Today is the birthday of the late great comic book artist Don Newton. Newton made his impact on the fan community and later at Charlton where he did some fantastic stories as well as a smattering of great ghostly covers. He then took on the "Ghost Who Walks" and gave us what I still regard as the definitive Phantom of comic books.
Newton was indeed a man and an artist who died far too young.
Newton apparently held his Charlton ghost book work in low regard, preferring to work on heroes, but I believe the atmosphere he brought to his weird work was ideal for the genre.
Here are his wonderfully evocative and atmospheric Phantom covers.
And below is a real oddball cover. A Phantom splash page adapted to become the cover for an issue Monster Hunters. The background jungle and mountain are Newton, but the rest is suspect.
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Rip: I couldn't agree more that Newton's Phantom was the greatest version done in comics. I still go through those comics now and then, and am freshly amazed ever time. His phantom was powerful, sleek like a panther, and always had an edge of dark mystery.
ReplyDeleteHappy Birthday, Don - your "Ghost Who Walks" will never die.
There have been some good ones in recent years, some artists who are able to bring that classic feel with modern techniques, but no one, ever, caught the mystery of the Ghost Who Walks like Newton.
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