WORLD'S FINEST COMICS #257 PAGE 13 SPLASH by Don Newton & Kurt Schaffenberger

Shazam!

A sublime splash by the sorely missed Don Newton, a sublime artist and equally gifted storyteller.

While Don’s Batman has everyone excited nowadays (me included), especially when inked by Alfredo Alcala, it’s good to remember that even if drawing Batman meant Don had reached a peak in his career at that point, Captain Marvel/Shazam was his favourite character.

And it showed plenty on the pages as Don gave the title his all.

Look at this action page which features the big Red Cheese in all its five panels (even if it’s just a fist).

The first panel with a close shot on our hero is simply gorgeous. Just look at that face and his impeccable anatomy. He is pissed off, he is tense and he is about to strike.

The second panel in which he takes a swing at the baddie (whose ID I won’t spoil) is also super dynamic. And again, impeccable body positioning and anatomy, like that of a true boxer (Don exercised with weights and may have boxed at some point, I’m not 100% sure). You can tell his adversary is bigger than he is but you can feel the impact of the blow has him in cords already. Whop!

In the third panel, Cap goes at him with a left blow. I just love the position of the bad guy here. In the previous panel, Cap probably lifted his feet off the ground with his blow and now you see him bending in half under the shock. Crack!

In the fourth inserted panel, Cap throws him on the ground….

And then we have the money shot! Just look at this fantastic looking Captain Marvel, super confident and looking down on the beaten baddie, shivering from the beat down he just received. You can feel he fears for his life here while Cap is just staring him down with a “just stay the F’ down, bitch!” (Yes, both the hero and the era-see what I did here?-were too polite for this modern slang but you get my point). The tilted angle greatly underlines the staring down feel of the scene and forces the reader’s eye to make a stop and enjoy it (and the spectacular art) before turning the page.

Now I need to comment about the inks. I’m in the camp of those who find that Don Newton’s amazing art benefited from smooth inks. Like those Schaffenberger lush inks provided here (even if he was not Don’s best “smooth” inker by far IMHO, he was also a Captain Marvel fan and that passion showed on the page). Hunt, McLeod or Adkins also provided glorious lush inks on Don’s pencils. Don’s favourite inker was Joe Rubinstein who inked him on his last job ever (and was to inks on an Avengers run he was promised that never happened). And then there many bad or unsuitable inkers who inked him over his career, on Batman or other titles. Don & Alcala’s contribution is often considered top quality but the truth is that before they meshed well at some point, there were many issues in which the combination jarred. And even when they did mesh well, considering that Don was an exceptionally fluid artist & storyteller (a la Michael Golden), the combination often stiffened his art IMHO, save for the occasional splash or title page. But that’s just my (long) two cents :)

Anyway, let me finish by adding that I consider this page to be the BEST in the whole book (that was complete until recently and has been gutted between several auction houses ^^).

This beauty is my 5th contribution to my 2021 CAF celebration on CAF. Shazam indeed!