Tales of the Batman: Don Newton

by Robert Greenberger

Don Newton was one of the best artists to work during the 1970s and 1980s and is sadly little remembered today by readers because of his sudden, unexpected death at 49 in 1984. Far too few of his stories have managed to be collected although that is finally being rectified this fall as DC Comics releases Tales of Batman: Don Newton. The 272-page hardcover is just a sampling of his four year stint as the primary Batman artist, first in The Brave and the Bold before taking over Detective Comics and being graduated to Batman.

Newton grew up a major comic book and superhero fan, born in Virginia but moving to Arizona at an early age to help combat his chronic asthma. He always drew, eventually studying art and becoming an elementary school art teacher while still reading comics and attending conventions. Look carefully, and you’ll find him in a Superman outfit from a 1970s con. He was active in fandom and dreamed of drawing for DC and Marvel. He used his fan connections to end up an assistant to the great curmudgeon, C.C. Beck but their tempestuous relationship led to an early departure. When opportunity finally knocked, it was at Charlton Comics and it wasn’t drawing superheroes, but horror stories. Editor Nicola Cuti loved his craftsmanship and kept him busy beginning in 1974, letting Newton design the Baron Weirwulf character for Ghost Manor.

He finally got to draw guys in tights when he took over The Phantom, not only penciling and inking the stories but painting the covers, maintaining that pulp feel. He also complained enough about Joe Gill’s scripts that his longtime fandom friend Bill Pearson, now a Charlton editor, gave him a free hand to rework the scripts to his satisfaction. Newton remained with Charlton until the company crashed in 1977 and he went looking for work. Fortunately, his friend, artist Dan Adkins, threw him a lifeline with work at Marvel.

Not long after, Newton was called by Neal Adams, informing him that DC had been trying to reach him and suddenly Newton became the artist of Aquaman (with Adkins inking). That began a long tenure with the company until his death. While he enjoyed the undersea adventures along with cosmic tales with a revived New Gods, he had been hankering to get his hands on Batman.

That opportunity began with the first stories in this collection, two eight-pagers by Bob Rozakis for the Unsolved Cases of Batman back-up. Here and in his first Detective Comics outing, 1978’s #480 with Maxie Zeus as the foe, he was inked by Dave Hunt who was serviceable but didn’t bring out Newton’s best. Still, once Don got to ‘Tec he was loathe to let go and wound up drawing 38 out of the next 45 issues before moving to Batman. When he wasn’t drawing the Dark Knight, he was doing other work including Captain Marvel, his other true love, and other features. Several of those turned out to be three issues of The Brave and the Bold, all included here so you can see Don’s interpretation of Red Tornado (written by Cary Burkett), Man-Bat (written by Martin Pasko), and Doctor Fate (also by Burkett).

Don happened to be on hand when Denny O’Neil ignited the war between the League of Assassins and the Sensei which began with the shocking death of the first Batwoman, Kathy Kane. That particular serial is included here in it’s entirely (no doubt lifted from The Tales of the Demon collection). There are also stories involving Batman versus Maxie Zeus and about all of these were inked with a nice, slick line by Bob Smith. When he wasn’t drawing the lead, he managed to fit in short tales featuring Robin and Man-Bat (boy, I miss anthologies).

Don was on hand to illustrate some of the strongest stories from that period in Batman’s history. Along the way, he briefly left for Marvel before being enticed back to DC to not only return to Gotham City but help Roy Thomas launch the just-reprinted Infinity, Inc. Don left Batman in 1984 only to die a few months later.

This is one collection that just shows a glimpse of what a wonderful artist Don was and reminds you that his work is much missed.

Purchase

Tales of the Batman: Don Newton

Be Sociable, Share!

•