JIMMY PALMIOTTI - BLAST FROM THE PAST

NIGHTCAT- MARVEL COMICS 1991

In 1991, I was working full time in advertising making a solid living, but it was not enough for me. I wanted to make comic books for a living. So, after a long day at work, I would walk a few blocks from my workplace to the offices of Marvel Comics and head up to the 10th floor and begin my second job at Marvel comics in their bullpen. At the time, I was helping my High School buddy, superstar Mark Texeria, ink some of the books he was working on. The two titles he had were The Punisher and Ghost Rider and he did both each month, more than a lot of work for anyone. 44 pages and covers. He was my foot into the door of the Marvel offices and although it was after hours, there were plenty of editors around for me to present my samples to and hope for some work. My regular weekly gig up there was dropping a set of Xeroxes of my pencils and inks into each office, hoping to get a call. Over time, a lot of the editors saw how hard I was working and I started getting a random piece work here and there. You know, ink 2 pages overnight, fix some panels for a book going out to the printer and so on. Freelance hit and run jobs they were called. This happened for a few months and I was so excited each and every time to show of what I could do.

One evening a few months in, an editor I really liked, Bob Budiansky, came up to me and asked me to follow him into his office. He told me he had something for me that might be right up my alley. At the time, I was showing pencil and ink samples, so I was hoping for a pencil job, but that was not the case. Once inside he asked me If I could handle a big ink job. I told him I can handle whatever he had [ you need that bravado to give people peace of mind, no matter how you are shitting yourself in real life] and then he dropped 48 pages of Denys Cowen breakdowns on oversized Marvel paper, a script, and about a dozen 8x10 photos on my lap and told me I had 3 weeks to nail the job.

Well, as you guessed, I scooped it up, went out to the bullpen and told Mark I got my first real job and we both looked over the pages. The name of the book was NIGHTCAT- a new character created by Stan Lee, Barry Dutter and a few others and it was a one shot special. Mark looked over the pages and told he I had my work cut out for me, all of it being breakdowns and not finished pencils. It was then that it all started to sink in…this was the job no one wanted. The job with impossible deadlines. The amount of work needed to be done in the time frame was insane, as well…the comic and character itself was based on a real person, so reference was needed to be looked after. No wonder they gave me photos of her…they wanted to make sure when I did finishes it looked like her otherwise we would have a lot of upset clients.

I took the subway home that night at about 10pm, which means I actually got a seat and proceeded to flip through the pages and slowly started losing my mind. How in hell was I going to do this? This was the kind of job someone with years of experience would have to do. Again, a state of panic set in and when I got home, I took out my pencil and tightened up things I thought I would have issues with. Thank God Denys pencils was super tight on the faces and figures. He made it easier for me, but still…I had little time to get it done and being intimidated didn’t help, but I had to push on. Deep down, I knew how important it was to make a good showing on this.

Jump to 3 nervous wreck weeks later and I walk in the last pages to the office. Bob was thrilled with the work, which I was happy for, and because I hit the deadline right on the head, he told me he would find more work for me very soon, which he did in the form of Deathlok, but that’s another story for another time. Oh, I forgot, when I handed in the middle of the book, Bob asked me to rework a panel that featured Stan lee in the book. Stan felt he didn’t look good enough and asked me to try to help it out. I mentioned it to Stan years later and he laughed, telling me it’s hard to translate such pure natural beauty to the page and we both had a laugh.

So, a few months later, the book comes out…beautiful Joe Jusko painted cover, really nice design Pin-up piece by Jim lee and a square bound graphic novel story by Denys and me inside. Nice package, but in the end, no one knew what the character was, mostly no one cared, and the book did not sell very well. I later found out that the intention of the project was to create a comic character who crossed over into the real world and could release records and promote merchandise, similar to that of Dazzler who was also a singer. That’s why I was given a handful of photos, and let me tell you, they were better than anything that appeared in the book. So, who is this real-life superhero that Stan and a few others masterminded?

Her name is Jacqueline Taxarez and at one point she was a playboy model and is enjoying her life these days still modeling it seems. For anyone interested, you can check out her Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jacquelinetavarez69/

If you were a fan, stop and say hi. Don’t be creepy.

WEIRD WORLD FACT: The NIGHTCAT character appeared in a music video for a song by Joey Buttafuoco and was last seen in the film Tromeo and Juliet. No, I cannot find a link to that.

ALBUM LISTEN PARTY: If you want to actually hear what the music sounded like, it has a bit of decade lag to it, but it’s still pop fun that someone can dance to. Not me though- I was more into Blondie at the time. Gave a listen if interested. : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JT70-hwYwgQ

So, Nightcat. I get a copy to sign now and again at conventions and it’s an instant flashback to the stress and fun I had working on a book that is totally lost in time. It’s one of the few books I have done that I know will never be worth more than the cover price, but I look back at the title as a stepping stone in my inking career and for that, I was thankful.