History Creator / KurtBusiek

Kurt Busiek (born September 16, 1960) is an American ComicBook writer noted for seamlessly blending [[UsefulNotes/TheSilverAgeOfComicBooks Silver Age]] sensibilities with modern storytelling expectations, all while deconstructing and reconstructing various storytelling tropes along the way. He is arguably most renowned for his work on the ''ComicBook/{{Marvels}}'' limited series and ''ComicBook/{{Thunderbolts}}'', as well as his acclaimed run on ''ComicBook/TheAvengers'', (all three for Creator/MarvelComics), and his own ''[[ComicBook/AstroCity Kurt Busiek's Astro City]]''. He is an unabashed fan of all comic books, and has a knowledge of canon and character history that borders on uncanny.

* ArmedWithCanon: By the time Busiek finished his run on ''The Avengers,'' he had managed to RetCon almost the entire [[UsefulNotes/TheDarkAgeOfComicBooks Dark Age of Comic Books]] history of the team (his retconning of [[AudienceAlienatingEra The Crossing]] amounted to several antagonists ''[[ActuallyADoombot were impostors]]'').
* AudienceAlienatingEra: Invoked in the third issue of ''[[ComicBook/JLAAvengers JLA/Avengers]]'', when the [[Franchise/JusticeLeagueOfAmerica Justice League]] and ComicBook/TheAvengers ask to see their worlds the way they should be, instead of their idealized [[UsefulNotes/TheSilverAgeOfComicBooks Silver]] and [[UsefulNotes/TheBronzeAgeOfComicBooks Bronze]] Age versions. Each character sees the {{Face Heel Turn}}s, {{Heroic Sacrifice}}s, {{Suspiciously Similar Substitute}}s, and WithGreatPowerComesGreatInsanity that they will experience in the "correct" universes. They are '''horrified.''' However, it's important to note that they decided to return the worlds to the way they were, because they cannot just pretend it didn't happen.

* SelfDeprecation: Done in Busiek and Erik Larsen's early-2000's resurrection of ''ComicBook/TheDefenders''. In addition to portraying its principal characters as supreme {{Jerk Ass}}es who eventually decide to take over the world so it won't ''need'' to be defended (and, more importantly, so they won't have to deal with one another), the series invoked StylisticSuck via references to Marvel's incredibly goofy [[UsefulNotes/TheSilverAgeOfComicBooks Silver Age]] giant monster comics, and one of its covers proudly boasted a Wizard Magazine quote proclaiming ''The Defenders'' to be "the worst comic ever produced."

* ''The Liberty Project''

* DoingItForTheArt

* DorkAge: Invoked in the third issue of ''[[ComicBook/JLAAvengers JLA/Avengers]]'', when the [[Franchise/JusticeLeagueOfAmerica Justice League]] and ComicBook/TheAvengers ask to see their worlds the way they should be, instead of their idealized [[UsefulNotes/TheSilverAgeOfComicBooks Silver]] and [[UsefulNotes/TheBronzeAgeOfComicBooks Bronze]] Age versions. Each character sees the {{Face Heel Turn}}s, {{Heroic Sacrifice}}s, {{Suspiciously Similar Substitute}}s, and WithGreatPowerComesGreatInsanity that they will experience in the "correct" universes. They are '''horrified.''' However, it's important to note that they decided to return the worlds to the way they were, because they cannot just pretend it didn't happen.

* ArmedWithCanon: By the time Busiek finished his run on ''The Avengers,'' he had managed to RetCon almost the entire [[UsefulNotes/TheDarkAgeOfComicBooks Dark Age of Comic Books]] history of the team (his retconning of [[DorkAge The Crossing]] amounted to several antagonists ''[[ActuallyADoombot were impostors]]'').

* FallingIntoTheCockpit

* PowersAsPrograms: Subverted in Busiek's arc in ''Action Comics'', where an intergalactic Auctioneer kidnaps a bunch of heroes with the intent of selling them to collectors. On his ship, everyone lost their powers. {{Superman}} figured that since everyone's powers came from different sources, that they were being blocked mentally. He breaks the block by putting himself in mortal danger (for a normal human) and is protected by his invulnerability. Since he knows it's a lie, the mental block is broken.

* ''ComicBook/KurtBusieksAvengers''

* ''ComicBook/TheAvengers''

* ChurchOfHappyology: The Triune Understanding cult in his run on ''ComicBook/TheAvengers'' was clearly supposed to represent this.