Things That Might Have Been

One of the many things I am known for is the site listed to my right, the Art of Don Newton. Don was a professional comic book artist for about nine years in the 70s and 80s. Don was one of my favorite artists. I first encountered Don's work years before he became a pro, when he produced a prodigious amount of artwork for comic book fanzines. Don was really THE fanzine artist, producing hundreds of illustrations for dozens of fan publications. A lot of fanzine art was crap, but Don's art was something you could study and learn from. No small part of my early style was gleamed from looking at Don Newton artwork.

It was fun to watch a guy grow in the ranks of fandom and then slowly make it as a professional, first at Charlton Comics and then at DC and Marvel. After Charlton folded Don mainly worked for DC, spending six years drawing Batman and three years drawing Captain Marvel and Aquaman. At DC Don also drew The New Gods, The Brave and the Bold, Green Lantern, the Vigilante, Blackhawks, Hawkman, and Infinity Inc.

But there was a time when Don wanted to work for Marvel. He sold Marvel a single painting for Unknown Worlds of Science Fiction, but he also tried to sell them other paintings, beginning with a cover for The Rampaging Hulk. It was not to be; there were some at Marvel who did not appreciate Don's style, who thought Don did not belong there. The cover above is not real; it is a mock-up I created of what might have been had Don found a more receptive audience at Marvel. It is based on the painting Don tried to sell to Marvel in 1976, a painting which I own and love and which has a place of honor on the wall in my office.

I love the painting and think it makes a great cover. Too bad there were people at Marvel who did not feel the same. Had he sold this second painting, who knows how long his career as a painter might have lasted, what masterpieces he might have produced. Ah, the things that might have been....