MARS RAVELO AND NESTOR REDONDO:
The Tandem of Komiks Legends
Among the writer-artist tandems in Philippine Komiks History,
one if not the most popular and successful, is that of Mars Ravelo (1916-1988) and
Nestor Redondo (1928-1995). Best known for the very successful and iconic
embodiment of the Philippines’ best loved superhero – Darna.
Darna was put into a pedestal in the Filipino people’s minds with
Ravelo’s imaginative storyline and Redondo’s magnificent illustration in the
pages of Pilipino Komiks #77 (May 13,
1950), running 28 episodes up to #104 (May 26, 1951), and the silver screen
portrayal of Manila’s “Golden Age” movie queen, Rosa del Rosario (1917-2006),
under the direction of Fernando Poe Sr (1916-1951).
Soon after the Ravelo-Redondo tandem became the byword in the
komiks community and stories one after another were printed on the pages of
different komiks and magazines. Darna continued her many adventures given life
by the scripts of Ravelo and the brush of Redondo.
On their own, Ravelo and Redondo also reaped the impact of
Darna’s success as each of them became the favorite and most sought after writer
and illustrator of komiks publishers.
The Tagalog Klasiks
#28 (July 29, 1950) began another Ravelo hit in “Roberta.” It was, however, initially
drawn by Redondo but was later on continued by another legend in komiks
illustration, Elpidio Torres.
Then there was “Raul Roldan,” another interesting story that
the legendary tandem started in Hiwaga
Komiks #22 (August 1, 1951). And the list continues for an entire decade or
so.
For their combine achievements as writer and artist, in 1985,
then First Lady Imelda Marcos, one of the founding patrons of the Cultural
Center of the Philippines (CCP), recommended Ravelo and Redondo for the
National Artist Award in the category of Literature and Visual Arts,
respectively. In 1986, however, the list that included the tandem was submitted
to the office of the then de facto
president Cory Aquino, which rejected all the nominees. Hence, no National Artist Award was
given for that year. For the succeeding years, sad to say, Ravelo and Redondo
were never again nominated for the prestigious award.
