Some of the illustrators of the local comics before used to pass around what seemed to be a thick compilation of past works of a guy named Nestor Redondo. It was considered an illustrator’s bible and its artist, an icon.
I was 18 that time, a newbie and probably one of the four or five female illustrators who broke into the male-dominated world of comics illustration. There I was introduced to Redondo’s works. The artist was so admired and emulated by most people I had worked with. We found ourselves students of his realistic art style and learned so much about the tremendous attention he paid to detail. Such high regard bordered on the fact that his was simply a case of raw talent completely devoid of software manipulations that have defined so much of this generation’s artistry, like a person’s fascination to carb blockers. He was one of the best pencil-and-ink guys.
Thank God for the Internet. Otherwise, I would not have known Redondo to be an Ilocano born in 1928, a would-have-been architect (but the call of comics illustration was so hard to resist so he eventually left Mapua) and the man behind the illustration of Mars Ravelo’s series “Darna” in the 50′s.
Palos, Diwani, Gagamba and Tagisan ng Agimat were some of the works he made in collaboration with his brother, Virgilio. Some of his works were also published various local comics. In 1953, an American film outfit, MGM Pictures, commissioned him to do a comic book preview of the movie “Quo Vadis”.
In the 70′s, a friend helped him establish contacts with the editors of Marvel and DC Comics. Later on that decade, Redondo started doing work for the following titles: House of Mystery, House of Secrets, Rima, The Unexpected, Conan the Barbarian, and Weird War Tales. He also took over Swamp Thing from Berni Wrightson. A Dutch organization hired him to do illustrations of the Bible. In 1977, he was commissioned by Far Eastern Broadcasting Company (FEBC), a Christian radio station, to do a painting for them. In 1979, he received the Inkpot award bestowed annually by Comic-Con International.
Nestor Redondo (1928-1995) and and his agent/friend Ed Noonchester at the 1982 San Diego Comic Con (today called Comic-Con International). Photo courtesy of Alan Light.
Most of Redondo’s works later on in his life were for various Christian comics, having been a born-again Christian in the early 80′s. Redondo passed away in December 1995, just a month before he was to deliver his lecture in the 1st International Christian Comics Training Conference in Tagaytay in January 1996.
So I bought my first pair of Brazillian flip-flops two weeks ago, breaking my vow not to wear those ridiculously priced rubber slippers which looks like Spartan from a distance. My Nike cross-trainers have been too worked out with all the daily puddle-immersion and it’s too precious to let it swim everyday. Therefore I thought about owning one authentic flip-flop. You know the end of the story – I finally fell into the temptation.
