Donny Cates may be known as The Bad Boy of Comics, but he's not bad in the way a Thanos or Carnage is. He's more like The Fonz, "bad" in the Michael Jackson song sense, but with a strong moral code, and he looks great in a motorcycle jacket.

Case in point: when Cates was tagged into an argument justifying comics piracy, Cates was quick to respond with a strong anti-stealing message:

Yeah, sorry. ComiXology is still a thing. Please dont pirate my fucking books dude. And if you do, maybe don't tell me about it. https://t.co/I0zcyk2wuc — DONNY⚡️CATES (@Doncates) November 24, 2019

And as comics piracy was a topic of conversation throughout comics Twitter this weekend, Cates continued to opine on the subject.

Sorry. If you don't have money, you don't get to just steal from artists and justify it. I want a lot of things I can't afford. I either save for it or I don't get it. You aren't going to make me feel bad for condoning people literally stealing from me and my friends. https://t.co/tjSsOC6eAX — DONNY⚡️CATES (@Doncates) November 24, 2019

And he wasn't going to be swayed by any argument.

Nor by moral compromise.

I mean, I appreciate that you do that, but you're still supporting a website that steals from me and my friends…. https://t.co/P9auhvWtXA — DONNY⚡️CATES (@Doncates) November 24, 2019

It says that you support websites that steal from artists. https://t.co/DrGJGahoht — DONNY⚡️CATES (@Doncates) November 24, 2019

If they can figure out how to torrent, then they can get on comiXology and pay for it. This bullshit excuse is wearing thin. No one has a "right" to comics. You want them, you pay for them. Period. https://t.co/h6NKJFPO3M — DONNY⚡️CATES (@Doncates) November 24, 2019

Oh okay. So stealing is totally fine then…. https://t.co/dQCorJjdMj — DONNY⚡️CATES (@Doncates) November 24, 2019

And yet you want me to cry for you as you steal from me and my friends… https://t.co/jZ9WwesgYG — DONNY⚡️CATES (@Doncates) November 24, 2019

You're supporting websites that steal from artists. https://t.co/Na2dTMFECP — DONNY⚡️CATES (@Doncates) November 24, 2019

Youre not punishing your shop. You're punishing the hard working artists who make comics. But hey, thanks for chiming in and telling me you steal from me and my friends. You seem great. https://t.co/r90ZEL2qqI — DONNY⚡️CATES (@Doncates) November 24, 2019

Yeah. I don't care. They don't get to steal it. — DONNY⚡️CATES (@Doncates) November 24, 2019

Cates points out, rightfully, that there are ways to read comics for free without pirating them.

I'm saying that if you can't buy comics that you should not steal them. There are plenty of free and legal ways to read comics. I'll die on that hill happily. https://t.co/zawPz5iwtT — DONNY⚡️CATES (@Doncates) November 24, 2019

And let's take a moment here to talk about them. First of all, and most importantly, there's your local library. Not only is your library likely to have a lot of trade paperbacks, but if it doesn't have the ones you're looking for, you can ask a library to order them. Many libraries also offer digital options, and one of those options is Hoopla, essentially a Netflix-like app where library patrons authenticate using their library card at a participating library. Of course, the comics in libraries still require funding, either from taxes or donations, so it's important even for those who can afford to buy every comic they read to support their local library if they can. Sure, we could get into a discussion about whether there's a conflict between the public service provided by libraries and the needs and desires of unrestricted capitalism, such as Marvel parent company Disney's multi-decade one-corporation war on the public domain, but that's a topic for another time perhaps, and if supporting a corporation like Disney is a moral issue for you, surely you feel strongly enough about it to simply not read their comics at all.

But we digress. The point is, there are a lot of ways you could read comics for free or for significantly cheaper without stealing them, so long as you're willing to get a little creative. You could borrow comics from a friend. You could post an ad on craigslist to form a reading group where you pool your money to purchase comics with a group of friends that you all take turns reading. You could become a comics "journalist" and creators and publishers will give you lots of comics for free in hopes you'll write about them. You could get a Marvel Unlimited or DC Universe or Comixolgy Unlimited subscription for less than the cost of three monthly comic books or a single trade paperback and read all the comics you want. If you can afford internet access to pirate books, then switch your service provider to Metro by T-Mobile (in the United States), which offers a free Amazon Prime subscription as a perk, which would give you access to all those ComiXology Unlimited books. Perhaps some of our readers outside the United States can provide some more localized suggestions in the comments. If you have money for comics but feel they're just too expensive (which would not at all be an outrageous viewpoint), you could use a service like DCBS where you can pre-order them for a little more than half the price. That's where we personally get all of our comics because they tend to be able to get them on our doorstep the fastest due to geographic proximity, but you can find similar deals at MyComicShop (which is also a great place for back issues) and Midtown Comics. DCBS has a sister-site called InStockTrades that offers a similar discount on trade paperbacks.

If all else fails, you can always sit criss-cross-applesauce on the floor of a Barnes and Noble and read the comic right in the aisle. Yes, you are technically still "Byrne-stealing" the comic in that scenario, but if they didn't want you to read things in the store, they wouldn't put chairs everywhere and sell coffee and croissants.

Back to Cates and his friends.

I am gonna make this argument loud and clear. The people that make these comics for the bigger companies do not make a penny on a royalty unless the book hits the 60,000 copies sold mark. Sold, not pirated. Each and every sale matters. If you cannot afford them, library time . — Jimmy Palmiotti (@jpalmiotti) November 24, 2019

That is what a library is for. Giving business to a site that pirates makes them money with each and every download. Not doing it shuts the down eventually. — Jimmy Palmiotti (@jpalmiotti) November 24, 2019

Dan what are you doing? — DONNY⚡️CATES (@Doncates) November 24, 2019

Wait. Seeing me "whine" about people stealing from me is a turn off? Explain that please? — DONNY⚡️CATES (@Doncates) November 24, 2019

Cates points out that he grew up poor (no surprise since his father, Joe Quesada, abandoned him to pursue a comics career), and yet he managed not to steal.

I grew up poor and managed to never steal from people. Miss me with this inane argument. Stealing is bad. It's not complicated. https://t.co/hBxzJy10U7 — DONNY⚡️CATES (@Doncates) November 24, 2019

Like all good Twitter rants, Cates knew when it was time to wrap things up.

Okay. I'm done. Sorry you had to witness my insane argument on here. It's a big pet peeve of mine, and apparently in 2019 "don't steal" is still a hard concept to understand. Last thing: if you tweet at me and tell me you're stealing my books, you WILL be instantly blocked. — DONNY⚡️CATES (@Doncates) November 24, 2019

And also like all good Twitter rants, he kept going after that.

Good man. Happy to hear that. — DONNY⚡️CATES (@Doncates) November 24, 2019

It's my fucking job. So yeah, it's a big priority for me, bud. — DONNY⚡️CATES (@Doncates) November 25, 2019

Including retweeting a note from fellow Marvel writer Matthew Rosenberg.

Over the past 3 years I've donated to maybe 40 or 50 kickstarters and gofundmes for comic creators and comic retailers, trying to help them pay medical bills, pay rent, keep the lights on, etc. That's my statement on illegally downloading comics. — Matthew Rosenberg (@AshcanPress) November 24, 2019

And that's a fair statement, but allow us to take this opportunity to add without disagreeing that, while, yes, stealing is generally wrong, piracy is not the primary cause of this sort of financial hardship for comic book creators. In a world where the Guardians of the Galaxy franchise makes over a billion dollars at the box office (not even counting the cute plushy Rocket Raccoon doll sales) but Bill Mantlo's family still has to crowdfund for medical expenses, that's not a piracy problem. That's an exploitive capitalism problem. The money is there to compensate creators well, but it goes primarily into the pockets of corporate shareholders, which is reflected not just in an industry like comics but in the entire global economy and especially in the United States, where the wealth gap has been increasing for decades, the rich getting richer and the poor getting poorer. This was a trend before comics piracy was even possible.

In any case, Cates continued debating with piracy advocates on Twitter, and in fact, he may still be doing so right now, depending on how long before this article is published after we've finished writing it.

If people are stealing my books, they aren't customers. https://t.co/sogwXAeY4W — DONNY⚡️CATES (@Doncates) November 25, 2019

I see you think you're a comic book writer. That's adorable. — DONNY⚡️CATES (@Doncates) November 25, 2019

No. It's not. At all. Don't steal my fucking books. — DONNY⚡️CATES (@Doncates) November 25, 2019

But it was a retweet of Zac Thompson, one half of the superstar writing duo Zonnie Tadler, that summed it all up in the best way possible:

And what else is there to say after that? We think all ought to be able to agree that stealing is wrong, and that's why you should never pirate a comic book or use an adblocker on a comic book website.

Want to join in the debate but don't have a Twitter account? There will be plenty of folks to argue with in the comments below.