Friday, June 4, 2010

Famous First Fridays: Don Newton Debuts!


Greetings, Groove-ophiles! It's another Famous First Friday, and this time the FFF spotlight shines on a true fave, Don Newton. Don came into comics the old-fashioned way--working his way up the ranks of fandom, getting his pro "break" at Charlton (The Phantom and much more), then moving on to become a top DC artist (Star Hunters, Aquaman, Man-Bat, Shazam!, the New Gods, Batman). His elegant, moody style was easily adaptable to most any genre, and in the early 80s he reached his dream of becoming one of the top Batman artists of the era. Sadly, he left us in 1984, but his magnificent body of work won't be forgotten by those of us who were there when he was making that comicbook magic.

From Ghost Manor #18 (February 1974), here's Newton's debut tale, "The Empty Room!" (And, yep, it's written by the ever-entertaining Joe Gill, you betcha!)
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5 comments:

  1. RenoJune 4, 2010 at 2:31 AM

    Where's the rest of The Treasure Seekers? Also, the second page of The Empty Room won't embiggen. :)

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  2. AnonymousJune 4, 2010 at 4:54 AM

    Good grief - has it really been 26 years since Mr Newton went to that big drawing table in the sky?

    And he was only in the biz 10 years?

    Doesn't seem right, somehow...thanks for this tribute, Groove.


    cheers
    B Smith

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  3. RenoJune 4, 2010 at 10:09 PM

    Thanks for the fix. :)

    And I have to agree with B Smith. It's not right that he was gone too soon.

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  4. Mike MikulovskyJune 5, 2010 at 9:09 AM

    Hey Groovester
    Man, I miss Don Newton, I know after coming home from the service. I started asking my best buddy Jef, who happened to own his a chain a comic store in Milwaukee,WI until his passing also sadly. Like Don Newton he too also left us way too young. What happened to Mr.Newton, I figured he was at a different company.

    I was shocked to hear he had passed away. I loved his beautiful artwork. Especially on Capt.Marvel/Shazam & the Marvel Family. His Man-Bat,Aquaman, & the rest were great also. There's a excellent website out there on Don as well. I highly recommend checking it out. Thanks for sharing with us this forgotten treasure. SHAZAM! Mike

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  5. HEHJune 5, 2010 at 9:51 AM

    Always nice to see some Newton artwork. As a boy, I was all over The Avengers. Newton's artwork in Avengers Annual 9 made such an impact on me.
    If I recall correctly, he also did about 1.5 issues of the regular series too. The Avengers battling Yellow Claw.
    Thanks for sharing these images.

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