Mindy Newell: For Kim And John, From The Heart

Mindy Newell

These days Mindy Newell knows that if she could do it all over again she’d have gone to college for screenwriting and film editing. Instead she became a nurse to please her parents and pleasing your parents was what it was all about for nice Jewish girls who graduated from high school in 1971. But the creative larva was in her soul, and when the cocoon broke and the butterfly emerged, it flew to DC’s New Talent Showcase program. Under the auspices of legendary editors Karen Berger, Len Wein, Julius Schwartz, Paul Levitz, and ComicMix’s own Robert Greenberger, Mindy learned the craft and art of writing comics, including Tales Of The Legion, V, Legionnaires 3, Amethyst, Lois Lane: When It Rains God Is Crying, and numerous other comics, including a Superman story based on a dream Mindy had as a child. She also worked on Howard Chaykin’s American Flagg! and other independent comics. All this time Mindy continued to work as a nurse while being a single mom to her daughter Alixandra, until the late and dear Mark Gruenwald hired her as an assistant editor at Marvel, while writing stories of the Black Widow and Daredevil. She edited NFL Pro Action, a licensed kid’s magazine about football with the NFL until Marvel imploded in 1996. Returning to full-time nursing, she she also co-wrote a story for 2000 A.D. with her then-husband, British artist John Higgins. A few years ago Mike Gold called and asked her to join the team of columnists here at ComicMix, where her topics freely range from comics to pop culture to politics; she even wrote a piece about the great American thoroughbred Secretariat, which caused editor Mike to tell her that she had won the prize for the most off-topic column ever written ComicMix.

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6 Responses

  1. Martha Thomases says:

    And here I thought it was going to be Amanda Waller. No disrespect to Oracle, but having a character who was tough, even devious, not conventionally attractive and female was a big deal to me. I live Angela Bassett, thought she should have been Storm, but she has not yet shown herself to be Waller to me.

  2. That’s actually a really great list. And I agree about Bassett as Storm.

  3. John Ostrander says:

    Mindy

    Thanks much for the column and for alerting me to this. Much appreciated as is all the comments from everyone. I am SO proud of what Kim and I did with Oracle. Much love. — John

    • Mindy Newell says:

      I was SO excited for you, John. National recognition–you deserve it. And I guarantee that Kim knows, too.

      I’ll always be there for you, bro. MUCH LOVE to you and Mary.

  4. George Haberberger says:

    I agree with Russ Rogers about returning Barbara Gordon to being Batgirl. It is a cheap and easy reset that negates all the character development that John and Kim worked on. And don’t know how Gordon was “healed” because the New 52 was a great jumping off point for me.

    What about Yvette Nicole Brown from Community as Amanda Waller? I think she would do a great job.

    • mike weber says:

      Yeah.

      What you said.

      I LIKED Stephanie Brown as Batgirl.

      Of course, i think PAD’s “Supergirl” run was the best the character’s ever been and that the original “YOung Justice” was probably the best kid-gang title ever, so what do i know?