Mindy Newell: Single Jewish Woman?

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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4 Responses

  1. George Haberberger says:

    …the Planned Parenthood organization, which is now being attacked more brutally than I can ever remember, and is in very serious danger of being defunded…

    As I posted on Martha Thomas’ column on October 3rd, Planned Parenthood’s own annual report lists their assets at 1.8 billion dollars and their profits at 1.3 billion dollars. Why does a company with money like that need to get 500 million dollars from the government every year? There 20 times more comprehensive health care clinics than PP clinics that could make better use of that money.

    And the 20-week abortion ban is a long-delayed but welcome piece of legislation.

    Why is Roe v Wade considered inviolate? Supreme Court decisions and amendments, (Dred Scott, Prohibition), have been changed and repealed.

    I have a very hard time “keeping my mouth shut,” even at work, especially when I get fired up.

    Yeah, me too.

    I know my posts are not appreciated by the management of ComicMix, but my Dad would be spinning in his grave if I just ignored the subject.

    • Mindy Newell says:

      George, I would NEVER NOT allow your opinions on my page, and I DO appreciate them. Hope you know that!

      • George Haberberger says:

        Thanks Mindy. I appreciate your openness to other views.

        • Mindy Newell says:

          George, I didn’t say that Roe vs. Wade is inviolate…I said that it is the law of the land–and I hope this doesn’t happen, though I know you disagree–until the decision is changed/amended. And Roe vs. Wade says that abortion is legal up to 24 weeks.

          Personally, I think 24 weeks IS too late–unless there is a medical reason for aborting the pregnancy at that point, i.e., the mother’s health, or severe physical defects or genetic deficiencies that will not allow the baby to live outside the womb for very long, as in Tay-Sachs. (A terrible, heartbreaking decision for the parents, who will need all the support they can get.)

          At 24 weeks, the fetus now weighs up to 600g (1.3lb) and is starting to fill the space in your womb (uterus). From head (crown) to heel s/he now measures about 30cm (11.8in), which is about as long as an ear of corn. Patterns of sleeping and waking are becoming more defined, although they may not happen when you’d like them to. You’ll probably find that when you’re trying to sleep, she’s alert and kicking.

          The baby’s brain is growing rapidly, and the facial muscles are getting a workout as s/he tests out different expressions by raising his or her eyebrows.

          Although the baby still has a lot of growing to do before she’s ready to be born, s/he’s now considered “VIABLE.” This means that if s]he were to be born this week, her lungs are developed enough so that she has a good chance of survival with extra care in a neonatal unit. Thankfully however, extreme prematurity is uncommon, so it’s unlikely you’ll be meeting your little one for a few months yet.

          https://www.babycentre.co.uk/24-weeks-pregnant#ixzz4vEphEHgo