Twentyfour years ago, Don Newton, one of the best Batman artists, died, killed by a heart attack he suffered some days earlier.

Newton drawn for Marvel, Charlton and DC, where he drawn some of the best Batman stories ever, written by guys like Dennis O'Neil and Gerry Conway.

I'll be honest: my first exposure to Don's work has been this year, while translating his long runs on BATMAN and DETECTIVE COMICS for the new Italian edition, so I'm not an old fan of his work. Before that, I only heard his name in Italy something like... twice. Being common thought that Batman before Frank Miller almost didn't exist, just a few readers know and remember the art of Don Newton. And surely I'm glad I'm now one of them.

I love how Don was able to give humanity to his characters. Batman and the others were persons, but no photos like in so many current comics. He could draw very well both action and reflexive scenes. I especially like his Batman/Commissioner Gordon dialogues, where the two characters really seem old friends.

Even if I'm his newest fan, I wished to remember him on this forum... I hope there are several other readers on this board who loved (and still do) his art.

This one, from Detective Comics 481 (1978):

I love Newton's sense of anatomy, and how 'plausible' for lack of a better word he renders Man-Bat.

Yep, that's Hunt.

Newton was terribly underrated, at least among the fans I knew back in the day.  He did such a variety of work, from Aquaman to Shazam, from Batman to Orion and all the diverse locales that were a part of those stories--and he made it work.  Such a shame he died so early.

Edited to add:  Gerry, that's a terrific page and a great example his his take on the Avengers.