only getting better. Thanks for letting me be a part of it.
Thanks for reading.
Font You!
Randy
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