Many children grow up to pursue careers either because of their upbringing or in spite of it. In the case of Boston native Kurt Busiek, it was the latter. The future comic book writer was not allowed to read many comics as a youngster, as his parents disapproved of most of them.
“My parents were big believers in the idea that comic books rotted the mind, so we kids weren’t allowed to have comics, except for the stuff my parents bought that they approved,” Busiek once shared.
By the time he was 14, Busiek got his hands on a copy of Daredevil #120 which happened to be the first part of a continuity-heavy four-part story arc. Busiek was drawn into the copious history and cross-connections with other titles and began reading comics regularly. During his childhood, he befriended future comic book creator Scott McCloud (Understanding Comics) and the pair later practiced making comics throughout high school and college. At this time, Busiek had many letters published in comic book letter columns. He actually originated the theory that Phoenix was a separate being who had impersonated Jean Grey, and that Grey had not died. This idea made its way from freelancer to freelancer, before eventually being used in the comics.
Among his early professional work was back-up stories in Green Lantern, fill-in issues of Power Man and the Iron Fist and writing the Red Tornado limited series. Alongside Alex Ross, he later produced the Marvels limited series. As comics historian Matthew K. Manning noted, this title “reinvigorated painted comics as a genre, went on to become an acclaimed masterpiece, and spawned more than its own fair share of imitator.” He went on to craft the Untold Tales of Spider-Man series with Pat Olliffe before co-creating the Thunderbolts with Mark Bagley. Presented as a superhero team much like the Avengers, the Thunderbolts were later revealed to be the Masters of Evil in a surprise twist.
In the late ‘90s, Busiek launched The Avengers Vol. 3 with penciler George Pérez and Iron Man Vol. 3 with artist Sean Chen. Together with Carlos Pacheco, he wrote the Avengers Forever limited series before continuing his four-year run as writer of The Avengers. Busiek reunited with Pérez to create the JLA/Avengers limited series and later worked on the award-winning Kurt Busiek’s Astro City. More recently, Busiek penned a new Conan series for Dark Horse, Aquaman: Sword of Atlantis #40-49, Superman, the 52-issue Trinity miniseries and the eight-issue miniseries Kirby: Genesis.
Over his career Busiek has won numerous awards, including Harvey and Eisner Awards for Best Writer, Best Limited Series, Best Single Issue or Story, Best New Series, and Best Single Issue or Story. He was also given the 1998 and 1999 Comics Buyer’s Guide Award for Favorite Writer, with additional nominations in 1997 and every year from 2000 to 2004.
It would seem the comic industry has not rotted this prolific writer’s mind just yet.