The name Norah Horwitz recently came to the attention of comics fans and industry people alike when Bleeding Cool founder Rich Johnston published an article announcing her death. A former assistant editor at Marvel from 2007 to 2010, Norwitz’s death by suicide while incarcerated in the male wing of a Commonwealth of Virginia prison will be thought of as a tragedy by some and seen quite differently in the minds of others. Horwitz had been in prison after being arrested on second degree murder charges for the death of her father Abbey on June 3rd, 2023. An ABC affiliate 13Newsnow (Norfolk, VA) report on November 9, 2023 highlighted details of the case while also providing new information provided by Horwitz to police on the reasons why she felt threatened by her father and acted in self defense. Norwitz was being held in the male wing of a Virginia prison despite being a trans woman.
The tragedy of her death and that of her father’s at the hands of his child led me to wonder about Horwitz’s life. Here is what I’ve discovered from piecing things together from a number of sources.
Norah Dianne, her chosen name, was born June 20th, 1986 and a love of drawing manifested at age eight with the first in a life long series of paper dolls. Norah and siblings S and J were born to Abbey and B. Abbey, a native of the Bronx, moved to the Virginia Beach area after graduation from the Medical College of Virginia School of Dentistry Beach and in 1981 opened his first dental practice. Abbey and B met around this time. Abbey was well loved by the local community at large and was very active in the Jewish community. Abbey’s love of travel led to trips abroad.
Author’s note: Out of a respect for privacy I have chosen to refer to the surviving family members by only first their first initial. When referring to Horwitz before her transition I have tried to use the name Horwitz or they/ them pronouns.
At some point Horwitz moved to New York City though the exact timing is unclear. The earliest documented date that puts Horwitz in NYC is 2006 and finds Horwitz working as a Design Intern for designer Jill Stuart. This internship ended a year later when Horwitz began working for Marvel as an assistant editor while also following a passion for the arts as a student at New York University’s Tisch School For The Arts and earning a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Film & Television Production in 2008. A BFA is typically a four year degree which would place Horwitz in New York as early as 2004 based on the assumption a transfer of credits from another college was not involved. During their tenure at Marvel Horwitz’s worked on a number of Marvel titles including Stephen King adaptations of The Stand and The Dark Tower as well as Thunderbolts, X-Factor Forever, X-Men Forever II, The Mighty Thor, and Wolverine: Old Man Logan to name a few. In a feature for the Portland Mercury dated August 27, 2014 Horwitz reflected on that period telling writer Jenna Lechner that the experience was “like a dream come true” and “bumpy toward the end, after Disney purchased them. I learned that I didn’t want to be in an office doing work for a huge corporation. I wanted to be producing.” Lechner reported that Horwitz described his design internship as “a Devil Wears Prada experience, ‘without the free clothes.'”
Horwitz chose to move to Portland, Oregon where they enrolled in Visual Studies department of the Pacific Northwest College of Art and earned an MFA in 2014. A number of solo and group exhibits in 2013 and 2014 featured Horwitz’s in various Portland venues. Not long after arriving in Portland in 2013 an idea an idea for promoting art occurred to Horwitz. With paper and art supplies in tow, Horwitz sat up at a variety of queer events. A simple “Get Drawn for Free!” sign caught the attention of curious people who were then put at ease by the very talkative artist. The portrait was indeed given free though with the hope the recipient would promote the artist in some way. The buzz made Horwitz a popular figure and toward the end of January 2014 the portraits numbered over 700. In an interview with Ann-Derrick Gaillot for Portland’s Streetroots, Horwitz reflected on that first event: “I was super nervous at first but it became apparent that people were having a blast and I drew from 7 p.m. until to 2 in the morning” and on the walk home “…that it felt like I was doing something right and should find a way to do it again.” When asked by Gaillot why people appreciated Horwitz’s drawing their portraits the artist responded: “…We talk about innocuous silly things, we talk about video games, we talk about “Adventure Time,” we talk about music and then we talk about heavy stuff every now and then. And I’m pretty open with people too when they ask about me. I don’t really censor it too much just because I feel like if I give a little then they feel comfortable to share.” The full interview may be read here.
A small selection of Horwitz’s portraiture may be found here.
A list of these performances, exhibits, and information about education and industry work was posted by the artist on their website which is partially preserved at the Internet Archive. The date range spans from 2006 to 2014. That site was replaced by a Tumblr (I Heart Menorah) where Horwitz shared some of her art. The tumblr stopped existing sometime after June 9th, 2017 though it too has been partially preserved by the Archive.
In an article dated July 6, 2015 the Advocate chose (pre-transition) Horwitz as one of its “15 More Queers and Allies to Watch.” Horwitz told the Advocate: “I love making things that are rooted visually in stuff that I loved as a kid, be that ballet, classic portraits, superhero comics, cartoons, fashion magazines, and Lifetime TV.”
The same Portland Mercury article mentioned above in which Horwitz talked about leaving Marvel provides a hint of their childhood. Horwitz had finished a project titled Arabesque and was working on a second version that was to be on display at the PDX Contemporary Window Project. Arabesque was described as “a war between ballerinas and stereotypes of Arab men, with a lot of pink and a vibrant color palette.” The hint comes when Horwitz stated “A lot of it is dealing with my own indecision about what I think about the conflict in the Middle East. Being raised Jewish, you were meant to treat Arabic people as though they were a million-year-old enemy, which doesn’t really allow for any change of understanding.” Perhaps interjecting a personal note from my own childhood here is inappropriate. Horwitz’s comment recalls my being raised in a conservative Southern Baptist family and hearing Preacher Graham rail against Episcopalians, Presbyterians, and Catholics. Especially Catholics who Graham insisted in sermons were destined to an eternity in Hell because they “worshipped” Mary and numerous saints. One dare not to have disagreed for being looked down on if not shunned by the church members. Similarly no one felt safe to voice a differing opinion to my father.
Two illustrations from Arabesque.
Horwitz wrote an essay titled The Heroes Inside for the Portland Mercury. Published on June 14th, 2017 with the subtitle The Internal Lives of Superheroines from a Transperson’s Perspective, Norwitz muses on Marvel’s Black Cat, Invisible Woman, Enchantress, and Scarlet Witch. Regarding both her mother and Invisible Woman, Norah wrote: “I’m learning to turn invisible to live as a woman. It’s a talent I have for being transparent. I let you see right through me, and act like I don’t see you at all. I’m half here and half hidden, a trick I learned from the smartest woman I know.”
The accompanying illustrations are indisputably recreations of artist Joe Jusko’s Marvel Masterpiece 1992 art of these characters. The introduction mentions the soon to be released The Diary of Menorah Horwitz comic published by small press Floating World Comics who billed it as “…a true story about gender, Judaism, and gel nail polish.” Unfortunately no copies of Diary are available for purchase and delivery on the Internet. Diary was preceded by Miss U.S. Of Heya published in 2016 by the new defunct Alternative Comics. Copies of this book can be found as of this writing on Ebay and Amazon. Two works prior to Heya were self published: My Boyfriend Walt Whitman in which the artist created a fake boyfriend (2014) and The Wookie Woof Book with collaborator Kevin Kauer (2014 or 2015). As is the case with Diary, neither of these publications appear to be available for purchase on the Internet.
In the January 2014 Streetroots interview Horwitz identifies as a gay male and alludes to coming of age in gay bars in both New York City and Virginia. Sometime in 2016 or possibly earlier in 2015 Horwitz started to appear in drag as Menorah Horwitz, self described as Portland’s premiere Anne Frank impersonator mixing “Judaism and a love of drag in all the wrong ways.” Finding a more exact date might has proven to be elusive. By June 2016 was regularly active and well established as Menorah to the point of creating exclusive merchandise for RuPaul’s Drag Race season three winner Raja. Horwitz also came to the attention of writer Steve Foxe, currently a writer for Marvel and editor/writer for several of James Tynion’s Tiny Onion comics. In this interview she/her pronouns are used as is the gender neutral honorific Mx. Foxe asked Horwitz her favorite comics. Making that list were Dawn, Generation X, the No Mercy graphic novel, Wet Moon, and Supergirl. Perhaps Foxe described Horwitz best when he describe the creator as “Perhaps the only person to ever graduate from an editorial position at Marvel Comics (it didn’t work out) to performing in drag shows and drawing Wookie porn, Menorah Horwitz has crafted a one-of-a-kind path for herself through, around, away from and back into the comic world.”
An exhibit of Horwitz’s art titled Strategy Guides ran at Portland State University’s White Gallery from September 4th through the 28th, 2018. The exhibit’s illustrations are recreations of Vogue magazine covers. Norah spoke of her work: “Tracing, photo reference and impressionist influences echo some of the undercurrents of my transition — assembling a new life as a woman in a culture where being a woman is defined primarily through mass media imagery. The concept of ‘passing’ is rooted in non-trans people’s comparing trans people to their own reality. In this sense, ‘passing’ is easily achievable, if you study mass culture and mimic the things culture wants to see from women. These drawings suggest I aspire to these images, when in reality they present a means of navigating through a non-trans world. I play parts of the characters in the images, as the actresses portrayed do. I want to present an ambiguity about my feeling on each subject, as they are complicated icons.”
The artist bio mentions that at this point in time Horwitz resided in Virginia Beach. A figure in a group photo in the gallery resembles Norah though she appears to have disappeared from the Internet sometime after the exhibit closed. Still, one wonders about her life and the circumstances which led Norah to return to Virginia Beach. How was she welcomed to live in the family home? Did she work? Make new friends? Create more art?
My intent in writing this is to try to see a little into who Norah was before the tragedy of that June morning occurred. What transpired in the days, months, and years before that fateful day may never be fully known to the public. May the family find solace.
If you or someone you know is suicidal or in emotional distress, we encourage you to use the following resources. The 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline. You can call or text 988 if you’re in a suicidal crisis or emotional distress You can also text “HelpLine” to 62640 or call 800-950-6264 for support or visit the HelpLine site.
Comprehensive lists of comics which Norwitz worked on while employed at Marvel may be found at Marvel Fandom and also Grand Comics Database. It should be noted that these credits use Horwitz’s dead name.