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Welcome to Brainstorm's Corner, a monthly springboard showcase. A springboard, basically a one-page prose summary of a comic book story, is the format used for submitting stories to companies such as DC Comics. In one page, a writer must describe the plot while also trying to make it as intriguing as possible. It's quite a challenge! Brainstorm's Corner gives YOU, the reader, the chance to critique the story before a writer sends it off to every editor at DC. So let Fanzing know…would you pay to read this? If not, why not? Welcome to Brainstorm's Corner, a monthly springboard showcase. A springboard, basically a one-page prose summary of a comic book story, is the format used for submitting stories to companies such as DC Comics. In one page, a writer must describe the plot while also trying to make it as intriguing as possible. It's quite a challenge! Brainstorm's Corner gives YOU, the reader, the chance to critique the story before a writer sends it off to every editor at DC. So let Fanzing know…would you pay to read this? If not, why not? TITANS WEST by Kurt Belcher Being a three issue limited series featuring the team no one wanted to see again! ROLL CALL! Changeling! Omen! Dial 'H' for Hero! Red Star! Flamebird! Risk! Pantha! Azrael! Rose Wilson! Wildebeest! Issue #1 The newly formed Titans West are forced into battle before most of them even agree to be members. The villainous group called the Demolition Team is in Los Angeles, holding an office building hostage. The Titans answer the call – and almost get wiped out trying to beat the Demolition Team, due to their inexperience as a team. The Demolition Team escapes, while the Titans discover the Team to have been using some sort of hi-tech data collection devices in their job – which disappears at their retreat. The group returns to their temporary HQ (Flamebird's family estate) to recuperate – just in time to meet Changeling, who insists that he take over the team, bringing along a few members of his own: Azrael and Lilith Clay-Jupiter, Omen. End of Issue One. Issue #2 At the beginning of Issue Two, the team is in the middle of a rigorous training session. In the meantime, Changeling and Omen investigate the Demolition Team's claims that a major villain had masterminded the Los Angeles hostage situation. Flamebird heard a few of the members refer to future situations like this one, as they retreated. Which is just what the Demolition Team are doing when they pop again, destroying a series of financial companies headquarters – holding the employees and buildings hostage for a huge pay-off in ransom from the companies. The Titans respond to the plea for help and beat the group again, this time capturing one of the collection devices like the one the Team used in their first scheme. The Team tells the Titans that even if they find the mastermind behind the jobs, they'll never be able to beat him. In S.T.A.R. Labs' Los Angeles office, Dr. Kitty Faulkner examines the device and through some interference from Changeling, discovers that is an emotion-collecting machine. Omen deduces that the machine may be collecting the emotions for use by a powerful psychic or empath's use. Faulkner puts the machine back together and allows it to escape. The machine then makes a direct beeline for a specific area: a collection of disused warehouses in South Central L.A. The group (minus Omen, whom Changeling orders to stay behind and coordinate the group's activities) follows the device to its destination, where they are immediately ambushed by an immensely powerful being called Captain Wonder, who defeats them. End of Issue Two. Issue #3 When he regains consciousness, Changeling discovers that he has been wired into a large machine, which stimulates and feeds off of his emotion. He continues to seemingly fight his way free of the machine, only to realize that he has been duped and get psychically tortured by the machine again. Finally, Changeling is released temporarily from his prison to discover the mastermind behind the crimes and the Titans' imprisonment: Doctor Psycho! The freakish dwarf has been generating the crimes of terror in order to feed on the widespread panic and fear that they generate – storing the emotion for future use in powering his psychic powers to conquer the city, the country and eventually the world. He didn't expect there to be much opposition on the West Coast, which has effectively no super-heroes. Changeling is put back under and Doctor Psycho gets into contact with the Demolition Team, who are holding Los Angeles City Hall hostage with a nuclear device. Doctor Psycho is then confronted by Omen, who has locked onto her friends' emotions and teleported into Psycho's stronghold. Doctor Psycho immediately senses her, transforming himself into Captain Wonder and bombarding her with his massive powers, which she struggles to fend off. She releases the Titans, and tells them to get to City Hall immediately to stop the Demolition Team. At City Hall, the Titans defeat the Demolition Team and disable the device – after which Captain Wonder immediately appears with Omen, whom he has beaten and placed under his mental control. He then proceeds to systematically beat the other Titans again – until there is only Changeling. Changeling implores Lilith to emerge from her trance and help him – eventually jarring her loose by lending her his own mental strength. The rest of the Titans follow suit and lend her their own strength – which she uses to increase her own mental powers to levels capable of beating Psycho. But it still isn't enough. Knowing Psycho to desire emotions, she begins drawing in emotion from all of City Hall, all of Los Angeles, from an ever-widening area of people – eventually bringing Psycho to the point that is more than he can contain. His powers are overloaded and his brain fried. We leave the Titans at Steve Dayton's Malibu beach house, relaxing and enjoying some rest after their ordeal. The mini-series will leave open the question of whether this new version of Titans West will stick around. End of Titans West. So, what did you think ? Was it good? Was it lousy? Splunge? Would you fork over anywhere from $2 and up to read it? Should DC hire this person immediately and you'll burn your collection (or at least Brother Power The Geek) if it doesn't happen? Perhaps you would like to hold up your naked ideas for over 1500 people to see? If so, first check out DC's submission guidelines (available here thanks to Jon Karl Franklin Haynes). All Characters are ™ DC Comics This proposal is © 1999 by Kurt Belcher.