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Kurt Busiek

Kurt Busiek Books

Comic book writer

Kurt Busiek is a renowned comic book writer, born on September 16, 1960. His works are known for their in-depth character development and complex narrative structures, which have had a profound impact on the comic industry.

Marvels (1994) #4

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Astro City: Life in the Big City (New E...

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Related Quotes

“The Falcon? He ain't no hero -- Not up here! Yeah! His skin be black -- -- but inside, he just another white guy!”

Comics Marvel Falcon Marvels

Book:Marvels (1994) #4

Source: Marvels (1994) #4

“They weren't here to win the approval of the petty and the small-minded. They were here to save the innocent.”

Comics Marvel Marvels Gwen Stacy

Book:Marvels (1994) #4

Source: Marvels (1994) #4

“Dracula, if he could see modern corporations, wouldnt like them much. He took care of his people, at least as he saw it. They had very little freedom, but they had a protector.”

People Ifs Littles Care Saws Modern Corporations Protector

Author:Kurt Busiek

“Youve got to leave the reader with more than just a name and a costume - they need to know who the character is, what theyre like, what kind of attitude they have, what sort of role they play.”

Knows Needs Kind Play Character Names Attitude Roles Reader Costumes

Author:Kurt Busiek

“I tend to think that the best face of humanity is that we learn. We explore, we study, we think.”

Thinking Faces Humanity Study

Author:Kurt Busiek

“When you have a novel set in a fictional history, you still should get your history right.”

Should Stills Novel

Author:Kurt Busiek

“What really matters is not how well a character fits a definition, but how strongly he or she resonates. Characters with strong, resonant ideas at their core will have more of an impact on the cultural consciousness than a character who's just an empty collection of attributes.”

Wells Ideas Matter Character Strong Consciousness Fit Empty Impact Definitions Core Collections Attributes

Author:Kurt Busiek

“I wanted to be a writer, but the idea of writing novels or movies seemed really intimidating. I never got more than a few pages into one.”

Writing Ideas Wanted Novel Pages Intimidating

Author:Kurt Busiek

“I think the purpose of deconstruction is to take something apart and see how it works. If you're not going to put it back together again and watch it go, what's the point?”

Ifs Thinking Together Purpose Watches Back Together Together Again Deconstruction Back Together Again

Author:Kurt Busiek

“Superhero creators who engage in deconstruction fall into two categories: There are the guys who do it because it's easy, because it gets an audience reaction if you point out that superheroes must be a bunch of psychotic nuts. And there are the guys who do it because they're actually interested, and they're trying to get at what's going on underneath. They're interested in the process and the results.”

Ifs Trying Two Guy Fall Easy Process Results Audience Creator Reactions Bunch Categories Nuts Superhero Psychotic Deconstruction

Author:Kurt Busiek

“I've always been positive about superheroes.”

Author:Kurt Busiek

“There are a lot of discussions where people will decide that James Bond is a superhero, because he's a larger-than-life hero who beats the bad guys by doing larger-than-life things. And I don't think that's a useful definition.”

People Thinking Guy Hero Beats Definitions Discussion Superhero Bad Guys Larger Than Life

Author:Kurt Busiek

“I think James Bond is a spy. He's not superhuman. Calling him a superhero is like calling James Bond movies "comic-book movies."”

Thinking Book Calling Comic Comic Book Superhero Spy Superhuman Bond Movie James Bond Movie

Author:Kurt Busiek

“"Superhero" is a term that's been borrowed in order to say "big and larger than life and loud and active and dumb." And I don't think that's a useful definition. That's more a dismissal.”

Thinking Bigs Order Term Definitions Active Dumb Loud Superhero Borrowed Larger Than Life Dismissal

Author:Kurt Busiek

“I think that the superhero-as-metaphor involves a superhero being some sort of intellectual, emotional, or other such concept writ large. But I don't know that it's a necessary part of the appeal that the superhero be superior.”

Thinking Knows Emotional Intellectual Concepts Metaphor Superiors Appeals Superhero

Author:Kurt Busiek

“I think the Hulk has always appealed very strongly to much younger readers than Spider-Man, because Spider-Man is an adolescent character, and the Hulk is a very childlike character.”

Thinking Men Character Reader Very Strong Spiders Childlike Spider Man

Author:Kurt Busiek

“The Hulk is rage personified, just, "I don't like something. Break it." And that's a great concept for a seven- or eight-year-old.”

Years Break Concepts Seven Eight Rage Like Something

Author:Kurt Busiek

“I'm not building each one character around one metaphor, so much as trying to build a heroic archetype that can be used to express the kind of metaphors that I find in each story.”

Trying Kind Character Stories Used Building Metaphor Heroic Archetype

Author:Kurt Busiek

“The metaphors exist for the stories.”

Stories Metaphor

Author:Kurt Busiek

“The characters are, by their nature, archetypes that can serve different metaphors.”

Different Character Metaphor Archetype

Author:Kurt Busiek

“If there's ever a character who can only serve one metaphor, I'll probably tell one story with that character and be done with it.”

Ifs Done Character Stories Metaphor

Author:Kurt Busiek

“The metaphor is the story, not the character.”

Character Stories Metaphor

Author:Kurt Busiek

“I seem to like playing with form, and the superhero genre has an awful lot of formula to it. It has a lot of formula to it that I don't think it should be limited to.”

Thinking Should Seems Form Awful Genre Formulas Superhero

Author:Kurt Busiek

“It's fun to take a piece of formula and go someplace else with it and see what happens.”

Happens Fun Pieces Formulas

Author:Kurt Busiek

“If I won the lottery tomorrow - which would be a real trick, since I haven't entered - and was independently wealthy for the rest of my life, I'd write comic books, because it's what I like doing.”

Ifs Writing Book Real Would Be Havens Tomorrow Tricks Comic Wealthy Comic Book Lottery

Author:Kurt Busiek

“I could name you a dozen superheroes whose powers I'd like to have. But if I could have any power in the world, it would be the power to read or watch a creative work and absorb the technical skill of the people who made it. Because then I could have even more fun writing. That's my core identity.”

People Ifs World Writing Made Would Be Names Fun Watches Creative Identity Skills Core Made It If I Could Dozen Superhero Creative Work Technical Skills

Author:Kurt Busiek

“It strikes me that the only reason to take apart a pocket watch, or a car engine, aside from the simple delight of disassembly, is to find out how it works. To understand it, so you can put it back together again better than before, or build a new one that goes beyond what the old one could do. We've been taking apart the superhero for ten years or more; it's time to put it back together and wind it up, time to take it out on the road and floor it, see what it'll do.”

Years Reason Together Simple Watches Car Wind Ten Delight Strikes Pockets Engines Superhero Back Together Together Again Back Together Again Pocket Watches

Book:Astro City: Life in the Big City (New Edition)

Source: Astro City: Life in the Big City (New Edition)

“Maybe I had a 'secret identity,' but then when you think about it, don't we all? A part of ourselves very few people ever get to see. The part we think of as 'me.' The part that deals with the big stuff. Makes the real choices. The part everything else is a reflection of.”

People Thinking Real Bigs Choices Stuff Deals Secret Identity Reflection Big Stuff Secret Identity

Author:Kurt Busiek

“I don't view Twitter as a promotional tool but as a really, really, really cool cocktail party.”

Views Party Tools Really Cool Cocktails Cocktail Parties

Author:Kurt Busiek

“I like superheroes. I like the drama of it, the stirring, larger-than-life aspect.”

Drama Aspect Superhero Stirring Larger Than Life

Author:Kurt Busiek

“I'm a writer. I just love telling stories.”

Stories Telling Stories

Author:Kurt Busiek

“At one point, I worked up a list of five requirements for a superhero: superpowers, a costume, a code name, a mission, and a milieu. If the character had three out of the five, they were a superhero. But that's just my definition.”

Ifs Character Three Names Five Definitions Missions Lists Code Requirements Costumes Superhero Superpower Milieu

Author:Kurt Busiek

About the Author

Born: September 16, 1960
Known for: Comic book writer
Quotes: 32

Related Topics

Superhero Thinking Character Ifs Metaphor Stories Definitions People Larger Than Life Names

Popular Topics

People Ifs Thinking Knows Men World Way Want Love Life Inspirational Needs Giving Feels Should Writing Trying Years Mind Firsts

Books & Sources

Marvels (1994) #4Related source material

Astro City: Life in the Big City (New Edition)Related source material

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