Mindy Newell: Duck And Cover

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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5 Responses

  1. There’s this eternal fear that the dumb ol’ girls are gonna come in and change stuff. Like adding a lace trim to Hawkeye’s outfit, or telling Captain America that stripes make him look fat. It may come from too many re-watchings of the Little Rascals.

  2. The point that these folks seem to miss is that in many of those households THERE IS NO man in the picture, as breadwinner or any other form of support. And then there’s cases like my little sister, who has worked plenty of blue collar jobs but still finds guys so lazy as to make me look like Ozymandias. If there is ever an example of a woman seriously making more than a man in a relationship, it’s because the man isn’t doing anything at all, but too many conservatives just do not get that.

  3. mike weber says:

    As a male – even though it always seems as if i use female avatars – i am revolted and disgusted by that sort of thing.

    As a male in a household where the female is the sole breadwinner (as in job – i’m on Social Security) i laugh in thier faces.

    (And fart in their general direction)

    As the son of a brilliant copywriter and ad producer, who never made as much in the industry as males with less talent … i cry.

    As BD said when the female soldier undergoing therapy for the aftereffects of sexual assault asked him why he was apologising as a Captain in the US Army, since he wasn’t involved in any way:

    I apologise on behalf of my gender … because women are owed an apology.

  4. Mindy Newell says:

    Just want to say that I know that most men–at least the ones that I’m friendly with–are not Cro-Magnon’s, as Dean referred to them. And for all I know, ANONYMOUS could be a woman (though I think the odds are against it.)

    I just can’t stand the calls of nepotism that seem to attack more women than men.

    I also don’t think there’s anything that wrong with nepotism–it can help to know someone who can help you to get your foot in the door. BUT you’d had better be ready to show that you are capable of doing the job as well or better than the person who didn’t have anybody helping them to get hired…ANY job.

    It’s when a person gets hired BECAUSE of nepotism, and is UNABLE to perform his or her duties, and yet IS KEPT ON THE PAYROLL, which really drives me nuts. And I’m sure we could all cite examples of that.