With all the attention the ascension of Marvel Knights editor Joe Quesada to the rank of Marvel Comics' editor-in-chief has gotten in the last week, it can be easy to forget that the Marvel Knights line was co-edited by Quesada's long-time collaborator, Jimmy Palmiotti.

Palmiotti is pleased for Quesada.

"My reaction is great! I wish him the best in the new position, I think he and Nancy will do a great job over there and put out some interesting things," Palmiotti told the Comic Wire on Tuesday.

He also understands why Quesada's role in Marvel Knights is getting so much play currently.

"I'm guessing the spin doctors have to get behind Joe right now, that's why most talk of Knights is about only Joe. Joe and I started and created Knights from scratch with the help of Joe's wife Nancy, our assistant Kelly Lamy and our interns Joanne Starer and Justin Grey. It was a group thing for the two and a half years I was there. … While I was with Knights, Joe and I did the same job, recruiting talent, reading scripts as they came in, correcting color and such. Basic editing jobs. Anyone who worked with us knows what we did. There are things I worked on such as the Joe Linser Killraven and the new Scott Hampton/Devin Grayson/Greg Rucka Black Widow painted book that still haven't come out."

Palmiotti had to step back from his Marvel Knights editorial position a few months ago for personal reasons, an explanation that caused the usual unfortunate swirl of speculation in online discussion groups.

"My mom, who is 75, had fallen a couple of times and she needed me around to help her get back to how she was before. It wasn't fair to them [Joe Quesada and Nancy] that I wasn't as involved as much with the day to day stuff, but I stayed on ['Daredevil'], which was not really a problem, and 'Punisher,' which was monthly, so I still made time for the inking aspect of the job, but handed over the editorial end to Nancy and Joe. It didn't seem right to take all that money," he laughed.

And while Palmiotti may have taken a step back from the comic industry, he's not exactly retiring.

Readers "can see me monthly on [Marvel Comics'] 'Punisher' and [Black Bull's] 'Gatecrasher.' I have a JLA Elseworlds two-parter ['Secret Society of Superheroes'] out this week by Howard Chaykin and Mike McKone, and a five-part Batman story starting in December with Doug Moench and Paul Gulacy, my heroes!" Palmiotti said. "I am also currently writing [Marvel Comics'] 'Deadpool' and a few other projects for DC and Black Bull."

[Jimmy and Amanda]

Jimmy Palmiotti and Amanda Conner

Attendees at this August's Wizardworld convention in Chicago saw an apparent on-stage proposal during the Wizard Awards, complete with an ecstatic "Gatecrasher" artist Amanda Conner. Great theater, but that's all it was, Palmiotti said.

"It was a joke on Amanda's part, she is a mad woman. We actually got engaged in Venice, Italy in April. Like a real man would," he laughed.

Palmiotti's next big project won't be a comic book: He's hard at work on the animated version of Black Bull's "Gatecrasher."

"My role was to first put the deal together and meet with Mainframe and their clients and my next role, along with super talent Mark Waid, will be to write a few episodes of the series as well as overlook the whole project from paper to film. I am involved the whole way through."