Ask Kurt Busiek

[Nomads1]

I thought so too. Like I said in the op, after reading his response in the Kirby /Marvel thread and how informative it was, I just knew we had to have this thread back.

I may be tempted to bring back the Kang Dynasty thread too!

I sure wouldn't mind it.

Peace

[Kurt Busiek]

Very cool...nice choices. I'm not familiar with Princess Ugg or Stumptown though.

Both from Oni Press. PRINCESS UGG is a fantasy/comedy about a barbarian princess going to "princess school" with a bunch of dainty civilized types, by Ted Naifeh. STUMPTOWN is a female-PI series set in Portland Oregon and written by Greg Rucka - there are two volumes out so far and the third is coming out as a mini-series now.

How about non-comics reading?

I'm currently re-reading Stephen King's IT. Before that I finished Greg van Eekhout's CALIFORNIA BONES, which was really good.

I read a lot of mystery -- Lawrence Block, Michael Connelly, John Sandford, Robert Crais -- fantasy & SF -- Lawrence Watt-Evans, John Scalzi, Charles de Lint, etc. -- and have been getting into literary fiction as well, trying different stuff here and there.

kdb

[hawkeyefan]

Both from Oni Press. PRINCESS UGG is a fantasy/comedy about a barbarian princess going to "princess school" with a bunch of dainty civilized types, by Ted Naifeh. STUMPTOWN is a female-PI series set in Portland Oregon and written by Greg Rucka - there are two volumes out so far and the third is coming out as a mini-series now.

I'm currently re-reading Stephen King's IT. Before that I finished Greg van Eekhout's CALIFORNIA BONES, which was really good.

I read a lot of mystery -- Lawrence Block, Michael Connelly, John Sandford, Robert Crais -- fantasy & SF -- Lawrence Watt-Evans, John Scalzi, Charles de Lint, etc. -- and have been getting into literary fiction as well, trying different stuff here and there.

kdb

Rucka on a PI type series? Can't believe I missed that...thanks, I'll check it out. Princess Ugg sounds pretty good, too.

King's It is great, one of my favorites. I just finished Horns by his son Joe Hill, and I have both Doctor Sleep and Nos4atu on deck.

If you dig fantasy, I'd recommend Joe Abercrombie's First Law Trilogy and Scott Lynch's The Lies of Lock Lamora. Some good stuff. I'll check out some of the other authors you mentioned.

Thanks for taking the time out to chat with us folks here, too. It's really cool of you.

[Kurt Busiek]

Rucka on a PI type series? Can't believe I missed that...thanks, I'll check it out. Princess Ugg sounds pretty good, too.

King's It is great, one of my favorites. I just finished Horns by his son Joe Hill, and I have both Doctor Sleep and Nos4atu on deck.

Both of those are good. NOS4A2 is very good.

If you dig fantasy, I'd recommend Joe Abercrombie's First Law Trilogy and Scott Lynch's The Lies of Lock Lamora. Some good stuff. I'll check out some of the other authors you mentioned.

I've read LOCKE LAMORA and the sequel, and the third one is waiting for me to get to it.

kdb

[hawkeyefan]

Both of those are good. NOS4A2 is very good.



I've read LOCKE LAMORA and the sequel, and the third one is waiting for me to get to it.

kdb

Glad to hear they're good.

I have just the first sequel for Locke waiting...didn't realize the third was out. Very cool.

[jackolover]

It's one particular style of narration. And yeah, it can add atmosphere, as well as clarify transitions, build a certain narrative rhythm and so on. As to whether a scene needs captions or not, I don't like the word "need." There's seldom only one way to do something in fiction/entertainment, so the way you do it is a choice, not a necessity.

I would use captions based on practice and experience, mainly -- if I thought that it helped the story, whether by adding a bit of atmosphere, or clarity, or if it slowed the reader down at a point I wanted them to slow down, or pulled them through a sequence I wanted to feel like it happened quickly...it's a matter of practice and comfort, really.


kdb

Is there a difference in the way the artist draws a story knowing it is being captioned, versus, (like Marvel once published non-captioned issues) non-captioned books? I could not make head nor tail of art I saw for captioned issues (with no captions yet), but, the deliberately non-captioned issues I could follow about 50% of those stories. It's like trying to follow Black Bolt because he can't talk.

[areacode212]

Hey, great to hear you'll be at NYCC. Reminds me that I should hit my storage locker for things to get signed (I always think of this too late). And yeah, your episode of "Rachel and Miles X-Plain the X-Men" was great--would love to hear you make a return visit.

[Witchfan]

Hey Kurt, when will you work for Marvel again?

[IfThisBemyDestiny]

You said once when you were writing the Heroes Return Iron Man in 1997 that Tony Stark was more interesting than Iron Man himself, even though the TPTB disagreed and wanted to put more emphasis on the latter. Do you feel validated that now everybody in the world pretty much agrees with you?

[XMLXXs Man]

I would like to ask a story-telling-related question, even though it's about One More Day... (which will make some people think I'm heading in one direction or another, but I am not):

In terms of serial story-telling, does OMD qualify to be called an "unresolved" storyline? I want to hasten to say that i'm not asking anything about the pros vs cons of the spider-marriage, or the character of MJ, or any of that.

My tentative opinion is that it's an unresolved storyline, which bugs me the way a song that ends on an unresolved chord-progression bugs me. Part of a resolution I would want is for something cataclysmic to fire back onto the character of Mephisto, as a result of his machinations. But it might be that Marvel thinks they cannot resolve the story without "undoing the undoing", and so the story will forever just hang there.

[Star_Jammer]

Kurt,

You've stated on the forums (well, before the reboot) as having talked to Rick Remender about the Scarlet Witch and how you view her powers, personality and such. I always felt, in reading your Avengers run, that she was one of your favorite characters. Have you been keeping yourself up-to-date on her current on-goings? And if so, what's your general opinion (as specifics tend to...heat up a discussion)?

[Nomads1]

Mr. Busiek,
If you were to return to writing for Marvel, would you rather tackle characters you have writen and had distinguished runs before, such as Iron Man or the Avengers, or would you rather tackle a group or characters you haven't written regularly before, such as Hulk, Spider-Man, FF or the X-Men? Would you prefer to get ahold of a lesser known character or team who doesn't have his book now?
Do you prefer writting teams or solo characters for Marvel?
What would be the answers applying the same questions for DC?

Thank you.

Peace

[Kieran_Frost]

Dear Kurt Busiek,

As always I just want to gush over how you (and you alone) made me a lifetime fan of comics. Thunderbolts #1 was my first ever comic, Moonstone is my favourite ever comic character (thanks to you). I adored your run. And my question is... odd! (I promise I'm not a pervert, but we've debated this on here before, I'd love to know your thoughts).

QUESTION: do you think Karla and Clint ever made love?

I ask because... time wise they really didn't have a moment to. From when they actually got together, they had Scourge, then he was in jail, then they weren't together. I quite like the idea her best relationship was one not built on sex; and I like that (for Clint) she's "the one that got away". It adds a great amount of significance. Now I know Fabian wrote the bulk of them as a couple (but you put the wheels in motion even as early as #10 with their flirting when Clint tried to arrest Karla) but the famous "uh-oh!" moment was the official "start." So... I'd love to know what your views on it are.

EDIT - OH!!! I have one more.

QUESTION: did you ever have any plans for the conclusion to Clint never knowing Karla murdered the Kosmos Primotur?

Obviously when Abe went to jail Melissa was furious because she knew Karla killed someone. At a second point it "came up" but Clint still never learnt what happened. Did you ever have an idea where this plot point was going?

[victorxd1999]

Dear Mr. Busiek,
What is your favorite comic ever? I'm very interested in seeing a proffesional writer's opinion on the best comics ever. Oh, what do you think of the now considered classic comics (I remember you not liking the Dark Phoenix Saga so I would love to hear what you think of other "classic" and acclaimed stories). Thanks a lot in advance!

[electr1cgoblin]

Mr. Busiek,

Thanks, firstly, for this wonderful opportunity. I hope the questions do not become overwhelming or a "chore" for you...it's obvious you're a pretty popular guy around here, and I can see how that could easily happen.

Questions: 1) What comic has been the most fun to write for you, and why?

2) Any thoughts on the tendency of modern comics to be much "darker" in nature than previously, i.e. with heroes more apt to kill, go insane, commit crimes, etc.? Do you feel this trend is here to stay or do you think there is a pendulum effect with things like this?

Lastly, simply thank you for countless hours of enjoyment reading your works. Stuff like Avengers, Thunderbolts, the Power Company, and Astro City are absolutely gold to me and I think we share a lot of sensibilities about what makes for good stories, compelling characters, etc.