Newton began drawing at a young age, with comic books being a major influence on his early artwork.

Newton became involved with the Science Fiction and Comics Association (SFCA) and became an artistic staple in the organization's publications.

[7] Newton would pencil and ink all of his Phantom work and would supply a cover painting for every issue he drew.

Issue #70 of The Phantom stars Humphrey Bogart, Lauren Bacall, Sydney Greenstreet, Peter Lorre, and Claude Rains and is a mixture of Casablanca, The African Queen, The Maltese Falcon, and The Treasure of the Sierra Madre.

While still working for Charlton, Newton worked on an issue of Giant-Size Defenders, did some small uncredited inking on a few issues of the Deadly Hands of Kung Fu magazine over Mike Vosburg's penciled artwork, a frontispiece for the Savage Sword of Conan, and a single painting for Roy Thomas which years later became a cover for Thomas' magazine Alter Ego.

Newton inked an issue of Ghost Rider over Don Heck's pencils and produced a cover for Marvel's Unknown Worlds of Science Fiction Annual.

[7] It was during his tenure on this strip that Newton left his job as a junior high school art teacher to work full-time as an artist.

[10] One of Newton’s lifelong ambitions was to draw Captain Marvel and he fulfilled this desire in 1978 when he was signed as the new penciller for the Shazam!

Newton and writer Dennis O'Neil co-created Maxie Zeus, who first appeared in Detective Comics #483 (April–May 1979).

He wanted to draw Captain America, but that title was unavailable at the time and The Avengers was the closest Marvel could do to fulfilling that request.

[7] After the Avengers inking by Dan Green (which he had been unsatisfied with) and again the lack of scheduled work from Marvel, Newton agreed to accept a new contract with DC.

[15] Newton had always told DC that the only series he would like to draw other than Batman and Captain Marvel was All-Star Squadron.

Editor and writer Roy Thomas tapped into that interest by proposing that Newton draw Infinity, Inc., featuring the children of the original All-Star characters.

Newton suffered a massive heart attack in his home, after dealing with months of a debilitating throat ailment.

Rubinstein was brought in to ink them and Newton’s Phoenix friend John Clark lettered the pages at Thomas' request.