Don Newton

Newton’s final issue of The Phantom features the Phantom of 1776 meeting Benjamin 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 the Declaration of Independence and a tattered 13-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 of Giant-Size Defenders, did some small uncredited inking on a few issues of the Deadly Hands of Kung Fu magazine over Mike Vosburg's penciled artwork, a frontispiece for the Savage Sword of Conan and a single painting for Roy Thomas, which years later, became a cover for Thomas' magazine Alter Ego.

Newton inked an issue of Ghost Rider over Don Heck's pencils and produced a cover for Marvel's Unknown Worlds of Science Fiction Annual.

Don Newton (November 12, 1934 – August 19, 1984) was an American comics artist.

During his career, he worked for a number of comic book publishers including Charlton Comics, DC Comics, and Marvel Comics.

He is best known for his work on The Phantom, Aquaman, and Batman.

Newton also drew several Captain Marvel/Marvel Family stories and was a fan of the character having studied under Captain Marvel co-creator C. C. Beck.

Newton was born in St. Charles, Virginia, but after being diagnosed with asthma 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 of Batman and Daredevil, and an even bigger Captain Marvel fan.

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."

Newton eventually discovered comic book fandom, 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 the Rocket's Blast Comicollector (RBCC).

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.

Newton did one major strip during this time, which ran for more than a year in the RBCC called "The Savage Earth".

Over a period stretching from 1968 to 1970 the science fiction strip appeared in issues 60–70 of the RBCC.

Issue #65 of the RBCC sported a Newton "Savage Earth" painting as its cover.

Newton tried for years to leverage his connections in fandom into work at DC Comics or Marvel 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 to Nicola Cuti at Charlton Comics where his first professional comic book work was published.

Newton's first work for Charlton appeared in Ghost Manor #18 (May 1974) 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 of The Phantom, #67, was published.

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 of The Phantom stars Humphrey Bogart, Lauren Bacall, Sydney Greenstreet, Peter Lorre, and Claude Rains and is a mixture of Casablanca, The African Queen, The Maltese Falcon, and The Treasure of the Sierra Madre.

Newton began his career at DC with DC Special #28 (July 1977).

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, The New Gods #12.

Dan Adkins inked most of his work on the New Gods.

It was during his tenure on this strip that Newton left his job as a junior high school art teacher to go work full-time as an artist.

In the middle of Newton's run on The New Gods, he and David Michelinie co-created the Star Hunters for DC but Newton dropped the feature after drawing two stories.

One of Newton’s lifelong ambitions was to draw Captain Marvel and he fulfilled this desire in 1978 when he was signed as the new penciller for the Shazam! title.

Newton began drawing the Batman character beginning with Batman #305 (November 1978), and would draw 79 stories featuring Batman or members of the Batman family during his tenure at DC.

He would draw this strip in its own title, as well as in World's Finest Comics and Adventure Comics until October 1982.