A couple of months ago while shopping at the comic store, I was checking out the new collections they had received.  Since I’ve been on this mission to weed out my individual comics and replace selected titles with trades, I keep an eye out for anything unusual that maybe I was unaware was coming out.

For about 3 weeks I noticed a particular hardcover collection on the shelf.  I finally couldn’t take it anymore and bought it.  Tales of the Batman: Don Newton is just incredible.  The primary reason I went for this was Don Newton.  He, along with Dick Dillin, were two of my favorite artists when I first began collecting.  Honestly, Newton drew some of the sexiest men I had ever seen in print.

Part of the reason his work was enjoyable was the fluidity in which he drew the characters.  The combat scenes were rendered in a way that you felt you could see the movement during the fights.  I can’t lie in that he was one of the first artists I noticed putting hair on men’s chests, and these were chests that were barrel beautiful!

For those of you who do not know this artist, this is the bio they included in the dust jacket:

Don Newton was born in 1934 and began his career as a professional comic book artist in 1974. After becoming an art teacher in his home of Arizona, Newton became an active participant in the culture of comics both as a fan and a creator. He produced distinctive work on iconic characters for companies such as Charlton, Marvel and DC. His work on Batman and several other DC characters is still widely respected for its deft storytelling and characterization. Don Newton passed away in 1984 at the age of 49.

This collection includes stories from Batman, Detective, and Brave and the Bold from 1978 to 1980.  Many of the stories were written by Denny O’Neil.  This run of stories dealt with the introduction of the League of Assassins, who murder the original Batwoman.  It was great fun reading the stories where he worked with Red Tornado, Dr. Fate, and Man-Bat.  There were also some Detective stories wherein he worked with Batgirl.

This is truly a book worth purchasing.  They have it numbered as volume 1 so I am hopeful another collection will come out.  I think it would be awesome if they include some of the Captain Marvel stories he drew in World’s Finest.  He knew how to make a character like Bulletman f***ing hot!