What was the deal with Nestor Redondo and King Arthur?

I'm pretty sure I've seen this question asked and answered on a message board before, but I can't remember now what the deal was.

Back around 1975, around the time that Redondo's work on RIMA ended and when his work on THE BIBLE had come out there was an ad in DC comic books announcing that there would be a new King Arthur title in their new format size (I expect this means it was going to be tablioid size--the mind boggles).

There's a couple of black and white original pages you can find by doing a search on the web, but that seems to be about all what was produced other than the ad art.

So remind me why this never came to be?

I remember anxiously waiting for it and believing that if I could only get this one comic all my dreams would be realized. But as much as I waited, it never came.

I saw on one blog that someone said it was the DC Implosion, but there was no DC Implosion at that time.

Was it because Carmine Infantino was canned? But I thought that happened a little later.

They never did do another issue of THE BIBLE, even though it seemed obvious they had planned on it. But I think that was because the sales had been very soft on the first one, so they couldn't justify doing another.

Did that also sink the King Arthur project?

Yes he did. I blogged about this today, but Nino and Redondo were two of the dozen or so Filipino artists that DC contracted with in the early '70s to provide art for their books. They did a lot of the material for the horror anthologies. Redondo also took over on SWAMP THING from Wrightson (in fact, I came to like Redondo better on that title). And Redondo did my favourite RIMA, with Alex Nino doing the art on a feature in the back of that book. Nino is probably best remembered, in terms of DC, for the work he did on Captain Fear in ADVENTURE COMICS.

Sadly, I didn't buy many of the anthology titles--war, romance, mystery--so I missed out on a lot of this good art. But some of this has been collected in DC SHOWCASEs and Redondo's art is just as good in black and white.

As I say, the prospect of Redondo doing four issues of a tabloid King Arthur series was like the promise of heaven on Earth. Mind you Gerry Conway was going to write it--so there's that--but sometimes Conway could rise to the occasion. And just to see Redondo doing Camelot would have been magic.

Replies

Wandering Sensei: Moderator Man July 22, 2013 at 11:26pm

I have no idea. Sorry.

But I do love Nestor Redondo. The first I have really seen of his work is from that big hardcover The Bible. For some reason, in my head, I picture him doing stuff for a horror comic in the 1970's alongside Alex Nino.
Richard Willis July 23, 2013 at 12:17am

I tried to do some digging and found this extensive Wikipedia article on the DC tabloid-size books:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Limited_Collectors%27_Edition_%28comic...
Jimmm Kelly July 23, 2013 at 12:26am

Yes he did. I blogged about this today, but Nino and Redondo were two of the dozen or so Filipino artists that DC contracted with in the early '70s to provide art for their books. They did a lot of the material for the horror anthologies. Redondo also took over on SWAMP THING from Wrightson (in fact, I came to like Redondo better on that title). And Redondo did my favourite RIMA, with Alex Nino doing the art on a feature in the back of that book. Nino is probably best remembered, in terms of DC, for the work he did on Captain Fear in ADVENTURE COMICS.

Sadly, I didn't buy many of the anthology titles--war, romance, mystery--so I missed out on a lot of this good art. But some of this has been collected in DC SHOWCASEs and Redondo's art is just as good in black and white.

As I say, the prospect of Redondo doing four issues of a tabloid King Arthur series was like the promise of heaven on Earth. Mind you Gerry Conway was going to write it--so there's that--but sometimes Conway could rise to the occasion. And just to see Redondo doing Camelot would have been magic.

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