Yeates was part of the first graduating class from
The Kubert School. His first published comics work was "Preacher" a five-page backup feature in
Sgt. Rock #312 (Jan. 1978). He provided spot illustrations for a
Batman prose story in
Detective Comics #500 (March 1981) written by
Walter B. Gibson, longtime writer of
The Shadow. Yeates and
Jack C. Harris briefly revived
Claw the Unconquered as a backup feature in
The Warlord #48–49. "Dragonsword" was a backup feature by
Paul Levitz and Yeates which appeared in
The Warlord #51–54 (Nov. 1981–Feb. 1982). In 1982, Yeates and writer
Martin Pasko revived
Swamp Thing in a new series titled
Saga of the Swamp Thing.
Timespirits was created by
Stephen Perry and Yeates for the
Epic Comics line. In 1987, he drew a comics adaptation of
Captain EO for
Eclipse Comics, with
stereoscopy effects by
Ray Zone. In 1989,
Amazing Heroes named the comic the third best 3D comic of all time, praising Yeates' artwork.
Neil Gaiman asked him to draw
The Sandman but Yeates declined the offer. Yeates drew the
Universe X: Beasts and
Universe X: Cap one-shots for Marvel in 2001. On April 1, 2012, Yeates began drawing the
Prince Valiant comic strip, replacing
Gary Gianni. Yeates collaborated with
Sergio Aragonés and
Mark Evanier on the
Groo vs. Conan crossover for
Dark Horse Comics in 2014. ==Awards==