Kurt Busiek ([1] born September 16, 1960)[2] is an American comic book writer. His work includes the Marvels limited series, his own series titled Astro City, a four-year run on The Avengers, Thunderbolts, and Superman.
Busiek was born in Boston. He grew up in various towns in the Boston area, including Lexington, where he befriended future comic book creator Scott McCloud.[3] Busiek did not read comics as a youngster, as his parents disapproved of them.[3]
During that time, Busiek had many letters published in comic book letter columns and he originated the idea that the Phoenix Force was a separate being who had impersonated Jean Grey, and that therefore Grey had not died—a premise which made its way from freelancer to freelancer, and which was eventually used in the comics.[4][5] Busiek said, "A couple of years later, after I’d broken in, I attended my first convention as a pro, in Ithaca, New York, and I stayed at Roger Stern's house... we were talking about how much we liked the new X-Men, and he said, 'It's just a pity there's no way to bring Jean Grey back'... I said, 'Sure there's a way, there's always a way.'"[6]
During the last semester of his senior year, Busiek submitted some sample scripts to editor Dick Giordano at DC Comics. None of them sold, but they got him invitations to pitch other material to DC editors, which led to his first professional work, a back-up story in Green Lantern #162 (March 1983).[3] After writing four fill-in issues of Power Man and Iron Fist, he was given the series as his first regular assignment.[7] He was a fan of the work of his predecessor, Jo Duffy and emulated her lighthearted, humorous approach, not knowing that the editor disapproved of that style. He was fired from the series after only six issues as its regular writer, but wrote an additional two issues afterward.[7] In 1985, he wrote a Red Tornado limited series.[8]
In 1993, Busiek and artist Alex Ross produced the Marvels limited series which comics historian Matthew K. Manning noted, "reinvigorated painted comics as a genre, went on to become an acclaimed masterpiece, and spawned more than its own fair share of imitators."[9] Busiek and Pat Olliffe crafted the Untold Tales of Spider-Man series beginning in September 1995.[10] Busiek created the Thunderbolts, a group of super-villains disguised as super-heroes. At the end of the first issue, it is revealed that the Thunderbolts are actually the Masters of Evil, a surprise twist carefully guarded by Marvel.[11] In February 1998, he launched The Avengers vol. 3 with penciler George Pérez[12] and Iron Man vol. 3 with artist Sean Chen.[13]
Busiek continued as writer of The Avengers through 2002, collaborating with artists such as Alan Davis and Kieron Dwyer. His tenure culminated with the "Kang Dynasty" storyline. In 2003, Busiek re-teamed with Pérez to create the JLA/Avengers limited series.[16] Busiek has worked on a number of different titles in his career including Arrowsmith, The Liberty Project, The Power Company, Shockrockets, Superman: Secret Identity, JLA, and the award-winning Kurt Busiek's Astro City.[17] In the 1990s, work on some of Busiek's more challenging, less mainstream projects, most notably Astro City, was repeatedly delayed by health problems brought about by mercury poisoning.[18][19]
In 2004, Busiek began a new Conan series for Dark Horse Comics.[17] In December 2005, he signed a two-year exclusive contract with DC Comics.[20] After DC's "Infinite Crisis" storyline, he teamed with Geoff Johns on the eight-part story arc "Up, Up and Away!" that ran in both Superman titles as part of DC's company-wide "One Year Later" storyline. In addition, he began writing the DC title Aquaman: Sword of Atlantis from issues #40–49.[17] Busiek became the sole writer of the Superman series with issue #654 (Sept. 2006) and Carlos Pacheco became the series' artist.[21] Busiek and Pacheco developed an extended storyline featuring Arion coming into conflict with Superman.[22]
Busiek teamed with Alex Ross on Dynamite Entertainment's Kirby: Genesis, an eight-issue miniseries which debuted in 2011. The series, which was their first full collaboration since Marvels 17 years previous, featured a large group of Jack Kirby's creator-owned characters, the rights to which were acquired by Dynamite such as Silver Star, Captain Victory, Galaxy Green, Tiger 21 and the Ninth Men. Ross co-plotted, handled designs, and oversaw the series overall with Busiek, who scripted the story.[25][26] In June 2013, Busiek relaunched his Astro City series as part of DC's Vertigo line. Busiek commented that "Astro City's always been aimed at a more sophisticated reader, which I think suits Vertigo. Plus our backlist sales are closer to a Vertigo pattern than DCU."[27][28] The ongoing Astro City series concluded as of issue #52 in 2018.[29]
In April 2022, Busiek was one of more than three dozen comics creators who contributed to Operation USA's benefit anthology book, Comics for Ukraine: Sunflower Seeds, a project spearheaded by IDW Publishing special projects editor Scott Dunbier, The profits were donated to relief efforts for Ukrainian refugees from the February 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine.[30][31] Busiek and Brent Anderson contributed a new Astro City story to the anthology, which featured themes relevant to the events in Ukraine.[32]
Busiek's work has won him numerous awards in the comics industry, including the Harvey Award for Best Writer in 1998[33] and the Eisner Award for Best Writer in 1999.[34] In 1994, with Marvels, he won Best Finite Series/Limited Series Eisner Award[35] and the Best Continuing or Limited Series Harvey Award,[36] as well as the Harvey Award for Best Single Issue or Story (for Marvels #4) in 1995.[37] In 1996, with Astro City, he won both the Eisner and Harvey awards for Best New Series.[38][39] He won the Best Single Issue/Single Story Eisner three years in a row from 1996 to 1998 for Astro City;[38][40][41] for Conan: The Legend #0 in 2004.[42] Busiek won the Best Continuing Series Eisner Award in 1997–1998,[40][41] as well as the Best Serialized Story award in 1998.[41] In addition, Astro City was awarded the 1996 Best Single Issue or Story Harvey Award,[39] and the 1998 Harvey Award for Best Continuing or Limited Series.[33]
Busiek was given the 1998 and 1999 Comics Buyer's Guide Awards for Favorite Writer,[43][44] with additional nominations in 1997 and every year from 2000 to 2004. In 2010, he was given the Inkpot Award.[45]
Busiek is married to Ann Busiek. Both Kurt and Ann were rendered by Alex Ross as New Yorkers who react to the invasion of Silver Surfer and Galactus on page 17 of Marvels #3. Kurt is used later as the model for a wandering drunk on page 33 of the same issue.[46]
In June 2022, Kurt Busiek revealed in the final issue of Arrowsmith: Behind Enemy Lines that the follow-up series Arrowsmith: Beyond Borders, would be delayed due to his health. Specifically, he related that he had been suffering from persistent migraines for over a year, for which he was receiving Botox treatments every three months, which reduced his productivity. He said that he was searching for a hospital with an advanced headache program where he could be placed.[47]
