by Sisenando P. Redondo Jr.
IT WAS WARTIME in the province of Albay and a 13-year old boy was curiously watching an artist soldier of the invading Japanese Imperial Army translating the majestic Mayon volcano into his sketchpad.
Without a word, the boy pulled out from his pant’s pocket a pencil and on a white paper also drew his own version of Bicolandia’s perfect cone and bragged it to the artist soldier.
A quick look was all the Japanese gave to what seemed to be a “work of art” and without a word too, he chuckled at the boy.
That boy, years after the invading forces were driven out of the country turned out to be one of the great comics artists the Philippines ever had. He is Nestor Redondo, my artist brother.
Today’s older Filipinos who have been young comics enthusiast once still remember him. Why, even former Philippine Army commandant Maj. Gen. Mariano Adalem asked when we first met if I was the artist. Of course, you cannot claim others glory even if he is a brother. However, it is presumed that General Adalem must have been one of those comics’ readers then.
Nestor has conquered America’s comicsdom and made a name at the DC Comics Publication, publisher of Superman, Batman and Wonder Woman. He drew for DC’s comics book, the “Swap Thing”, and for some time, the cover design for “Conan, the Barbarian” of the Warren Publications, and a lot of other publishers in the United States.
The skill of Nestor did not come overnight. It was a hard work and unabated research to improve. He read drawing books. His first was a book by Willy Pogani where he learned how to exercise his hand with the use if brush and pen and ink. He has a collection of books in about great artist in the United States and the Philippines as well. He has high praise for former Filipino artist Carlos Francisco.
He was influenced by American artist Dean Cornwell, Norman Rockwell, Robert Fawcetts, and many artists illustrating for the Saturday Evening Post, Cosmopolitan, Life Magazine and he has a collection of books of great artist and their works.
He has read how artist from Europe lived and how they became great. He has a treasure of books on the life of Winston Churchill and how he was called a “Sunday Artist”.
One time, after arriving from America, he said that his work was peanuts compared with the Americans or Europeans. And yet he had hordes of followings in the country. He has influenced quite a lot of artists in the Philippines. These artists have picked up his style. Jim Fernandez has been influenced by Nestor and so with Tony de Zuniga, Tony Caravana, Nestor Leonidez ( Nestor de Leon in real life), Rico Rival, Nes Austria, Mar Amongo, Ruding Mesina, and even Hal Santiago.
Like anybody else who has reached the apex, Nestor started down under; and like the Japanese who laughed at him, you may laugh too if we say that his first published comics illustration was in the defunct “Tiktik” magazine.
How come “Tiktik” magazine?
While Nestor was enthusiastic to see his work published in magazines, newspapers and comic books, there could be no more enthusiastic than our eldest brother, Virgilio. Being the eldest he was the most aggressive to find a job to help our widowed mother eke out a living for a family of eight or nine, to include our mother, he has been the one sweating it out to find a publication where he could sell his drawings. Virgilio is an artist too and a comics writer. He was the creator of “Alyas Palos” and “Ang Gagamba” which was also shown in the silver screen starring Bernard Bonnin under the then studio of LVN Pictures and directed by Tony Santos Sr.. Nestor did the illustration for both novels.
In one of his roaming days, Virgilio stumbled upon “Tiktik” which held their office in Sampaloc, Manila, and his illustration was accepted. Later my elder brother informed the publisher that a younger brother would like to offer his drawings too and if they were interested on a sample. The first sample was all that was needed for “Tiktik” to approve him too. That was in 1948.
During those days, the serious comics artists lording all over the other artists was Francisco V. Coching and his “Hagibis” was, like movies today, a blockbuster at that time. There was also the Caguintuan brothers, Fred Carillo, Jesse Santos, Gregorio Coching, the father of Francisco; Ben Alcantara and others whose names skipped my mind.
In cartooning, of course there was the “father of Filipino comics” Tony Velasquez of the Kenkoy at Rosing fame, Zabala Santos, Larry Alcala, Lib Abrena, and others who were the “sikat” in that era.
Nestor was not fully concentrated in comics at that time because he was still in high school at the Adamson University. He worked for the time being at the Bureau of Public Works and Highways where an uncle, Vicente Purugganan, a cousin of our mother hired him to lift big stones in construction works. After high school, Nestor enrolled at Mapua Institute of Technology at the College of Architecture.
On the second year at MIT, he decided to stop studying and concentrated on comics. The only reason he quit architecture was that he did not want military drills in the ROTC. He said he drilled in the ROTC for only two Sundays and after that “goodbye to marching.”
By the way, Nestor’s first comic’s illustration was published in the Tiktik magazine. The English word for “tiktik” is detective. It is by coincidence that Nestor’s first comics illustration in America was published at the DC Comics Publication. DC stands for “Detective Comics”.
Meanwhile, Virgilio those not last long at Tiktik. There were other publications like the Silahis-Bahaghari and later to the Bulaklak Publications in R. Hidalgo St. in Quiapo, where he worked. He did not last Bulaklak too. There was a labor disp0ute and the publisher fired him for joining the strike.
I remember Virgilio drew a one strip cartoon for the “Pilipino Komiks” of the Ramon Roces Publications. He was still an anonymous artist then and in order to break into the publication he must submit a what they say in Filipino “panggulat”. His comics strip, “Isyo”, after many revisions, was published alright. In his joy, he showed his published drawing to the entire family and kept shouting “tagumpay, tagumpay”. You see the biggest publisher right after the war was the one owned by the Roces Family. They seemed to be the standard that if you were able then to have your work approved by the scrutinous eyes of the editor, then you have “broken the barrier” and could surely apply anywhere.
Virgilio started illustrating for the Liwayway magazine and at the same time for the ACE Publications, which later expanded.
After “Pilipino Komiks”, Ace came out with their second comic book, the “Tagalog Klasiks”. Later on, the Hiwaga Komiks and the Espesyal Komiks.
Here is a short anecdote. Did you know that Nestor Redondo was already illustrating for the Ace Publications and the Liwayway and yet, the editor-in-chief Tony Velasquez, has not seen him yet. Our elder brother, Virgilio was the one representing Nestor. Virgilio was the one bringing the finished product to the Ramon Roces publications in Soler Street.
One morning, Nestor did not know that Velasquez was anxious to see him and the latter came to pick up the illustration himself so that he could see for the first time the then young budding artist. Velasquez suddenly showed up at our house then at Modesto Street in Malate, Manila. The creator of Kenkoy and Rosing introduced himself and asked if he could see Nestor. However, Nestor has just gotten into bed for he stayed awake all night to meet the deadline the following day for the publication. Velasquez did not want Nestor roused from bed and asked if he could just peep into the room just to see him. He saw Nestor alright unable to talked and introduced each other.
Besides Nestor and Virgilio, we have a third artist in the family, our youngest kid Kiko—he spells his name Quico. Kiko started illustrating for the comics at the age 16 and even illustrated too for the DC Comics Publication. I don’t know what came into him that he abandoned comics.