Donny Cates

Donny Cates (born September 14, 1984) is an American comic book writer, artist, and podcaster, known for his work on titles like ''Venom'', ''Thanos'', ''Doctor Strange'', ''Thor,'' and ''Hulk.''

Early life

Donny Cates was born in Dallas, Texas. Raised in Garland, Texas, Cates states that he was taught to read by his father using comic books. Cates graduated from Garland High School and attended the Savannah College of Art and Design, where he would meet future artistic collaborators Tradd Moore and Geoff Shaw. Cates majored in sequential art, but left the school after being accepted into a Marvel internship program. While interning, Cates stole a Diamond Distributors Gem Award awarded to ''Astonishing X-Men'' #1. At the advice of Marvel editor Mark Peniccia, Cates left the program after a year to pursue writing his own comics. After a chance meeting with a Dark Horse Comics staffer at C2E2, Cates was given the opportunity to write short stories for the company.

Career

Cates' first comic work was a short story in ''Dark Horse Presents'' vol. 2 #24, released in August 2013. Co-written by himself and Eliot Rahal, the title of this story was ''Hunter Quaid: Armageddon Outta Here''. It was followed up three issues later with ''Hunter Quaid: The Only Things We Have to Fear… are Nazis and Creepy Monsters''. Satisfied with these stories, Dark Horse gave Cates the green light for later projects like ''Buzzkill'', ''The Ghost Fleet'' with Daniel Warren Johnson and ''The Paybacks''. Between 2016 and 2017 Cates also wrote stories for IDW Publishing, including an entry in ''Star Trek: Waypoint'' and a one-shot, ''Star Trek: Deviations''. Cates eventually began writing for Image Comics, where he released ''God Country''. With this title he attracted the attention of editors at Marvel, who offered him a contract.

His first long-term Marvel works were runs on Doctor Strange and Thanos. After the success of these titles, Cates was given writing duties on ''Venom'', where he was paired with artist and podcaster Ryan Stegman. This led to him penning multiple company-wide events, including ''Absolute Carnage'' and ''King in Black''. In January 2020, Cates took over as the new writer of ''Thor'' with Nic Klein as artist. Later that year, he would reteam with ''God Country'' artist Geoff Shaw on the book ''Crossover''. In June 2021, Cates and Stegman started their own production company entitled ''KLC Press,'' named after a Todd McFarlane quote ("Kids Love Chains"), with its first title set to be the book ''Vanish'' by Cates and Stegman. In November that same year, Cates became the new writer of ''Hulk'', with Ryan Ottley joining as artist. In June 2022, it was announced ''Vansh'' would receive a physical release via Image Comics.

Personal life

Cates currently lives in Austin, Texas with his wife, comic artist Megan Hutchison-Cates. The two host a comic review podcast, ''The Devil’s AdvoCATES Book Club''.

Bibliography

Aftershock Comics

* ''Babyteeth'' (with Garry Brown, June 2017–ongoing)
** ''Volume 1'' (collects #1-5, tpb, with Garry Brown, 120 pages, 2017, )
** ''Volume 2'' (collects #6-10, tpb, with Garry Brown, 120 pages, 2018, )
** ''Volume 3'' (collects #11-15, tpb, with Garry Brown, 120 pages, 2019, )
** ''Year One'' (collects #1-10, hc, 240 pages, 2019, )
* ''Relay'' #1–6 (co-plotter with Zack Thompson, with Andy Clarke and Dalibor Talajic, May 2018–April 2019) collected as ''Relay Vol. 1: Reality Denied'' (tpb, 144 pages, 2019, )

Dark Horse Comics

* ''Dark Horse Presents'' vol. 2 #24: "Hunter Quaid: Armageddon Outta Here" (co-writer with Eliot Rahal, with Melissa Curtin, May 2013)
* ''Dark Horse Presents'' vol. 2 #27: "Hunter Quaid: The Only Things We Have to Fear... Are Nazis and Creepy Monsters" (co-writer with Eliot Rahal, with Melissa Curtin, August 2013)
* ''Buzzkill'' (co-writer with Mark Reznicek, 4-issue limited series, with Geoff Shaw, September–December 2013) collected as ''Buzzkill'' (tpb, 104 pages, 2014, ; republished by Image Comics in 2017, )
* ''The Ghost Fleet'' (8-issue limited series, with Daniel Warren Johnson, November 2014–June 2015) collected as ''The Ghost Fleet: The Whole Goddamned Thing'' (tpb, 144 pages, 2017, )
* ''Dark Horse Presents'' vol. 3 #11: "The Paybacks: Downhill Ski" (co-writer with Eliot Rahal, with Geoff Shaw, January 2015) collected in ''The Paybacks Collection'' (tpb, 224 pages, 2018, )
* ''The Paybacks'' vol. 1 (September–December 2015) collected in ''The Paybacks Collection''
** ''Volume 1: Payback's A Bitch'' (co-writer with Eliot Rahal, collects #1-4, with Geoff Shaw, 104 pages, )

Heavy Metal

* ''Interceptor'' (6-issue limited series, with Dylan Burnett, January–May 2016) collected as ''Interceptor Vol''. ''1'' (tpb, 144 pages, 2019, )
* ''The Paybacks'' vol. 2 #1-4 (co-writer with Eliot Rahal, with Geoff Shaw, July–November 2016) collected in ''The Paybacks Collection''

House of Waxwork

* ''House of Waxwork'' #2: "Nowhere Wolf" (with Marty Davis, February 2018)

Image Comics

* ''God Country'' (6-issue limited series, with Geoff Shaw, January–June 2017) collected as ''God Country'' (tpb, 168 pages, 2017, )
* ''Redneck'' (with Lisandro Estherren, April 2017–ongoing)
** ''Volume 1: Deep in the Heart'' (collects #1-6, tpb, 128 pages, 2017, )
** ''Volume 2: The Eyes Upon You'' (collects #7-12, tpb, 128 pages, 2018, )
** ''Volume 3: Longhorns'' (collects #13-18, tpb, 128 pages, 2019, )
** ''Volume 4: Lone Star'' (collects #19-24, tpb, 128 pages, 2019, )
** ''Volume 5: Tall Tales'' (collects #25-30, tpb, 128 pages, 2021, )
* ''Crossover'' (with Geoff Shaw, November 2020–ongoing)
** ''Volume 1: Kids Love Chains'' (collects #1-6, tpb, 176 pages, 2021, )
** ''Volume 2: The Ten-Cent Plague'' (collects #7-13, tpb, 176, 2022, )
* ''Vanish'' (with Ryan Stegman, September 2022-ongoing)
** ''Volume 1'' (collects #1-4, tpb, 112 pages, 2023, )

IDW Publishing

* ''Star Trek: Waypoint'' #1 (with Mack Chater, September 2016), collected in ''Star Trek: Waypoint'' (tpb, 144 pages, 2017, )
* ''Star Trek: Deviations'' (one-shot, with Josh Hood, March 2017)

Marvel Comics

* Iron Man Presented by DJI #1 (with Rhoald Marcellius, June 2015)
* ''Secret Wars: Battleworld'' #2: "Ross Against The Machine" (with Marco Turini, June 2015) collected in ''Secret Wars Journal/Battleworld'' (tpb, 248 pages, 2016, )
* ''Captain America: Steve Rogers'' #18–19 (co-writer with Nick Spencer, with Javier Pina and Andres Guinaldo, June–July 2017) collected in ''Captain America: Secret Empire'' (tpb, 136 pages, 2017, )
* ''Captain America: Sam Wilson'' #24 (co-writer with Nick Spencer, with Joe Bennett, July 2017) collected in ''Captain America: Secret Empire''
* ''Doctor Strange'' vol. 1 (January–July 2018) collected as ''Doctor Strange by Donny Cates'' (hc, 360 pages, 2019, )
** ''Volume 1:'' God of Magic (collects #381-385, tpb, with Gabriel Hernandez Walta and Niko Henrichon, 136 pages, )
** ''Volume 2:'' City of Sin (collects #386-390, tpb, with Niko Henrichon, Frazer Irving, and Chip Zdarsky, 112 pages, )
* ''Thanos'' vol. 2 #13–18; Annual #1 (with Geoff Shaw, January–June 2018) collected in ''Thanos Wins'' (tpb, 160 pages, 2018, )
* ''Doctor Strange: Damnation'' (co-writer with Nick Spencer, 4-issue limited series, with Szymon Kudranski and Rod Reis, April–July 2018) collected in ''Doctor Strange: Damnation The Complete Collection'' (tpb, 336 pages, 2018, )
* ''Venom'' vol. 4 ''(''May 2018–April 2021)
** ''Volume 1: Rex'' (collects #1-6, tpb, with Ryan Stegman, 136 pages, 2018, )
** ''Volume 2: The Abyss'' (collects #7-12, tpb, with Ryan Stegman, Iban Coello, and Joshua Cassara, 136 pages, 2019, )
** ''Volume 3: Absolute Carnage'' (collects #16-19, Web of Venom: Funeral Pyre #1, tpb, with Juan Gedeon and Iban Coello, 112 pages, 2020, )
** ''Volume 4: Venom Island'' (collects #21-25, tpb, with Mark Bagley, 136 pages, 2020, )
** ''Volume 5: Venom Beyond'' (collects #26-30, tpb, with Iban Coello, Juan Gedeon, and Luke Ross, 128 pages, 2021, )
** ''Volume 6: King in Black'' (collects #31-34 and ''Venom'' vol. 1 #200, tpb, with Iban Coello, Juan Gedeon, and Luke Ross, 200 pages, 2021, )
** ''Volume 1'' (collects #1-12, hc, 280 pages, 2019, )
** ''Volume 2'' (collects #16-25, hc, 248 pages, 2021, )
** ''Volume 3'' (collects Venom story from Free Comic Book Day 2020 (Spider-Man/Venom) 1, #26-35, hc, 320 pages, 2022, )
** ''Web of Venom: Ve'Nam'' (one-shot, with Juanan Ramirez, August 2018) collected in ''Venom Unleashed Vol. 1'' (tpb, 136 pages, 2019, )
* ''Cosmic Ghost Rider'' (5-issue limited series, with Dylan Burnett, September 2018–January 2019) collected in ''Cosmic Ghost Rider: Baby Thanos Must Die'' (tpb, 112 pages, 2019, )
* ''Death of The Inhumans'' (5-issue limited series, with Ariel Olivetti, September 2018–January 2019) collected in ''Death of The Inhumans'' (tpb, 336 pages, 2018, )
* ''Venom'' Annual #1: "Tall Tales" (one-shot, with Kevin Walker, October 2018)
* ''Marvel Knights 20th'' (co-writer with Matthew Rosenberg, Tim Howard, and Vita Ayala, 6-issue limited series, with Travel Foreman, Niko Henrichon, Damian Couceiro, Joshua Cassara and Kim Jacinto, November 2018–January 2019)
* ''Web of Venom: Carnage Born'' (one-shot, with Danilo Beyruth, November 2020) collected in ''Venom Unleashed Vol. 1''
* ''Guardians of the Galaxy'' vol. 5 (January 2019–December 2019) collected in ''Guardians of the Galaxy by Donny Cates'' (hc, 328 pages, 2021, )
** ''Volume 1: The Final Gauntlet'' (collects #1-6, tpb, with Geoff Shaw, 144 pages, 2019, )
** ''Volume 2: Faithless'' (collects #7-12, Annual #1, tpb, with John McCrea, Cory Smith, Geoff Shaw, Dylan Burnett, Ariel Olivetti, and Tradd Moore, 176 pages, 2020, )
* Story in ''Free Comic Book Day 2019 Spider-Man/Venom'' (one-shot, with Ryan Stegman, May 2019)
* ''Silver Surfer: Black'' (5-issue limited series, with Tradd Moore, June 2019–October 2019) collected in ''Silver Surfer: Black'' (tpb, 120 pages, 2020, )
* ''Absolute Carnage'' (5-issue limited series, with Ryan Stegman, August–November 2019) collected in ''Absolute Carnage'' (tpb, 200 pages, 2020, )
* ''Marvel Comics #1000'': "The Route" (one-shot, with Geoff Shaw, August 2019) collected in ''Marvel Comics #1000'' (hc, 144 pages, 2020, )
* ''Revenge of the Cosmic Ghost Rider'': "Semper Fight" (with Geoff Shaw, December 2019)
* ''Thor'' vol. 6 (January 2020–ongoing)
** ''Volume 1: The Devourer King'' (collects #1-6, tpb, with Nic Klein, 144 pages, 2020, )
** ''Volume 2: Prey'' (collects #7-14, tpb, with Nic Klein and Aaron Kuder, 176 pages, 2021, )
** ''Volume 3: Revelations'' (collects #15-18, Thor Annual (2021) #1, tpb, with Nic Klein and Alessandro Vitti, 120 pages, 2021, )
** Volume 4: ''God of Hammers'' (collects #19-24, tpb, with Nic Klein, 184 pages, 2022, )
* ''Incoming!'': "45–48" (one-shot, with Ryan Stegman, February 2020)
* Story in ''Free Comic Book Day 2020 Spider-Man/Venom'' (one-shot, with Ryan Stegman, July 2020)
* ''Fortnite X Marvel - Nexus War: Thor'' (one-shot, with Greg Land, August 2020)
* ''Web of Venom: Wraith'' (one-shot, with Guiu Villanova, September 2020)
* ''King in Black'' #1–5 (with Ryan Stegman, December 2020–April 2021) collected in ''King in Black'' (tpb, 144 pages, 2021, )
* ''Wolverine: Black, White & Blood'' #3: "Burn" (with Chris Bachalo, February 2021) collected in ''Wolverine: Black, White & Blood Treasury Edition'' (tpb, 136 pages, 2021, )
* Story in '' Carnage: Black, White & Blood'' #2 (with Kyle Hotz, April 2021)
* Story in ''Free Comic Book Day 2021 Avengers/Hulk'' (one-shot, with Ryan Ottley, May 2021)
* ''Hulk'' vol. 5 (with Ryan Ottley, November 2021 – Present)
** ''Volume 1: Smashtronaut!'' (collects #1-6, tpb, 160 pages, 2022, )
* ''Hulk Vs. Thor: Banner of War: Alpha'' (one-shot, with Martin Coccolo, May 2022) collected in ''Hulk Vs. Thor: Banner of War'' (tpb, 128 pages, 2022, )

Panel Syndicate

*
The One You Feed
' (5-issue limited series, with Dylan Burnett, October 2020–ongoing); to be republished by Image Comics

Vault Comics

* ''Reactor'' #1–3 (with Dylan Burnett, November 2017–April 2018)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Cates, Donny
Artists from Dallas
American comics writers
Living people
1984 births
American podcasters
People from Garland, Texas
Savannah College of Art and Design alumni
Artists from Austin, Texas