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.
Confessions from the Letterer
I have a confession to make.
I don’t read every book I letter. Mostly because with tight deadlines I just don’t have the time to leisurely read the book as I letter it. I can letter ‘em much faster than I can read ‘em.
Throw in multiple rewrites and changes and fuggeddaboutit. There’s no way I could keep up. 
One book I didn’t read as I lettered it was Greg Pak’s “Planet Hulk.” That storyline was a bear to letter. Pak loves to go back and tweak and rewrite and I totally understand and support his desire to do so. Until the book hits the press, why not do everything you can to make it as best as possible?
That’s one advantage of digital lettering. Besides the speed in which lettering can be turned around, balloons can be rewritten and back in the editor’s hands in a matter of moments. In the old days, they were still using snail mail for cryin’ out loud! I think Action Comics #1 was sent with the Pony Express.
So anyway, with all the changes to “Planet Hulk,” I never got the chance to sit down and read the book as a fan. Luckily for me, what did I find in the mail a few weeks back? My Planet Hulk trade paperback.
I tossed it in my bag and read it on the subway on the way back and forth from work. Boy did I enjoy it. 
Pak did a beautiful job of crafting the alien world of Sakaar. The planet was so well thought out and fun to be in that it reminded me of a world you might see in the Star Wars universe.
The Hulk isn’t an easy character to write. The character really hasn’t been on the fanboy radar since the Peter David days--except maybe Bruce Jones and John Romita Jr.’s “Return of the Monster,” which started out great. I actually re-read the first issue (#34) recently, and I was bummed that that storyline lost steam. Sure the JRJR art doesn’t hurt, but there’s nothing that breaks my fanboy heart more than a storyline that starts off with a bang but goes out with a whimper.
Anyway, getting back to Pak’s beautiful job on Planet Hulk, he follows that up with World War Hulk, a kick-ass slugfest of epic proportions. If you haven’t yet read these books, do yourself a favor and check them out. The Planet Hulk trade paperback is packed with extras, too.
I don’t have the slightest idea what is going on with ol’ Green Skin now, though. I know Jeff Loeb is writing it with pencils by Ed McGuiness (whose work I absolutely love), but the last I saw the Hulk was red.
A couple columns back, I wrote about how Marvel missed a giant meatball of an opportunity when it came to synching up the Iron Man movie with the Iron Man comics. Any new readers that the amazing movie brought into comic shops would find a continuity-soaked funnybook completely devoid of any accessibility to new readers.
A few weeks later, the Hulk movie drops with some solid reviews and nice bank. So what does Marvel have waiting for new readers hungry for some sequential Hulk Smash? 
A Red Hulk.
I work in the comic industry and I have no idea why the Hulk is presently red. Imagine a new reader picking that book up?
I dunno. I just don’t get it. Shouldn’t all these comic book movies be a humongous opportunity to bring in new readers? Not to mention all the readers we could get back?
Meanwhile, across town, DC Comics retook the superhero movie mantle with the super-mega-hit The Dark Knight.
So what does yours truly think of this latest Bat-Incarnation?
I haven’t seen it. I was too busy lettering Batman to go see Batman.
Ironic? Perhaps. Annoying? Definitely.
I can’t believe I haven’t seen it yet! Sigh.
Until next week, don’t spoil The Dark Knight and I won’t spoil Batman R.I.P.
Thanks for reading.
Font You!
-Randy
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