Mindy Newell: Truth, Justice, And The American Way

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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1 Response

  1. mike weber says:

    Three things come to mind:

    The Young Justice story in which Cassie is visiting Cissy and her 8-or-so-year-old roommate (Red Tornado’s daughter) at school. As the story begins, they’re watching a movie, and we hear a shot.

    They’ve been watching Old Yeller and the older girls had not thought how their younger friend was likely to react to the ending.

    But she lives in a comic book world – she’s not upset – “How does he come back to life?” she asks. And the realise that they have to explain…

    And the final refrains of two lovely songs:

    The Kinks’ “Celluloid Heroes”:

    i wish my life was a no-stop hollywood movie show
    a fantasy world of celluloid heroes and villains –
    because celluloid heroes never feel any pain…
    and celluloid heroes
    never really
    die…

    and Eric Bogle’s “Front Row Cowboy”:

    roy rogers, roy rogers, you were my hero
    a man made of steel on a horse made of gold
    together we rode through the days of my childhood
    memories, like heroes, they never grow old

    he was my friend, yes, he was my friend.
    he never let me down.
    he was honest and faithful right up to the end
    i loved roy rogers ’cause he was my friend.