Nestor Redondo 1928-1995
I was brought up during the 'silver Age' of DC Comics. When inked line-work was minimal, and the draftsmanship excellent! The artist Curt Swan springs to mind. Those guys could really draw! No digital 'special effects' in those days to cover up bad anatomy! Sorry, I'm getting off the subject!
You can imagine then, how pleased I was, while browsing through items on Ebay, to find 'THE MOST SPECTACULAR STORIES EVER TOLD FROM THE BIBLE', a DC publication!
Joint artwork was by Nestor Redondo and Joe Kubert. It was printed in 1975 and covers the stories from Creation to Sodom & Gomorrah. On the inside back cover it says 'Don't miss the next issue!'
Did they produce anymore issues? I've only ever seen the one. Joe Kubert answers this question for the Bible illustration blog here.
Nestor Redondo was born in the Philippines and was better known for his work on 'Tarzan', 'Swamp Thing' and 'Conan' But Bible illustration was a subject close to his heart. His pictures of Noah's Ark are some of the most accurate i've come across, sticking closely to the actual biblical dimensions. On the whole, DC Comics 'Stories from the Bible' has been very well researched, and not a 'dome topped building' in sight! I'm impressed! Gerry Alanguilan, from the 'Komikero Komics' website, informs me that Redondo worked on "more extensive adaptations of Bible stories, published in the Philippines in the late 60's, serialized in Superyor Komiks. Redondo adapted and illustrated hundreds of pages of Bible stories beginning with Genesis and well into Exodus." In Alanguilan's opinion they were superior to the DC comics version. Apparently Open doors have distributed these comics in countries where religion is discouraged or suppressed. Does anyone have any samples?
Click below for an excellent article on 'Realistic illustration' by Nestor Redondo.
'Realistic illustration'
Favorite Bible Artist #1 Frank Hampson
Favorite Bible Artist #3 Clive Uptton
Favorite Bible Artist #4 Cicely Mary Barker
5 comments:
The "Silver Age" of comics. What bliss. Pure illustration with no frills. But we always think of DC and Marvel. The UK was producing great comic art work. Frank Hampson, Frank Bellamy, Mike Noble to name a few. And "Eagle" produced quite a few Christian comic strips. I recall you liked a strip on Paul the apostle Graham. Which UK comic and artist produced this?
Hello Graham! Nestor Redondo did a much more extensive adaptation of the Bible here in the Philippines in the late 60's and early 70's. Below is a link to a sample of artwork from it:
http://alanguilan.com/sanpablo/2006/01/nestor-redondos-bible-crest-hut-update.html
Thanks Gerry! I would love to see more of Nestor's Bible illustrations. Let me know if you post any more.
I would be very interested to hear of any other artists from the Philippines who have worked on the Bible also.
Many thanks again.
p.s. Check out Gerry Alanguilan's site for some superb comic artwork from the Philippines!
Sorry it's taken me a while to answer your question Paul. I've been trying to remember which strip it was, and I can't! Old age!
I remember doing a comic strip of the apostle Paul (Acts 27) way back in 1976, when I worked at D C Thomsons. But it wouldn't be that one, because I never like my own work-!!
The back page of EAGLE had the full colour picture strips of "The Great Adventurer," about the apostle Paul, drawn by Frank Hampson (of "Dan Dare" fame). He subsequently drew "The Road of Courage" about the earthly life and ministry of our Lord Jesus Christ. These appeared weekly from 1951-1960, and have been collected into trade paperbacks.
THE BIBLE treasury edition was written by Sheldon Mayer, had cover art and layouts by Joe Kubert, and interior finished art by Nestor Redondo, and was published by DC Comics in 1975, and reprinted by DC in hardcover form circa 2010.
Redondo had also drawn the BEN-HUR comics adaptation for Pendulum Press in the late '70s.
What the Redondo studio illustrated for Open Doors in 1977 was not exclusively a Bible comic, but MARX, LENIN, MAO, & CHRIST which compared and contrasted Socialism, Communism, and Maoism with the Gospel, showing the fallacy and inadequacy in the tenets of the first three. I obtained permission to reprint it in 2010 under my Calvary Comics imprint. In my HALLELUJAH comics anthology, published in spring 2016, I also have Redondo's 34 page story of actor-turned-evangelist Fred Galang's life journey. It's fascinating to see how the Lord got a hold of him! It was originally published in 1988 in Tagalog (the major language of the Philippines), and translated into English for the first time by my friend and brother in Christ Arvin Concepcion. I obtained permission to reprint it from both the former publisher as well as the Galang family (as Fred had recently passed away).
Hope this brings some clarity regarding EAGLE and the Redondo comics.
Kind regards in Christ Jesus,
Alec Stevens
www.calvarycomics.com
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