Venom Writer Says He's Done With Character Forever

Come April, Donny Cates and Ryan Stegman will no longer be paired together on Venom. The two first [...]

By Adam Barnhardt

Come April, Donny Cates and Ryan Stegman will no longer be paired together on Venom. The two first launched the series in 2018 to critical acclaim, and through the past three years Cates has written well over 30 issues of the title, oftentimes pairing with Stegman as the artist. Now, Cates says he's done with the title forever when Venom #200 hits shelves this spring

"Seen a lot of confusion about this so I just wanted to clarify," Cates tweeted Tuesday night. "Yes. Venom #200 will be my last issue writing Venom. Ever. Thank you all for supporting us. This has been a lifelong dream come true to tell this story for you all. Thank you. Thank you all."

Cates burst onto the Marvel scene in 2017 with a brief run on Doctor Strange. Now he's one of the House of Ideas hottest writers and has taken stabs at Thanos, Guardians of the Galaxy, Cosmic Ghost Rider, and even Thor. He and Stegman are currently at the helm of King in Black, Marvel's latest event that rounds out just about the time the Venom run also wraps up.

"It's something that we've been building to, and building to, and building to. Now we're here," Cates told IGN in the original announcement. "Ryan and I talk about that a lot. About how Ryan will send in a new page or King in Black, and it's finally like a drawing of something that we've all been thinking about, a particular moment or a scene that we've all been thinking about for almost four years now. So it's pretty surreal. It's crazy. It really is a testament to how awesome the Marvel fanbase has been and the Venom fans in general, that they've supported the book so much. That this crazy idea of this Knull thing has stuck around so long, that we're actually getting to do this."

Venom #200 hits stores in April.

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