DCA: Who is David Brashear and how did you inherit the nicknamed “Damned”?

David: Why, I’m me of course! A hack writer from DCA who’s managed to pound out a lot of stuff.

The nickname came from MC, as I recall.

Which city and state is proud to claim you as an upstanding citizen?

D: Elizabethtown, KY

What’s your background?

D: Nothing out of the ordinary. Born, went to school, grew up. In that order.

What inspired you to start writing?

D: I don’t really remember an inspirational moment. It was just something I started doing for fun and still do.

What were the first stories you wrote? Where they for English class back in school or something you decided to do for yourself?

D: I did quite a bit of creative writing in English, but I’d always doodled around with my own stuff as well.

What’s your approach to writing?

D: Pretty simple, really. I sit down with a notebook and number out 12 lines. I make a list of characters I want to use and fill out one line per issue. First the villain (or overwhelming story) goes in. Then over to the side I put in any subplots that need to start that issue or anything that needs to happen there. It may be different, but it seems to work for me.

Do you have any influences in fiction that have affected this approach?

D: It’s hard to say. I know that I’ve been influenced a lot in what I write by what I’m reading at the time, but overall I just think of what I feel would make a good story and try to tell it.

Why fanfiction and how long have you been writing it?

D: There are a lot of characters in the DCU that I’d love to get a shot at writing, and I know what the odds are of me ever getting hired by DC to do anything with them. Plus, here I get to do pretty much what I want to with them. As for how long - officially or unofficially? When I was younger, I plotted out years of an AU Justice League – even going so far as to produce my own version of “Who’s Who” to keep them all straight. And with five or six Wonder Women, it gets hard to keep them straight. Although I do seem to remember their headquarters exploding on a regular basis…

What brought you to DC Anthology? What was the first title you read at DCA?

D: Actually, I had actually applied for another site (I’m not going to mention it because I don’t really remember it). I remembered wanting to work on a Titans book, and I liked the way their New Titans title was going, but it was idle. I applied and never heard back. Then I stopped by DCA and wound up hanging around.

I don’t remember which title was the first I read, but I’d say it was probably TC’s Teen Titans. Just to see what was going on.

Do you have any work at another site?

D: I’ve got a couple, actually. I did a 12-issue Superboy run at DC Legends that I’m very happy with. I’m still thinking about possibly doing another arc or two there that might help to flesh out the supporting cast a bit more. I’m also doing Gambit over at Marvel Anthology.

Of course, if you like wrestling, I also do a weekly column at Inside Pulse called “Great-ing Gimmicks of the Past.”

What was behind your decision to pitch TITANS WEST as your first title at DCA?

D: After checking out TC’s Titans book I realized that all of the characters I wanted to use were free. I put the team together in my head and sketched things out and figured it was worth a shot.

The ‘Titans’ have a long, huge history that has been through many hands. What approach did you take in creating the giant roster for this book? What part of history played a factor in your roster and how would you allow it to affect the characters relationships and were you concerned that some, more than others, would get more of the spot light?

D: Now you’ve got me pulling out my old notebook. The roster actually changed quite a bit (and I’d forgotten it myself). Originally my roster was Changeling, Flamebird, the new Golden Eagle, Bumblebee, Red Star, Mal, Risk, Dagon, Ryand’r, and Damage. I’d also played around with the idea of a new Guardian and possibly bringing Reverb in. That changed because I finally just scratched Ryand’r and the Guardian out, Reverb became the resurrected Vibe, and Dagon had to wait until the Overseers formed.

Like you said, going into this, I knew that the Titans had a long history and I wanted to pay tribute to that while moving in new directions. I knew from Day 1 that Gar and Terra would wind up together. I wanted to make Changeling more of a leader – and we saw flashes of that when he’s attacked in DC’s Technis Imperative. I also wanted to transform Flamebird away from the goofy blonde she’d always been – like Geoff Johns had started to in the Beast Boy mini.

I wasn’t worried about anybody really stealing the spotlight, although one of my goals was to make sure that everybody had something to do. I love an early issue where the team’s fighting the Brotherhood of Evil and everybody gets a swing in.

The ‘Titans’ also have a very faithful and knowledgeable fan base, including yourself obviously. How hard was it to write this series with them in mind, yet keep it from getting too complicated for new readers?

D: I think that things were a little complicated in the beginning. If I had it to do over, I would’ve started with a Secret Files & Origins that would’ve explained who the team was a little better. However, as time went on, we moved away from things that fans would’ve had to know and could just pick up. Don’t know who the Hangmen were? Don’t worry about it! The only two you need to worry about are Breathtaker and Provoke, and here are their powers.

TITANS WEST is a huge series with 67 issues. Over the course of this series how hard was it to keep your plans straight with the history it’s based off of? Did you forget or almost forget to include certain plot points or subplots in the series?

D: Oh yes. I forgot an entire subplot in the bomber storyline, where I’d planned to have the finger pointing at Flamebird. After all, the team’s starting to fall apart – would she be willing to blow up their HQ and try to kill Tara to keep the team together?

I also forgot to say exactly who was impersonating Vibe in a later storyline. Guess I’ll have to go back to that one (and it would fit nicely into Starman). I also never got around to telling the story of where the Golden Eagle armor originally came from, but that story’s already planned.

After 67 issues TITANS WEST came to an end. Looking back at the series what were some of your favorite scenes, issues or moments?

D: There were a lot. I was really pleased with the way that the first annual flowed with the various members crossing each other’s paths but never meeting. The comedic issues – like when Harlequin showed up or the Girls’ Night Outs are also some of my favorites. And I’m a big fan of the old JLA, so letting the original Titans West loose on the JLA satellite was great as well.

I also loved the fight between Captain Marvel and CM3. I’d been wanting to write the line where CM3, his face twisted with rage, called Cap the “Big Red Cheese.”

The wedding is another one I’m proud of. Unknown fact – my best friend’s a preacher and another good friend does a lot of sound equipment work, so they wound up finding their way in there, too. I was also proud that I could work some of the greatest Titans creators into the service – Marv Wolfman, George Perez, and Nick Cardy (an incredible artist from the 60’s Teen Titans series). Unfortunately, I forgot to get Bob Haney (the team’s original writer) in there as well.

Do you miss the series or are you content that it’s over and able to move on to chase other threads the series left untied?

D: Actually, the book’s still influencing things I’m doing today. I’ve been hinting at an upcoming story called Future Forsaken. That story’s got ties that go way back to the early days of Titans West. I’m not saying I’d never go back to the book, but I’ve been dry on ideas for an ongoing for the team for a while now. That’s why I ended it. I’ve seen what burnout can do and didn’t want to let it drag the book down. I’d actually gotten to a point where it felt like I was just rehashing the break the team up/put the team back together story too much and I felt it was starting to get forced. Plus, if there was a reunion, the fact that Dagon, Vibe, Flamebird, and Risk have moved on would have to be addressed.

What drove your decision to restore Vibe to life and Dagon back to continuity?

D: Vibe had always been one of my favorites from the old Detroit JLA (on a side note, the annual where they formed is one of the first books I remember getting. It was in a pile of books that were a gift from my dad when I just started reading. I wonder if he had any idea what he’d gotten started.). As I started planning out TW, I thought – why not bring Vibe back? He’s definitely more Titans material than JLA. But there’s a definite personality change. In the original JLA books, Vibe was a cool street kid who’d been a leader of a street gang. Now he’s still that person, but his idea of cool is 80’s cool. He’s still having trouble getting past the idea that big hair and a Flock of Seagulls are out. He’s the ultimate fish out of water.

When Team Titans hit, I’d been interested in two characters – Terra and Dagon. I thought both of them had potential. Mirage also kind of grew on me, but I was never as big a fan of her. Kilowatt, Redwing, and Battalion I never cared about. Like I said above, I’d considered bringing Dagon in from the start of the book. This was just the opportunity where it felt right.

There are SPOILERS revealed in the question below.

Okay, let’s move on to the opposite end of that. After resolving her mental issues in the first 7 issues of the series, creating a relationship between her and Gar to the point they get married…why kill Terra in the last issue of the series?

D: I knew that I wanted the team to split in the last issue. That way if somebody else wanted to run with the book they could reassemble the team, or the characters would be available to show up in other books, like Risk is doing for Teen Titans or Dagon, Vibe, and Flamebird in I Vampire.

I decided that the one event that could split the team would be a member’s death, but it would take the right person. Flamebird or Changeling could have died, but I felt they would have been too obvious. If Risk, Vibe, Golden Eagle, or CM3 had died I think that the team could have continued. If Bumblebee had died, I think that there would have been a party on the message boards.

That left Terra, who was perfect. She wasn’t the first one you’d expect to die. Plus, if she died she’d devastate Changeling, who’d walk. We’ve seen that Flamebird wasn’t ready to carry the team solo yet. Maybe she will be in the future. Changeling and Flamebird were always the core of the group. Without that core, the group would collapse.

End of SPOILERS

Any hints to what the future holds for any of the characters that haven’t been featured yet in a series outside of TITANS WEST?

D: Possibly. That’s all I can say right now. I definitely have plans for Changeling, but it’s going to be a while before those plans come to fruition. As for the others, while they’ve gone their separate ways Mal and Karen are still keeping the headquarters up – just in case. I definitely wouldn’t expect to never see the other Titans again – except of course for the dead ones. No magic resurrections or wall-pounding here!

The other normal continuity series you wrote that went for more than 12 issues was SUPERBOY. This is a title that doesn’t have hardly the amount of history, the fan devotion and even the diverse cast. Was this easier to write than TITANS WEST with a having a tighter focus?

D: It was actually harder to write because if I got stuck, I couldn’t just jump to a scene with another team member like I could with TWest. I’d have to fight through the block to keep things moving. On the other hand, it was easier to keep up with what everybody was doing at one time.

It’s pretty apparent that the LEGION OF SUPERHEROES was your favorite recurring guest’s even if they weren’t the true Legion. What is it about the Legion interacting with Superboy that fascinated you?

D: When I brought in the Legionnaires, I actually did it because the Legion had zero representation at DCA. I’d also wanted to set up something that someone else could run with if they wanted to. And Tenzil was just a lot of fun to write.

You even managed to create a sort of brotherly relationship between Arsenal and Superboy. Was this something you were intent on doing or did it just happen naturally as the series developed?

D: The basis was the fact that DC’s established that the Guardian (Superboy’s original mentor-figure) was Arsenal’s uncle. And from there the friendship just seemed to grow. After all, I think that Superboy looked at Arsenal and saw Guardian. Arsenal looked at Superboy and saw some traits of a younger Roy Harper. Plus, with Guardian gone I wanted someone that Superboy could look up to without having Superman pop up every issue.

Arsenal and Superboy meshed so well together that I brought Roy in for my run over at DC Legends, where the same friendship continued.

Now that your run of the title has ended and the book has moved on to other hands are you happy with the current direction? Do you feel it honors where you left off?

D: It’s really hard to compare what I did to what’s being done now. When I took over Superboy, I know that there were a lot of people who weren’t happy with what had been done with the book. My original 12 issues I looked at as a way to “fix” what had happened and get him ready for the next writer.

I actually think that what Brad and Erik have been doing since may actually be harder than what I did. After all, when I was writing him, Superboy was still firmly in the world that Karl Kesel had created in DC’s book. They’ve taken him, moved him to Smallville, and apart from Ma and Pa Kent and the farm they’ve had to build the book from the ground up.

I’m enjoying what they’re doing now and think they’ve built an all new supporting cast that’s strong.

Aside from TITANS WEST and SUPERBOY you have written ARSENAL, FLAMEBIRD, KID ETERNITY, I, VAMPIRE, TEEN TITANS: MILLENNIUM and are currently writing JLI. TITANS WEST alone gives you the largest body of work on site. Why isn’t that enough? What fuels all of these ideas? Does it make it easier that all of these, so far, have only been limited runs for an arc or two?

D: I’ve always been a big fan of the DC Universe – literally ever since the first comics I ever bought. As I read the books I get ideas – “Wouldn’t it be wild if so-and-so did this?” and they wind up translating into runs on the site. When I write, I plot out 12 issues. When I get closer to issue 9 or so I start trying to look ahead to the next 12. With TWest it flowed perfectly. Superboy doesn’t really count, because I originally only did 12 on him and just redid issues 1-3 to make him fit into the new continuity better.

Do you go into every title with a clear end in sight?

D: Not necessarily. Arsenal, Superboy, JLI, and TWest were open ended. When I started working on them, I knew how the twelve-issue arc would end. Teen Titans Millennium I’d always planned out for 25 issues – just like Gambit. The minis I knew what would happen and where everybody would wind up at the end.

The deciding factor as to whether I continue a book or not is actually pretty simple. If I can come up with another 12 issues worth of stories, I’ll go ahead and do it. If not, I’ll let the book go and see if somebody else may want to run with it for a while.

Tell us a little about these other books. How do they relate to your two primary bodies of work and what do you hope to accomplish with these titles?

D: One thing I’ve always tried to do is to keep the books separate, but you can also pick up things from the others that figure into the book you’re currently reading. Arsenal’s probably my best example. If you want to read Arsenal by itself that’s fine. But, Arsenal also flows into JLI. You can read JLI by itself as well, or you can go back and read Arsenal if you want to so you can see how Arsenal and Troia wound up as part of the League. TWest is the same. Flamebird takes place off-screen while the TWest storyline continued (and set up the friendship between Flamebird and the Shade that’ll reflect in Starman). Superboy showed up in TWest for an issue when Hero Cruz was buried. And, of course, TWest flows into I Vampire, and I Vampire flows into Starman. That was always the plan when TWest ended and it’s just now coming up on the site. The only books that stand by themselves are Teen Titans Millennium and Kid Eternity.

It’s pretty obvious that all of these books are different in their mood, direction and plots. How do you manage to keep all of those straight when you write them when you’re writing more than one series at a time? With that said how do you find the ability to keep on coming up with more ideas?

D: Notebooks, plain and simple. I’ve got the basic ideas sketched out and stick to them, although the DC Legends Superboy was the hardest because I kept wanting to reflect back to things that had happened in the DCA continuity.

New ideas just hit me, and a lot of times it may come out of things that DC’s already publishing. The idea for Gar as leader of TWest came from JLA/Titans, when we saw Gar leading the Jurgens Titans in a fight. Flamebird’s new characterization came from Geoff Johns in the Beast Boy mini.

TTM came out of Marvel’s Ultimate line. I wanted to see what would happen if the original five got the Ultimate treatment. To be honest, the book’s original title was Ultimate Teen Titans. Because of the Marvel ties, Erik suggested switching it to Teen Titans Millennium.

Kid Eternity came out of the fact that I’ve been reading a lot of Vertigo lately and realized that apart from Jamie’s Dr. Fate there was nothing that felt really Vertigo on the site. I’d kind of wanted to write a weird book like that, so I did the mini to give it a shot.

Sometimes an idea grows out of challenging myself. I remember on the old message boards when I did the Arsenal mini that someone (I think it was TC) had said that Arsenal was a great character, but he didn’t think he could carry a solo series. Challenge accepted. Over at DCL, there was a storyline halfway through where Superboy discovered his roommate was gay. That came from another challenge. I figured I’d done enough bashing online about how gay characters were usually either stereotypes, used to preach, or just there to rub their gayness in your face. I decided to write one who was more than just that one aspect of his personality.

Speaking of new ideas the epilogue of I, VAMPIRE #4 sets up the foundation for yet another series by your hand: STARMAN. From conversations with you it’s really apparent that you’re excited for this series, probably more so than any other title you’ve started. Why is this book so important and how long have you been planning it?

D: Starman’s going to be the first totally new book I’ve done in a while. After all, the new site’s been going for two and a half years, and for a lot of that time I didn’t have to do a lot of writing at all. There was so much coming over from the old site with TWest that I could just sit back and watch the books get reposted. To be honest, Starman’s going to be my first new book since the reboot back in 2005 – JLI, TTM, Arsenal, and TWest were at least reposts. It’s going to be interesting, especially since I’m still finding notes I’d made when I got the idea for the book. I still don’t have everything sketched out as thoroughly as I like it. I know the starting point and the ending point. The middle’s still what’s kind of sketchy.

Why did you wait this long to begin this series? To go nearly 7 years sitting on this idea must’ve been pretty difficult when it’s evident you’re not short on words. Was it really this necessary to wait for all of those other titles to be done before you started on STARMAN?

D: Not necessarily. When I started TWest, Jack actually showed up in one issue. Running off the old Titans Tower (which had paintings of each member on the wall of the meeting room), I decided to have Jack show up and reveal that he was the one who was painting them for the TWest meeting room. I’d actually planned for that to be it – a fun tribute to one of my favorite characters.
As time went on, I started getting ideas for a new Starman book. As TWest started winding down, I decided that the time was getting right to do it. We know the Shade’s in Opal, and he has ties to Flamebird from her mini. But I didn’t want to immediately have her move there, too. I Vampire provides a break from TWest and leads into a new world for Starman. That’s why I named the first issue Beginnings and Endings and the last Endings and Beginnings. I Vampire 1 marked the end of TWest but the Beginning of Andrew Bennett’s story. Issue 4 marks the end of Bennett’s solo story and the beginning of Jack’s. And, of course, there are going to be ties there coming from the I Vampire mini as well as Titans West.

How many issues are you planning on this series to be? Will it be your next epic like TITANS WEST or another limited series?

D: To be honest, it’s too early to tell. Right now I’m sketching out the first 12 issues, so that’s definite. If things work out and I can come up with another 12 stories, it’ll keep going. If not, I’ll step away.

Any hints to what we can expect from STARMAN?

D: Expect some familiar faces to be showing up. It’s already been established that Flamebird’s heading over there, but she won’t be the only one. The overall arc of the twelve issues actually ties into something that James Robinson created in the pages of DC’s Starman.

Well, I hope this series works out the way you want it. If it’s half as thrilling as your enthusiasm to it then it’s going to be a great read.

D: Thanks.

Is there anybody on site you’d have assassinated in order to take over their book?

D: Not really. I’ve always liked to work with the smaller fringe characters as opposed to the big guns like Superman, Batman, or Wonder Woman. That’s one thing I’ve always been lucky about – if there’s a character I want to work with they’ve almost always been available.

Any other author you’d like to see do a fill-in issue or a continuation of any of your books to see what they’d bring to the table?

D: Right now I’ve got everything so tied up it’s hard to say yes. After Future Forsaken if somebody wanted to take a crack at Titans West I wouldn’t mind. Also, I’ve got Teen Titans Millennium set to wrap up with issue 25. I’m looking to set that up so if anybody wanted to try and pick that up and run with it they’ll be able to with no problems.

What are some of your favorite titles or characters at DCA (besides your own of course) and why?

D: TC’s Teen Titans is a book that I always read as soon as it hits. Deadshot’s right up there, too. Gru’s Flash as well.

It’s really hard to pick out single books, however. I’ve got to say that I think DCA’s got the highest level of quality right now that it’s ever had. Some stories haven’t been my favorites, but even then you’ve got to admit that they’re well-written. It’s certainly different from the past, when overall things were going well but there was still that one book that just wasn’t clicking as well.

Are you truly “Damned” or is it just a terrible rumor started by a terrible person?

D: Well, it was started by MC, so I’ll have to go with terrible person.

Well, thanks for your time David, do you have anything to say or plug before we’re done?

D: I’ll go ahead and say that there are still more big plans ahead that should surprise people. Other than that, my lips are sealed.