Don Newton (12 November 1934 – 19 August 1984) was born in St. Charles, Virginia, USA. At the age of 4 he was diagnosed with asthma, resulting in his families need to relocate to the drier climate of Arizona, USA. Often bed-ridden during his childhood, Newton read comic books as a way to pass the time, gravitating towards Batman and Daredevil, however Captain Marvel would be his favorite, even into adulthood.
After graduating college, Newton began teaching art at Mountain View High, Phoenix, USA in the mid-1960s and was also working part-time as an art reviewer for the mail order program, ‘Master Artist’s Painting Course’.
In 1968, Newton became involved in the popular fanzine RBCC (Rocket’s Blast Comic Collector), contributing art for both the covers and pages within. The Phantom appears on the cover of edition number 106 published in 1973, illustrated by Don Newton. He also created a sci fi comic strip titled ‘The Savage Earth’ for the fanzine, appearing in edition numbers 60 to 70, published from 1968 thru till 1970.
In 1973, Newton won the Comic Fan Art Award in the category of ‘Favorite Fan Artist’.
After contacting and submitting his work to DC, Marvel Comics and other comic book publishing houses, Charlton Comics based in Connecticut, USA would be his first employer within the comic book industry, working on ‘Ghost Manor’, with edition number 18 published in May 1974 being his first professionally published work.
He would continue to work on Charlton Comic’s horror titles for the following year, before he was commissioned to work on the Phantom, with his work first published in comic book edition number 67, released in October 1975. He would continue to work on the Phantom in this series until it’s end with edition number 74, released in January 1977. He illustrated all comic strips found within these editions, plus his art is found on the covers of all these editions except edition number 72. All the covers were painted and can be seen below.
Whilst Newton was working at Charlton Comic’s, his aim was always to join DC or Marvel Comics. He completed a number of uncredited inking and penciling jobs for Marvel Comics whilst under the employ of Charlton Comic’s, plus working on an edition of ‘Giant-Size Defenders’.
In 1977, Newton joined DC, working on a large variety of comic book series and characters, including Aquaman, The New Gods, Star Hunters, Captain Marvel and Batman. Over this period of time, Newton left his job as a junior high school art teacher to work full-time as an artist.
In 1979, Newton was employed by Marvel Comics, initially commencing work on The Avengers, before leaving and returning to DC. In 1981, he again returned to Marcel Comics to work on The Avengers, mainly due to the fact that better money was offered by Marvel Comics.
Newton would return back to DC, mainly due to the lack of scheduled work from Marvel Comics. He worked on 2 editions of Green Lantern in 1982 in their Green Lantern Corps stories. He also drew the first appearance of Jason Todd in Batman edition number 357 published in March 1983, a character who became the second Robin.
DC were aware of Newtons desire to work on All-Star Squadron, with a commitment coming from Editor/Writer Roy Thomas for Newton to illustrate Infinity, Inc. which features the children of the original All-Star characters. The first issue which contains Newton’s art was in Infinity Inc. edition number 11 featuring a 5 page framing sequence.
Newton commenced penciling Infinity Inc. edition number 12, however edition number 11 reported some sad news. Don Newton had suffered a heart attack at his home and after spending 3 days in a coma at the Mesa hospital, he passed away at the age of 50.
Wikipedia provides us the extent of Don Newtons breadth of work. Below we see a list of all comic books where Don Newtons work can be found.
Charlton Comics
- Beyond the Grave #17 (1984)
- Ghost Manor #18, 20, 22, 48, 64 (1974–1982)
- Ghostly Haunts #42 (1975)
- Haunted #50, 59 (1980–1982)
- Many Ghosts of Dr. Graves #45, 49 (1974–1975)
- Midnight Tales #11–14 (1975)
- The Phantom #67–68, 70–71, 73–74 (1975–1977)
- Scary Tales #31 (1982)
DC
- Adventure Comics (New Gods) #459–460; (Aquaman) #460–461, 464–466; (Shazam!) #491–492 (1978–1982)
- All-Star Squadron Annual #3 (three pages only) (1984)
- Aquaman #60–63 (1978)
- Batman #305–306, 328, 331, 346, 352–357, 360–372, 374–379; (Catwoman) #332; (Robin) #337–338; (1978–1985)
- Batman Family (Robin, Batgirl, Man-Bat) #13 (1977)
- Blackhawk #266 (1984)
- The Brave and the Bold (Batman and Red Tornado) #153, (Batman and Doctor Fate) #156, (Batman and Man-Bat) #165 (1979–1980)
- DC Comics Presents (Superman and Green Arrow) #54 (1983)
- DC Special (Aquaman) #28 (1977)
- DC Special Series (Lightray) #10 (1978)
- DC Super Stars (Star Hunters) #16 (1977)
- Detective Comics (Batman) #480, 483–499, 501–509, 511, 513–516, 518–520, 524, 526, 533, 539; (Robin) #481; (Man-Bat) #481, 485; (Batgirl) #492 (1978–1984)
- Ghosts #92, 94 (1980)
- Green Lantern vol. 2 (Green Lantern Corps) #148–149, 181 (1982–1984)
- House of Mystery #259, 272 (1978–1979)
- Infinity, Inc. #11–13 (1985)
- Mystery in Space #117 (1981)
- New Gods #12–14, 16–19 (1977–1978)
- Secrets of Haunted House #30 (1980)
- Shazam! #35 (1978)
- Star Hunters #1 (1977)
- Time Warp #1–5 (1979–1980)
- The Unexpected #204 (1980)
- Vigilante #4 (1984)
- Weird War Tales #82, 122 (1979–1983)
- World’s Finest Comics (Shazam!) #253–270, 272–281; (Green Arrow and Hawkman) #259; (Aquaman) #262 (1978–1982)
Marvel Comics
- Avengers #204 (1981); Annual #9 (1979)
- Giant-Size Defenders #3 (1975)
- Ghost Rider #23 (1977)
- Iron Man Annual #4 (backup story) (1977)
The Phantom 