He grew up in various towns in the Boston area, including Lexington where he befriended future comic book creator Scott McCloud.

That comic is the first part of a continuity-heavy four-part story arc; he was drawn to the copious history and cross-connections with other series.

[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'...

'"[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).

[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.

[23] Busiek wrote a 52-issue weekly DC miniseries titled Trinity starring Batman, Superman and Wonder Woman.

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.

[29] In April 2022, Busiek was reported to be 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 teamed up and contributed a new Astro City story to the anthology, which will harbor themes relevant to the events in Ukraine.

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.

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.