Old-school is the new cool

I have a love-hate relationship with hand lettering.  The first art job I got when I moved to Atlanta for school was assisting a sign painter, and he taught me most of what I know about type and lettering.  This guy was like a redneck Mr. Miyagi, and he taught that hand lettering was the true path to enlightenment.  If that's true then Adobe illustrator must be the express lane.  But, I have to say I agree with him on original paintings.  There's something nice about the slight imperfections of hand-painted lettering on a hand-painted image.  I always thought it's was cool to see hand-painted lettering on thoes old Rockwell illustrations, and it seems to me that there is a little something lost since most comic book original art no longer has word balloons.  And it's always felt like you got a piece of the story as well as the art when the lettering is there.