Don Newton was the ultimate comic fan who by dint of his immense talent and supreme effort got to do what he loved to do -- draw comics. But alas, Don Newton is one of those great talents who died before his time, in some ways just beginning to find the widespread recognition for the talent that his devout followers had admired for some years before. Newton might arguably be the best fan artist, creating some stellar covers for the Rocket Blast & ComicCollector (RBCC).
I found Newton at Charlton where his atmospheric illustrations were ideal for the moody tales of the supernatural in comics like Midnight Tales and Haunted. (Newton designed Baron Weirwulf.) He secured his place in comics history with is brief but powerful run on The Phantom, giving that comic a new-found power. The Phantom is a great character who is not always handled greatly, but Joe Gill and Newton did just that for far too few issues. After Charlton, Newton found some success at DC on Batman, Aquaman and features here and there. His great success in my eye was his revision of Shazam! in the pages of World's Finest. DC had tried to revive the series with the same naive charm which had sparked hits success decades ago and failed to find a footing. But with the arrival of Newton, the series was in the hands of an artist who loved the material and straddled the more realistic depictions with the whimsy the series had often enjoyed. Don Newton was a great comic artist, just not for long enough.
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I was hoping Newton would be on your list. Like you said his Phantom issues are legendary.
ReplyDeleteWhen they say some artist has an "appealing" style I usually think of Don Newton.
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I’m so glad Don Newton made the list. I caught the tail end of his run with The Phantom and was a regular when he took on Batman. Even got his edition of Tales of The Dark Knight on Kindle. Wish they would do a Volume 2 and pick up some of his work with Alfredo Alcala.
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