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.
New Year’s Resolutions
So here we are already over a week into 2009 and I've yet to make a New Year's Resolution. My resolutions are usually the same every year... similar to everyone else's I'd imagine... Exercise. Whatever that means.
I'm not joining a gym, that's for sure. New York City gyms are the worst. I can't handle the whole scene. I won't get into it but I can only take so many stockbrokers looking at themselves in the mirror as they flex their "muscles". Let's not mention the outrageous prices they charge for the privilege of letting you wipe some guys sweat off of a machine you're about to sit in.
Anyway, in case you haven't guessed, I'm not joining a gym anytime soon.
I'm thinking about taking a kendo class, though. Pretty badass if I must say so myself. Especially if I ever need to sword fight some mugger on the D train.
I want to read more novels as well. I read comics like crazy but I really need to insert more grown-up books in there. So far I'm sticking to this one as I'm about half was through The Catcher in the Rye. Why not start with a classic, right?
I need to focus more strongly on my comics. I need to take NYComix to the next level. I absolutely must start a graphic novel this year. I need to become a better writer and a better artist. I need to write and draw every single day. I need to become a better letterer. I need to make this comic better and run it weekly!
And then there's the non-comic stuff. I need to be the best husband I can be. In 2008 my father fought cancer and, as of today, is winning the fight. Because of this, I really want to do something to help fight the disease. Even if it's something as simple as making a donation to a foundation or maybe there's a children's hospital that might like that giant box of comics collecting dust in my studio.
As I write this, the Middle East is in turmoil and as a result rumors of another terrorist attack are rampant. Am I prepared for that? Do I have a plan to get to my wife working a mere 10 blocks uptown from my office? After 9-11 having a "contingency plan" was all the rage. Commercials on television, radio, posters on every subway train urging New Yorkers to be ready. Here it is eight years later and while my wife and I have some idea of what we'd do, I'd hardly call it a contingency plan.
Looking back at 2008... writing about cancer and terrorists attacks... I think the best New Year's Resolution I can make is to be thankful for every single day... because nothing is guaranteed.
All right, so how about some comics talk?
I didn't buy a single comic last week. Not due to lack of trying but to lack of interest. Nothing on the shelves this past Wednesday struck me as a must buy.
Dark Horse's big book of the week was Buffy the Vampire Slayer #21... but I'm probably the only fanboy who has never seen an episode of the show so reading the comic isn't exactly top priority.
DC released the latest American Splendor trade and while I didn't pick it up, I will eventually. I've read the issues and I can't recommend the book enough. As I look through the list of DC books there are a few on the list that I thought about trying to haven't pulled the trigger on yet, the main one being Jonah Hex. I've heard nothing but great things about the book, and eventually I'll pick up a trade.
It was a big The Walking Dead week for Image Comics with issue 37 and Volume 9 of the collected issues hitting stands. I just finished reading volume 3 in trade, and holy cow!. What a great book but don't spoil it on me! I'm obviously a little behind.
And what about Marvel? If you're up to date on your Font You!'s you know I finally jumped back on the Amazing Spider-Man train but after issue 581 I've hopped off again. After Mark Waid's 2-issue storyline knocked me on my ass and then Roger Stern and Lee Weeks followed that up with a one-and-done blast of an issue, Dan Slott and Mike McKone have taken over with a Molten Man story beginning with issue 581. McKone's art is top notch but the road trip storyline by Slott didn't exactly entice me to keep reading.
I'm a tough fan, what can I say? I'll peek back in a few issues from now I'm sure. Maybe even for the Obama issue next week.
Font You! Cover of the Week!
Fantastic Four #200 by Jack Kirby with inks by Joe Sinnott
The last time the King would draw the Fantastic Four was this cover for FF 200. Inked by Joe Sinnott, what's not to love about this cover? Nobody has ever drawn Doom better than Kirby and what's better than seeing him seconds before Mr. Fantastic cracks his lid with a knuckle sammich? Check out the great cover elements as well as the short-lived but great looking title treatment.
Font You! What I'm Reading
The Walking Dead Volume 3: "Safety Behind Bars"
by Robert Kirkman, Charlie Adlard and Cliff Rathburn
If you read The Walking Dead, you don't need me to remind you how great this book is. Kirkman's character study of a world post-zombie invasion is gripping, scary and flat-out heart wrenching. I know I'm way behind on this book but I almost don't want to catch up because I don't want it to end.
So that's it for this week folks. Thanks for reading.
Font You!
--Randy
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