Cates + Ottley’s Hulk run ends earlier than expected

‘Hulk’ #14 will wrap up the jade giant’s current run in April.

Donny Cates and Ryan Ottley’s run on Hulk is coming to an end early, as April’s issue #14 will wrap up the story they started back in 2021. Cates, actually, has already left the title, leaving Ottley to wrap things up as both writer and artist.

According to Popverse, Hulk #14 was supposed to be the end of the current “Planet Hulk” arc of the Hulk book, with more issues planned from Cates without Ottley. But Cates left both Hulk and Thor, taking to Twitter to explain that he needed to “deal with a bunch of life.”

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Hulk + Thor collide next year in ‘Banner of War’

Donny Cates and Martin Coccolo set two Avengers on a collision course in a five-issue crossover that begins in April.

Two Donny Cates-written characters will cross over next year in Hulk vs. Thor: Banner of War.

The story, which kicks off with an “alpha” issue from Marvel before erupting into the Hulk and Thor monthly titles, will find the two Avengers brought together by “mysterious circumstances.” And then the fighting starts.

“Well, I was a little surprised that Marvel approached me to write this, if I’m being honest. I’m mostly known for writing very small, very quiet, intimate comics, so I had to—ha!! Sorry. Couldn’t keep that up. Yeah, this is gonna be bonkers as hell, guys,” Cates told Marvel.com. “We’re going to break EVERYTHING! Happy birthday, Hulk and Thor! Hope you enjoy MASSIVE AMOUNTS OF VIOLENCE!” 

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Sunday Comics | 24-Hour Comic Day, Inktober and more

Check out recent comics by Melanie Gillman, Derek Laufman, Elsa Charretier and more.

Here’s a round up of some of the best comics we’ve seen online recently. If we missed something, let us know in the comments below.

I mentioned Swordtember in a post earlier today, and it’s far from the only online challenge aimed at creators going on on social media right now. Yesterday, in fact, was 24-Hour Comic Day, the “annual celebration of comics creation” where artists attempt to create an entire comic in 24 hours.

As the Crow Flies creator Melanie Gillman once again took up the challenge, creating a comic called The Night-Mother. It’s a horror story, and Gillman includes several content warnings at the beginning, including violence and miscarriage. But it’s a very well-done comic, especially for one they created in just 24 hours — or almost, anyway. Gillman still has a few pages left that they were hoping to finish today. Here’s the first page:

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Cates + Stegman plan to launch three comics on Substack

The two ‘King in Black’ creators launch Kids Love Chains Press on the email platform.

Donny Cates and Ryan Stegman are the latest creators to sign on for the Substack revolution, following James Tynion IV, Skottie Young, Chip Zdarsky, Molly Ostertag and others last week.

This morning the duo behind Venom and King in Black launched Kids Love Chains Press on the email newsletter platform and announced three comics they’ll share through Substack’s premium service. Cates and Stegman will work on the first title, Vanish, while Cates will write the other two with different artists attached.

Here’s the lowdown:

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Marvel announces new creative teams for ‘Hulk,’ ‘Venom’

Donny Cates and Ryan Ottley will launch a new Hulk title in November, as Al Ewing, Ram V and Bryan Hitch take on Venom.

With Al Ewing and Joe Bennett’s run on Immortal Hulk coming to close AND Donny Cates and Ryan Stegman wrapping up their run on Venom, Marvel has announced their plans for both titles, which will relaunch in the fall.

The Hulk will relaunch in a new title simply called Hulk, by Cates and Amazing Spider-Man artist Ryan Ottley. Writers Al Ewing and Ram V, meanwhile, will tag-team on Venom, with art by Bryan Hitch.

“Marvel just gave me the keys to the strongest one there is,” Cates told Marvel.com. “Haha… oh boy. You guys are just not ready for this. You’re about to find out what happens when Ryan Ottley and I get angry… and guess what? Well… pretty sure you’re gonna like us a lot when we’re angry.”

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Mail Call | Z2 to publish graphic novel inspired by All Time Low

Plus: news from Image, AdHouse, Dark Horse, BOOM! Studios and more.

Mail Call is a roundup of the announcements we’ve received from comics publishers in our mailboxes recently that we haven’t already covered. Hit the links for more information.

Z2 Comics has announced another music-related collaboration, this time with the pop-punk band All Time Low. In June, the publisher will release a graphic novel inspired by the 2017 album Last Young Renegade.

“When we wrote our album ‘Last Young Renegade’ we imagined an entire world separate of our own, almost a “what if” version of All Time Low, both with our musical sound and with the visual narrative we put together around it” says All Time Low’s Alex Gaskarth. “Creating ‘Young Renegades’ the graphic novel allows us to tell more stories in the universe we imagined and delve deeper into the mythos and thematic ideas that were at play when we were celebrating that era. ‘Young Renegades’ is another branch, another thread and another look into the LYR continuity through an incredible medium we’ve never collaborated in before. Working with the story-tellers and artists on this project has been an incredible new undertaking and we can’t wait for everyone to enjoy it with us.”

Young Renegades will be written by Tres Dean and Robert Wilson IV, with art by Megan Huang.

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‘The One You Feed’ by Cates + Burnett debuts at Panel Syndicate

Pay what you want for the first digital issue of the new fantasy horror title.

The One You Feed, a new title by Donny Cates (Thor) and Dylan Burnett (Ant-Man) has debuted on Panel Syndicate.

The “fantasy terror tale” will be a five-issue miniseries, released digitally on the site in their standard “pay what you want format,” like they’ve done with previous titles like Friday, Barrier and The Private Eye.

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‘Crossover’ blurs the line between fact and fiction [Preview]

The new title by the creators of ‘God Country’ arrives in November.

Image Comics has released a preview of the first issue of Crossover, the new series coming from Donny Cates, Geoff Shaw, Dee Cunniffe and John J Hill that was revealed this week during Comic-Con@Home.

Referred to by Cates as the “scariest” project he’s ever tried to produce, but also “the most exciting thing I’ve ever done” during their CCI@Home panel Crossover is about what happens when a big summer event book crosses over into the real world.

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CCI@Home: ‘Crossover’ team reveals details on the new title

Donny Cates, Geoff Shaw, Dee Cunniffe and John J. Hill discuss their upcoming ‘anti-event’ title.

After teasing their new comic earlier this month, Donny Cates, Geoff Shaw, Dee Cunniffe and John J. Hill revealed more details about Crossover during a virtual panel as a part of Comic-Con@Home.

“Crossover is the scariest goddamn book I have ever attempted to produce in my entire life, and that is why it’s the most exciting thing I’ve ever done,” Cates said. He compared it to “Avengers: Endgame, but as Cloverfield,” then shared that the idea came to him while talking to Geoff Shaw about event comics back in 2017, before he worked for Marvel.

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Cates + Shaw reteam for ‘Crossover’

The upcoming Image Comics title declares, “Superheroes aren’t myths….they’re viruses…and they’re spreading…”

Donny Cates and Geoff Shaw, who previously worked together on God Country, will reunite for a new Image Comics titled Crossover. They’ll be joined by Dee Cunniffe and John J. Hill.

“Superheroes aren’t myths….they’re viruses…and they’re spreading…” Cates posted on Twitter, then called it “An Anti-Event for the ages…”

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Oh, Knull: Venom takes the spotlight in December’s ‘King in Black’

Donny Cates and Ryan Stegman bring the god of the symbiotes to Earth for a showdown with the heroes of the Marvel universe.

Fans of Donny Cates and Ryan Stegman’s run on Venom have known that “Knull is coming” for quite sometime, and now Marvel has revealed when exactly he’ll arrive — in King in Black, which starts in December.

Knull — which means “Fuck” in Swedish — is the god of the symbiotes, and in King in Black, he’ll be taking on not just Venom, but the Avengers, the X-Men, the Hulk and more.

“As far as event books go, this is the coolest, darkest, most heavy metal, Cthulhu dark horror thing I’ve ever been able to do,” Cates said in an announcement video. “I still can’t believe that Marvel is letting us go as dark and scary as we’re going.”

You can watch the video below, featuring Cates and Stegman talking about the book.

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What Are You Reading? | Red Goblins, celestial avatars, Klan smashers and Texas blood

See what the Smash Pages crew has checked off their ‘to read’ list lately.

Like I said last week, summertime is the right time for crossovers and comics. This week brought us a taste of Empyre, Marvel’s big crossover event featuring the Avengers, The Fantastic Four, the Kree, the Skrulls, the Blue Area of the Moon, the Swordsman and all that crazy cosmic space action Marvel fans have come to know and love. You can see Carla’s thoughts on it below, along with a list of comics Shane has been buying for his kids and Tom’s thoughts on two politically minded books from DC.

You can tell us what you’ve been reading in the comments below or on social media.

Shane Bailey

Lately my kids have started wanting to read more comics. My little one has always been into them, but now the older kids are as well. So I let them pick out their own comics to read on comiXology Unlimited.

My 9 yr old son picked Amazing Spider-Man: The Red Goblin by Dan Slott and Stuart Immonen, and he loves it. He wouldn’t stop commenting on how crazy scary Norman Osborn is, how it was gross when Carnage bit the head off a rat, and during one issue when the Goblin had a captive and was interrogating him, he wondered aloud over who it was, making guesses and gasping when he found out who it was and that Norman knew who Spider-Man was. It’s great seeing him get excited at things that are old hat for me. It made me appreciate those moments more.

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