Originally Posted By: the G-man
Loved Newton's Shazam. Never cared for his Batman work. Reminded me too much of my least favorite Bat-artist Ernie Chua (Chan).


What I disliked in the first year or so Newton was drawing Batman is that he'd draw Batman in these weird awkward
mid-leap and rather un-masculine poses, almost like he was dancing in a ballet.








http://diversionsofthegroovykind.blogspot.com/2014/04/making-splash-don-newtons-batman-in.html

https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/...0_QL80_TTD_.jpg



As Newton developed, he drew Batman in a more Adams/Novick/Aparo style. His first story was in DETECTIVE 480, immediately following Rogers on the series. I'd say the first issue where Newton was developing a creature-of-the-night Batman in the tradition of Adams/Novick/Aparo was DETECTIVE 497, the same issue Conway began writing the series. But even at his peak on the character, while having a clean linestyle, Newton's version was a bit too caricatured and cartoonish. The face, the neck the ears in these images are definitely not as atmospheric as Adams/Novick/Aparo.

I'd compare Newton most closely with Colan's work on Batman. I hated Colan's work on the series, coupled with writer Moench bringing back (a new) Robin, and the Batcave, it was for me an odd fanboy throwback to the camp days of the Adam West TV series, only pathetically trying to be taken seriously.
Having Alcala ink many issues didn't sweeten the deal one bit.

I liked both story and art in the atmospheric 497, and with the Scarecrow in 503. But even at his peak, Newton's DETECTIVE work, and BATMAN work, were pretty hit and miss. He also did three nice single issues of BRAVE & THE BOLD.

I think some of the worst Newton issues were the R'as Al Ghul stories in DETECTIVE, somewhere between 483-495. It contrasted Newton' art to that of both Adams and Novick, and also showed how badly O'Neil's scripting had declined on the series. Very shortly after, O'Neil quit DC and started doing better more inspired work for Marvel.