Write what you like
Some reflections on comics, making decisions, and the time I met Donny Cates.
Last Wednesday I was part of Scott Snyder's Comic Writing 101 Class #31. For this class, he had a guest, Donny Cates2. During their conversation, they briefly talked about something that resonated with me: when reading comics, there is a time when you read characters: you want to know what happens with Spider-Man and Batman. But then, as time goes by, you start reading creators. Instead of caring for Spider-Man, you want to know how is Nick Spencer going to resolve this week's problems, or what situation is he going to put Spider-Man in to amuse us in the next issue.
I started reading comics in 2010, went to my first San Diego Comic-Con in 2011. I kept reading characters until 2017-2018 when I returned to San Diego (2017) and went to my first New York Comic-Con (2018). I think the transition happened when I started reading outside the big two, because creator-owned stories, as the name says, are focused on creators. And, retroactively, when you start familiarizing yourself with creators you discover which big two books you should be reading.
Cut to NYCC 2018. I was familiar with some big names in the industry such as Brian K. Vaughan, Scott Snyder, Greg Capullo, Tom King, Mitch Gerads, or The Image Partners, and wanted to know more. Conventions are a great place to meet new creators because of signings, panels, and the overall comic book ambiance. You naturally want to learn more about comic books, manga, movies, series, anime, toys, and the people behind them. It is what unites all attending nerds!
I particularly remember this was the year of Tom and Mitch's Mr. Miracle and on Sunday I overhead on one of the comic book booths that the trade was sold out on ALL the convention floor. So if by any chance, someone attending the Con didn't know who Tom and Mitch were when it started, they had surely heard about them by the end of it. This is the power of Comic-Cons.
What Donny and Scott didn't mention in the class, and I would like to add, is that I believe there is a second transition in the comic book reading life cycle:
Step one: You start reading characters.
Step two: You move on to creators, beginning with consolidated creators, the ones everyone is praising and loving. They are incredibly talented and you naturally start reading everything they are creating, as everyone else is doing because they are so good. In 2021, I think the best example of this type of creator is Tom Taylor.
Step three: Finally, you continue your comic book-loving journey towards newer, less known creators. You start investigating and taking risks with them, the smaller ones, the ones with one or two published books. With them, you can either pass or you can say: I think this person is talented and I would bet that in 3 years I will still be reading books by this creator because they are going to be big3. And you make an important decision to any comic book fan -> The Decision: buy anything with the name of that creator on the cover4.
For me, the transition to step three of the cycle was fueled by my desire to get books signed on by as many creators as possible. As a comic book fan, if I see the name of someone on the cover of a comic book, I already admire them because they've made it. No matter how big or critically acclaimed the book ends up being. So having a comic signed by the people who made it is a big deal. Needless to say, I do not and will not sell any of the books I own.
Nevertheless, at the core, I am a Marvel fan and tend to gravitate towards their books and creators.
The Marvel booth at Comic-Con is always the center of news, giveaways, cool gear, games, and comic books. A lot is happening there over the weekend so I always keep an eye. They go as far as having their big stars on the stage - I remember seeing Charlie Cox and Chadwick Boseman there. So yeah, it is a very important booth. One of the events happening on Thursday was Donny Cates signing books5.
I remember watching the booth and seeing Donny's name. I didn't know who he was, but he was at the Marvel booth so I wanted his signature on a book. With his name in mind, I went to one of the comic book booths looking for something he had written so I could get it signed. I bought Venom #1 by him and Ryan Stegman. And I took it to the booth to get in line for his signing. I waited 0 minutes in line because no one else was there.
I took the book, said Hello. He said Hello back and signed the book, barely looking at me. Not in a rude way, but as if he were shy. I wasn't a very expressive person either. I said Thanks, and left, with a smile on my face because I had a new book with a Marvel creator's signature in it. And I moved on to continue my convention.
Looking back at this whole interaction I'm still amazed it happened this way. For anyone that has gotten a signature from Donny during the past two years, they know there is a 20-30 minute line. And Donny is very easy to talk to. But at the moment we were both new at this: he was a debutant Marvel writer and I didn't have much experience meeting creators. Having met Donny later I can say I feel that we both have grown with the pass of time.
Later during that day, Marvel had a panel showcasing what was next for their comic book line, so I assisted. Among other creators was this Donny Cates guy. So I thought: This guy must be good because not only is he signing at the booth but he is at the panel, they are considering him here... He had my attention.
When his turn to speak came he talked about what he was doing with Thanos Wins and Cosmic Ghost Rider. He started talking about Thanos, Evil Thanos, Frank Castle, Baby Thanos, time travel, epic fights at the end of the world. Not only were his stories good, but he talked about them with such passion and such commitment that it made them much more interesting. At that moment, without even reading those books or any book by him for that matter, I made The Decision: I will buy and read everything with Donny Cates written on the cover.
This is the story of how I met Donny Cates.
When I returned to my country I bought God Country, and I confirmed that his mastery comes not only from writing superheroes and epic fights, but because he writes human, relatable stories. Months later, listening to Ryan's podcast and various interviews I learned that besides being a writer, Donny is a fan of comics and a human being. I feel close to him as I feel to any person that loves comics. I remember him saying that when he writes something, he wants people to get their money's worth. For me, it is impossible that someone with this ideology would write a "bad" comic or a comic where he hasn't put his heart on. This is the kind of person I feel good giving my money to.
Last Wednesday I was part of Scott Snyder's Comic Writing 101 Class #3. One of the quotes by Donny was:
Nothing is hard, it is only work.
This resonated in me a lot but wasn't surprising given what I have told you about Donny. It made me promise: I will continue working hard towards my goals, knowing that you don't need anything else besides hard work. Fuck talent, fuck influences, fuck what people might say, and fuck egos.
Making The Decision isn't just about choosing a creator for their talent, the number of books they are publishing, with which editorials they are working or what are the critics and the Twitter influencers saying. It is about choosing a good person. A person that writes thinking: I'm writing what I would like to find on the stands. A person with an own identity and voice. And following this kind of people, I like to think that it gets you closer to being one of them. Not only a great writer but a great human being.
Regarding Donny, I have not regretted my Decision in any book I've read from him.
For those unfamiliar, Scott is a stellar writer of Batman, Justice League, multiple DC crossovers, and a bunch of incredible creator-owned work, more recently We Have Demons, Clear, and Night of the Ghoul on Comixology.
For those unfamiliar, Donny is a stellar writer of Venom, Hulk, Thor, multiple Marvel crossovers, and a bunch of incredible creator-owned work, more recently Crossover on Image and Vanish on KLC Press.
Just for clarity, these stages were discussed in the class but two and three were combined.
They did talked about this decision, without labeling it as The Decision.
For context, Comic-Con was October 4-7, 2018. Venom #1 was released in May 2018 so in that time 6 issues of Venom had come out, with #7 releasing next Wednesday.