Daredevil #2: The Newton edition

This is the cover to Newton Comics' Daredevil #2:

The cover image originally appeared on Marvel Comics' Daredevil #3:

The story contents are as follows:

Daredevil Battles The Owl, Ominous Overlord of Crime!, originally published in Daredevil #3, August 1964 

Out of Hell--A Hero [Part 2], originally published in Hero for Hire #1, June 1972 

The second Marvel Daredevil issue was skipped by Newton because the cover and story had already been printed as a backup feature in The Fantastic Four Giant Size 84 Page Annual a few months earlier. 

Newton's printing of the Luke Cage story continued from Daredevil #1 for another 6 pages in this issue. It was left unfinished as the series was cancelled after this issue.

This issue also contains this poster:

This poster was also included in The Invincible Iron-Man #2, also cover-dated March 1976, and was later used on the cover of Newton Spectacular: The Amazing Spider-Man. 

The cover date is March 1976. Inexplicably, the competition expiry date is 31 January 1976! There are no in-house advertisements for other Newton comics in this issue, and the letter column/editorial does not announce any news about forthcoming issues, but it does apologise for delays in certain issues. The rear cover has the Captain America iron-on transfer.

Daredevil #2 was advertised in-house:

This is scanned from The Silver Surfer #6.

This was the final issue in the short-lived series but a third issue was advertised:

The cover to Daredevil #3 is based on the Marvel Comics' Daredevil #4, and is cover-dated April 1976, so it at least got to the mock-up stage but, as we now know, the Receivers suspended publication of the comics in April 1976 and this is one issue that didn't make it across the line.

Daredevil #1: The Newton edition

This is the cover to Newton Comics' Daredevil #1:

It originally appeared on the cover of Marvel Comics' Daredevil #1:

The story contents are as follows:

The Origin of Daredevil, originally published in Daredevil #1, April 1964 

Out of Hell--A Hero! [Part 1], originally published in Hero for Hire #1, June 1972 

The splash page to The Origin of Daredevil has been modified by Newton Comics:

In lieu of the cover to the original The Amazing Spider-Man #1, Newton rather cleverly inserted an image of the Newton edition of The Amazing Spider-Man #1. Here is a scan of the original page as it appears in my copy of Marvel Masterworks: Daredevil Nos. 1-11 Second Printing:

Only the first 4 pages of the Luke Cage story Out of Hell--A Hero! are published in this issue. It continues in Daredevil #2.

This issue contains the following colour poster:

This image had previously been published as the cover to Newton Comics' The Amazing Spider-Man #9.

This issue includes an in-house advertisement for The Mighty Thor #1:

Daredevil #1 was also the beneficiary of such cross-promotion between titles. This full-page ad appeared in The Invincible Iron Man #1:

The competition expiry date is 28 February 1976.

This issue is cover-dated January 1976. A publication date of 10 January 1976 was announced in a December 1975 letter column.

[Newton Triple Action] #NN[4]

This is the cover to the fourth instalment in Newton Comics' Newton Triple Action series:

The cover image originally appeared on the cover of Marvel's The X-Men #19, April 1966:

It was also published on the cover of Yaffa's The X-Men #7:

The contents are as follows:

Lo! Now Shall Appear--The Mimic!, originally published in The X-Men #19, April 1966

I, Lucifer..., originally published in The X-Men #20, May 1966

..And Men Shall Call Him...Ox!, originally published in Daredevil #15, April 1966

There Shall Come A Gladiator!, originally published in Daredevil #18, July 1966

The Vengeance of the Thunder God, originally published in Journey into Mystery #115, April 1965

I have not closely inspected the above reprints for minor alterations to splash pages and the like, but I do note that the 9th and 10th pages of There Shall Come A Gladiator! are omitted. The missing pages were included in Yaffa's digest-sized Daredevil #7:

I have not completed my indexing of all the Newton comics but it appears to me that the contents above had not been previously published by Newton. The X-Men stories pretty much pick up from where The X-Men series and The X-Men 100 Pages Super Special left off, with some gaps. Similarly the Daredevil stories pick up from the Daredevil series and the Daredevil Special, again with some gaps. And, as previously discussed, rounding up the Thor stories in the various Newton comics is like herding cats. In the fullness of time I will be able to list what was published, what was recycled, and what was omitted in particular runs of features.

This issue does not contain any in-house advertisements, posters or editorial/letters pages. The only advertisements included are on the inner and rear pages, advertising other Newton magazines as per my Set D dating designation.

The Newton Triple Action series is notoriously difficult to identify and catalogue because the cover titles and indicia titles varied. Newton Triple Action #1 included the title on the cover and the indicia, but threw it's own spanner in the works; Newton Triple Action #2 only included the title in the indicia; Newton Triple Action #3 similarly only included the title in the indicia, and only two features on the cover; and continuing this pattern of diminishing quality control, this 4th issue in the series not only does not include the title on the cover, but it is omitted from the indicia:

Here's a detail scan of the relevant detail:

As you can see, there is no title in the indicia, and the uncapitalized "published" suggests a title was intended but omitted. 

Regardless, this is a Newton Triple Action issue in all but official name.

This issue was advertised in the Sunday Observer 27 March 1977:

This advertisement also appeared in the newspaper a week later. So we can ascribe a publication date of March 1977 to this issue.

Newton Triple Action #NN[3]: Captain America The Amazing Spider-Man

This is the cover to Newton Comics' Newton Triple Action #NN[3]:

The cover title is Captain America The Amazing Spider-Man. The indicia title is Newton Triple Action and is the third such issue in a series of Newton Triple Action issues. 

The cover is a composite of Captain America from the cover of Tales of Suspense #63:

and Spider-Man from the cover of The Amazing Spider-Man #5:

Of course Newton Comics had previously published this as the cover to their own The Amazing Spider-Man #5.

The story contents are as follows:

Lest We Forget!, originally published in Captain America #112, April 1969

The Strange Death of Captain America, originally published in Captain America #113, May 1969

The Vengeance of Loki!, originally published in Journey Into Mystery #88, January 1963

Captured by J. Jonah Jameson!, originally published in The Amazing Spider-Man #25, June 1965

The Goblin and the Gangsters, originally published in The Amazing Spider-Man #23, April 1965

The two Captain America stories pick up from where the reprints in Captain America #4 left off in March 1976. 

The two Spider-Man stories are also from US issues after the stories reprinted in The Amazing Spider-Man #17, however there is a gap, or 'missing' stories between The Amazing Spider-Man #17 and this issue. 

The reprint of Captured by J. Jonah Jameson! begins with a reprint of the cover to The Amazing Spider-Man #25: 

Stripped of the publisher's logo, CCA and cover price, the cover image operates as an extra splash page or pinup. 

Thor is not present on the cover of this issue but the inclusion of the Thor story justifies the Triple Action title.

Similarly to the Spider-Man story above, the Thor story begins with a reprint of the original cover from Journey Into Mystery #88:

Interestingly the Journey Into Mystery masthead has been replaced with The Mighty Thor. 

Both this cover and the Spider-Man cover above were probably earmarked as covers for the respective ongoing series.

This Thor story is a little bit more difficult to place in Newton continuity than the Captain America and Spider-Man stories. It could be said to belong to the Thor backup stories between The Amazing Spider-Man #2 and #3, but that series of Journey Into Mystery reprints was so unhinged continuity-wise, trying to place it is a rather futile exercise.

This issue does not contain any in-house advertisements for other Newton comics. There is a single page Conan the Barbarian illustration:

 

This illustration was previously published by Newton as a colour poster in Planet of the Apes #5. It is slightly adapted for inclusion in this issue as a pinup/page filler.

This issue is part of a set of issues I have grouped together based on the colour advertisements on the inner front and rear covers. I designated these issues as published in late February/March 1977.

I have spotted three copies of this issue with newsagency date markings. Two of these have 5 written on the cover, and the third has a 6 written on it. These newsagency markings tally with the date I have attributed to this issue in particular and the set in general. 

Newton Triple Action #NN[2]

This is the cover to the second issue in the Newton Triple Action series:

The cover image is adapted, with some art extension above the heads of Thor and The Hulk, from the cover to Journey Into Mystery #112:

Unlike Newton Triple Action #1 this issue is not titled thus on the cover but it is titled so in the indicia.

The story contents are as follows:

The Road Back, originally published in The Avengers #22, November 1965 

Monster Of The Monoliths!, originally published in Conan the Barbarian #21, December 1972

Prisoners of the Mysterious Master Mold!, originally published in The X-Men #15, December 1965

The Golden Blood-Beasts Of Daka-Jur!, originally published in Savage Tales #9, March 1975

The Mighty Thor Battles The Incredible Hulk!, originally published in Journey into Mystery #112, January 1965 

The cover features - The Avengers, The Mighty Thor, The X-Men - plus Conan are all pretty much pick up from where the various ongoing series ended.

This issue also contains the following full-page fillers/pinups:

 From The Mighty Thor #131, August 1966 

 From Ka-Zar #1, January 1974 

 From The Silver Surfer #16, May 1970 

 From Dracula Lives! #10, January 1975 

From The Silver Surfer #8, September 1969

As you can see, all of these images originally appeared as cover material, and it is likely that some or all would have been Newton covers had the publisher continued. Of course, the cover to Dracula Lives! #10 had previously appeared on the cover of Newton's Dracula #4.

Newton Triple Action #NN[2] was advertised in the Sunday Observer 6 February 1977:

This advertisement also appeared in the Sunday Observer 20 February 1977.

This issue carries advertisements for other Newton magazines - TV Stars (The Sullivans), Scream! (Mark Holden), and Superstar! (Fonzie versus Barbarino) - Set B in my schema for dating the post-August 1976 issues. I date such issues to January 1977, however it is possible Newton Triple Action #NN[2] was published as late as 5 February 1977.

Newton Triple Action #1

As discussed previously, after Newton Comics was shut down by the Receivers in April 1976, the comics were relaunched a few months later. One of the new titles was Newton Triple Action #1:

The cover image first appeared on the cover of Marvel's Conan the Barbarian #20:

Newton Triple Action #1 is cover-dated August 1976, but it was likely published 31 July 1976.

The story contents are as follows:

The Bitter Taste of Defeat!, originally published in The Avengers #21, October 1965 

Among Us Stalk…The Sentinels!, originally published in The X-Men #14, November 1965 

The Black Hound of Vengeance!, originally published in Conan the Barbarian #20, November 1972

Blood Purge!, originally published in Savage Tales #10, May 1975

[One Knight's Stand], previously unpublished

Just as Newton Four-In-One #1 mopped up unpublished stories queued from cancelled series such as The Incredible Hulk, The Mighty Thor, The Invincible Iron Man and The Amazing Spider-Man, Newton Triple Action performs a similar function for the cover features The Avengers, The X-Men and Conan the Barbarian.

The final story is Jan Scherpenhuizen's [One Knight's Stand] which I've detailed previously.

This issue was advertised in other August 1976 cover-dated Newton issues:

My copy of this issue does not contain the free King Size Super-Hero Poster but it was likely either The Sub-Mariner and The Human Torch, The Amazing Spider-Man and Friends, or Thor.

This issue includes in-house advertisements for Newton Four-In-One, Planet of the Apes #17 and Dracula.

The indicia refers to this issue by the title Newton Triple Action, and as Vol. 1 No. 11. It is also copyrighted 1975 by Newton Comics Pty. Ltd. I've said this before but from this point on the Newton Comics indicia would often not only be inaccurate but rather bewildering.

Newton Spectacular: The Amazing Spider-Man

Newton Comics published 17 issues of The Amazing Spider-Man. The final issue was cover-dated March 1976. A Newton Spectacular edition of The Amazing Spider-Man was published in December 1976:

The cover image originally appeared on the cover of Marvel's The Amazing Spider-Man #128:

This image had been previously published by Newton as a poster in The Invincible Iron Man #2 and Daredevil #2, both cover-dated March 1976:

Newton Comics was not the only publisher to deem this image worthy of promotional duties. It was adapted for the cover of Gemstone's Comic Book Marketplace #67:

The contents of this issue are as follows:

The Man Called Electro!, previously published in The Amazing Spider-Man #10

The Return of The Vulture, previously published in The Amazing Spider-Man #6 

Have Yourself a Sandman Little Christmas!, previously published in The Amazing Spider-Man #2 

The Wondrous World of Dr. Strange!, previously published in The Amazing Spider-Man #5 

Where Walk the Villains!, originally published in Tales of Suspense #67, July 1965

All four Spider-Man stories had been previously published by Newton in the regular series. However, they did vary from their previous iterations. 

For example, this is the final panel of the story The Return of The Vulture as it appears in Newton's The Amazing Spider-Man #6:

This is the same panel as it appears in Newton Spectacular:

The caption box has been omitted in Newton Spectacular, and the art extended in its absence.

There are other differences between the first and second Newton printings. For example, the Sandman story in Newton Spectacular is missing the 13th page; the splash page is uncropped; the job number is omitted; and the Team-Up 1 printer's markup from The Amazing Spider-Man (Newton) #2 has been erased.

There are other such differences between the two printings but the ones above are the most obvious and noteworthy.

The Spider-Man stories were recycled but the Iron Man story made its first Newton Comics appearance in this issue. (As I have not indexed every Newton issue yet I leave open the possibility that this story lurks in another issue - but I have not come across it.)

Spider-Man would appear in other Newton comics, and indeed would be cover-featured on a few,  but this was the only issue after the end of the ongoing series to feature The Amazing Spider-Man masthead on its own, the Newton Spectacular title notwithstanding.

The Newton Comics Swap Card Album

Newton Comics' Swap Cards first appeared in issues published 13 September 1975.

The advertisement above mentions the Swap Card Album. The album was also advertised on the cards themselves:

The image suggested the album was a square or rectangular block. In my mind's eye I imagined it to be similar to a photo album or a stamp album with pockets to hold the cards. And maybe that was the original intention. Or it may have been advertised this way due to the source of the image, which originally appeared in a similar shape on the Mighty Marvel Calendar for 1975:

Regardless of intentions and the pre-production image, by the time the Album was produced it had altered in size and the cover type had been modified:

The Album was actually the same dimensions as a regular comic book with stapled newsprint paper. Rather than pockets for the cards there were pages printed with header titles for the various sets and numbered panels designating where the cards should be pasted:

As per the samples above, each series was allocated three pages of four squares and a fourth page for the 13th to 15th card.

According to The Swap Cards Cometh ad there was a Fantastic comic inside the Album. This suggested a freestanding comic book. By the time the Album was available the "mystery bonus comic tale" was no longer a separate comic book nor a mystery, as the cover announced the Origin of Iron Man:

This story began on page 3 of the issue with a modified splash page. The splash page is modified from the cover of Tales of Suspense #39.

The story ended on the inner rear cover of the book:

In other words, the Iron Man story bookended the issue, and in between the story pages were the swap card pages and full page advertisements for other Newton Comics issues:

In the centre of the book is a full colour Silver Surfer poster:

The cards included a rather convoluted offer for discounted comics involving the remittance of value stamps. This offer was also advertised in the album, along with a grid on which the cards could be placed for submission:

A subscription page was also included:

A year or two ago a Swap Card Album was listed on eBay. Here's a picture of a double-page spread with some cards attached:

I don't believe there is an album with a full set of 75 cards. The cards were only available in issues published September-October 1975. The fifteenth issues of series such as The Amazing Spider-Man and Planet of the Apes were not published until December 1975-January 1976, and the rest not until well into 1976 and given the cards featured issue covers, it is very unlikely they were all printed. 

Anecdotal evidence also suggests that the cards were attached randomly into issues, so whilst all copies of say Conan the Barbarian #5 contain the same Avengers poster, they may not all include The Avengers Series A (1 of 15) No. 2 card. (I have more to say about the cards in a future post.)

The Newton Comics Swap Card Album was not available in newsagencies. It was a mail order item only for $1. According to John Corneille the Swap Card Album was a huge success with a "record number of applications". One may glean from this that there are heaps of Swap Card Albums around. If so they are tightly held by those who ordered them at the time. Like the other goodies one had to order directly through Newton, such as the exclusive posters and the Planet of the Apes Kits, they are very difficult to find in the collector's marketplace. Apart from my copy I have seen or heard of maybe three or four other copies in the last dozen years or so.

Update 8 December 2023: It occurred to me today that although the Swap Card Album was announced 13 September 1975, some of comics advertised in this issue were not released until well after this date. The Silver Surfer #1 was published 27 September 1975, and whilst this is listed on the subscription page alongside The X-Men, which began October 1975, I note The X-Men with the Avengers #2 in the advertisement above is cover-dated November. This seems like a substantial lead time for Newton's production. It is possible - and it would not surprise me - to find the Swap Card Album experienced delays in production. In due course I'll check the letters pages of the period to see if this is referenced.