| Don Newton | |
|---|---|
 Newton self-portrait. | |
| Born | (1934-11-06)November 6, 1934 St. Charles, Virginia, U.S. |
| Died | August 19, 1984(1984-08-19) (aged 49) Phoenix, Arizona, U.S. |
| Area | Penciller,Inker |
Notable works | Aquaman Batman Detective Comics New Gods |
| Awards | Comic Fan Art Award 1973 |
Don Newton (November 12, 1934[1] – August 19, 1984)[2] was anAmericancomics artist. During his career, he worked for a number of comic book publishers includingCharlton Comics,DC Comics, andMarvel Comics. He is best known for his work onThe Phantom,Aquaman, andBatman. Newton also drew severalCaptain Marvel/Marvel Family stories and was a fan of the character having studied under Captain Marvel co-creatorC. C. Beck.
Newton was born inSt. Charles, Virginia, but after being diagnosed withasthma at the age of four, the Newton family moved to Arizona. Newton began drawing at a young age, with comic books being a major influence on his early artwork. He was a big fan ofBatman,Daredevil, andCaptain Marvel.[3]
By the mid–1960s, Newton was teaching art in Phoenix and worked part-time as a student art reviewer for the mail order"Master Artist's Painting Course."[4]
Newton eventually discovered comic bookfandom,[5] while searching for a source to purchase old comics. Newton became involved with the Science Fiction and Comics Association (SFCA) and became an artistic staple in the organization's publications. Between 1968 and 1973 he produced almost two dozen covers for theRocket's Blast Comicollector (RBCC).[4] Newton did not limit himself exclusively to the publications of the SFCA; he also worked for most of the major fanzines during these years. In all Newton’s work appeared in over one hundred fanzines.[6]
Newton did one major strip during this time which ran for more than a year in theRBCC, called "The Savage Earth". From 1968 to 1970, the science fiction strip appeared in issues #60–70 of theRBCC.[7] Issue #65 of theRBCC sported a Newton "Savage Earth" painting as its cover.
Newton tried for years to leverage his connections in fandom into work atDC Comics orMarvel Comics, but he was at a distinct disadvantage living in Arizona. Marvel in particular wanted their artists close at hand. Newton finally set his sights a little lower and sent some sample pages toNicola Cuti atCharlton Comics where his first professional comic book work was published.[3]
Newton's first work for Charlton appeared inGhost Manor #18 (May 1974)[8] and would work on Charlton horror books for the next year and half. Besides drawing for the Charlton horror comics, Newton also began painting covers for their horror and romance books.
In October 1975 Newton's first issue ofThe Phantom, #67, was published.[7] Newton would pencil and ink all of his Phantom work and would supply a cover painting for every issue he drew. Newton’s short run on the book featured two classic Newton pieces at Charlton. Issue #70 ofThe Phantom starsHumphrey Bogart,Lauren Bacall,Sydney Greenstreet,Peter Lorre, andClaude Rains and is a mixture ofCasablanca,The African Queen,The Maltese Falcon, andThe Treasure of the Sierra Madre.
Newton’s final issue ofThe Phantom features the Phantom of 1776 meetingBenjamin Franklin. It has a Phantom cover, the Phantom of 1776, sword in one hand, flintlock pistol in the other in front of a smoky background of theDeclaration of Independence and a tattered13-star American flag.
Newton had always seen Charlton as a stepping-stone to Marvel Comics. While still working for Charlton, Newton worked on an issue ofGiant-Size Defenders, did some small uncredited inking on a few issues of theDeadly Hands of Kung Fu magazine overMike Vosburg's penciled artwork, a frontispiece for theSavage Sword of Conan, and a single painting forRoy Thomas which years later became a cover for Thomas' magazineAlter Ego. Newton inked an issue ofGhost Rider overDon Heck's pencils and produced a cover for Marvel'sUnknown Worlds of Science Fiction Annual.[8]
Newton began his career at DC withDC Special #28 (July 1977).[8] Newton contributed the pencils on an Aquaman strip inked by his old friend Dan Adkins. Newton would draw Aquaman off and on for the next three years. That same month saw the release of Newton's first series at DC,TheNew Gods #12.[9] Dan Adkins inked most of his work on the New Gods.[7] It was during his tenure on this strip that Newton left his job as a junior high school art teacher to work full-time as an artist. In the middle of Newton's run onThe New Gods, he andDavid Michelinie co-created the Star Hunters for DC but Newton dropped the feature after drawing two stories.[10]
One of Newton’s lifelong ambitions was to drawCaptain Marvel and he fulfilled this desire in 1978 when he was signed as the new penciller for theShazam! title.[4] He would draw this strip in its own title, as well as inWorld's Finest Comics andAdventure Comics until October 1982.
Newton began drawing the Batman character beginning withBatman #305 (November 1978), and would draw 79 stories featuring Batman ormembers of the Batman family during his tenure at DC. Newton and writerDennis O'Neil co-createdMaxie Zeus, who first appeared inDetective Comics #483 (April–May 1979).[11] O'Neil and Newton produced the story "The Vengeance Vow" inDetective Comics #485 (Aug.–Sept. 1979) in which the originalBatwoman is killed by theLeague of Assassins.[12]
In 1979, Newton returned to Marvel. He wanted to drawCaptain America, but that title was unavailable at the time andThe Avengers was the closest Marvel could do to fulfilling that request. Newton took the assignment when he was promisedJoe Rubinstein as his permanent inker on the book. Newton finished the pencils for only two issues before returning to DC. Those two issues ofThe Avengers becameAvengers Annual #9, half of which was inked by Rubinstein, half byJack Abel. In 1981 Don Newton again left DC for Marvel. As was the case the first time, better money was one of the factors that pushed him to Marvel. Marvel had other artists, such asVal Mayerik, call Don to entice him into working at Marvel again. Unlike the previous time, Joe Rubinstein was not part of the deal.The Avengers #204 (Feb. 1981) featured inks byDan Green.
During the time that Newton was drawing this second attempt atThe Avengers book, he was contacted byPaul Levitz who promised him some additional advertising artwork, should Newton return to DC.[7] After theAvengers inking by Dan Green (which he had been unsatisfied with) and again the lack of scheduled work from Marvel, Newton agreed to accept a new contract with DC.
Newton did two issues ofGreen Lantern in 1982. Both wereGreen Lantern Corps stories, one of which contained the first appearance ofCh'p, a squirrel-like Green Lantern. Two years later Newton returned toGreen Lantern in the only DC comics work he inked. In Newton’s obituary,Dick Giordano said of this work, "To my mind, Don's final statement was the Green Lantern Corps story he penciled and inked that appeared inGreen Lantern #181. He showed us how to do it right."[13]
He drew the first appearance ofJason Todd inBatman #357 (March 1983),[14] a character who became the secondRobin.[15]
Newton had always told DC that the only series he would like to draw other thanBatman andCaptain Marvel wasAll-Star Squadron. Editor and writerRoy Thomas tapped into that interest by proposing that Newton drawInfinity, Inc., featuring the children of the original All-Star characters. The first issue scheduled to contain Newton's art wasInfinity Inc. #11 featuring a five-page framing sequence by Newton which surrounded a story drawn byGeorge Tuska and Mike Machlan. Newton was to begin penciling the entire book with issue #12, but the letters page in issue #11 told of Newton's death. Newton suffered a massive heart attack in his home, after dealing with months of a debilitating throat ailment. He died three days later on August 19, 1984, in a nearby Mesa hospital.[7]
While Newton was in the hospital in a coma, the first three pages ofInfinity Inc. #12 were sent to Thomas. Rubinstein was brought in to ink them and Newton’s Phoenix friend John Clark lettered the pages at Thomas' request. As a final tribute to Newton, Marvel editorJim Shooter let Rubinstein out of his contract for a month so that he could ink a fill-in issue Newton had done. It becameInfinity Inc. #13 (April 1985), which was Newton's last published original work.[7]
In 2011, DC publishedTales of the Batman: Don Newton, a hardcover collection of Newton's Batman stories.[16]
Newton died on August 19, 1984, after suffering a massive heart attack.[17]
Newton won theComic Fan Art Award in 1973 in the category "Favorite Fan Artist".[18]
Comics work (interior pencil art) includes:
The New Gods series and its original numbering was revived after a five-year break, with a story written by Gerry Conway and drawn by Don Newton.
| Preceded by Jack Kirby (in 1972) | New Gods penciller 1977–1978 | Succeeded by n/a |
| Preceded by | Detective Comics penciller 1978–1983 | Succeeded by Gene Colan |
| Preceded by n/a | "Shazam!" feature inWorld's Finest Comics penciller 1978–1982 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Batman penciller 1982–1985 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Infinity, Inc. penciller (posthumously) 1985 | Succeeded by |
| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |
| Other | |
