Who's Cyborg?

Who's This? A Titan who became a Justice Leaguer.

The facts: Created by Marv Wolfman and George Perez for the New Teen Titans (and thus first appearing in the book's preview in DC Comics Presents #26), Cyborg is the most enduring hero from that iteration, having since graduated to a sometimes founding member of the Justice League (in the New52 and the Synderverse), though he had previously worked with the team in the Super Powers cartoon and around the time of Cry for Justice.
How you could have heard of him: He's become DC's biggest African-American hero, starring in Teen Titans cartoons and the live action Justice League movie (though his own solo film is dead and buried). In the comics, after a high profile role in the JLA and sustaining a solo book (in two volumes) for about 3 years total, he is once again connected to the Titans, as a member of the Titans Academy faculty.
Example story: Teen Titans Spotlight #13 (August 1987)  "Face to Face to Face to Face" by J. Michael Straczynski, Chuck Patton and Romeo Tanghal

First comics work from JMS! While I've mostly disliked everything he's done aside from Babylon 5, I've sort of committed to using TT Spotlight to cover the Titans, and perhaps this won't be as ponderous as some of his later DC work. Certainly has a good visual hook - Cyborg vs. Two-Face. An unusual match-up, but they both have half-faces, so let's see what happens...

3 PM. A park in Gotham. Cyborg is receiving an award from the city for saving kids from a hospital fire. Exactly what Cyborg was doing out of town seems to be a convenience for the story. The press agent in this case, Cynthia Adams, is sorry that Batman couldn't show up because of his new Bwa-ha-ha duties (is she working from pre-Crisis files thinking he ever would?!) and it apparently took a lot for the city to give the Humanitarian of the Year plaque to a non-native. (And yet, Vic seems quite popular there.)

I suppose Gothamites might follow the Titans in the news because Robin was one of their own. Meanwhile, Two-Face is watching all this on live television, narrating in two voices, sure he understands how Vic Stone thinks because other than the public reaction, they MUST be the same, right? Jealousy grows, and the need to show the world that Cyborg is a monster too. So when he goes out to stalk Vic, it must really get his goat that Cynthia seems to have the hots for the cybernetic Titan and invites him to a fancy restaurant for eggplant (I kid you not, but this is long before emojis, so it's all accidental, I swear!). He almost gets warm coffee too (vintage Grand Theft Auto reference), but leaves Cynthia at her door.

Two-Face of course targets her and after she's been snatched sends Killing Joke pics to Cyborg's hotel of Cynthia with a gun to her head. OK HOLD UP THIS IS SERIOUS: What parts of Cyborg are his body, and which are costuming? I ask because he obviously sleeps fully armored, but...

...the belt can evidently be removed (which leads me to wonder if the point of those cell phones is purely fashion, of if they provide extra power, or what), and the coloring makes it almost seem like the shorts are also removable. You know, in case you have more eggplant questions. Anyway, Cyborg follows the kidnapper's instructions or else (and he's watching through CCTV). Find a disguise in a dumpster:

The next clue is in an apartment, under a couple's alarm clock, which is of course set to go off as soon as he lifts it up. The couple indeed does see a "monster". I mean, how would YOU feel?

Many more sightings during the night bring the patrol cars and the media. There's a very public APB out for a "monster", and Two-Face (or at least half of him) is very sure that what people call you is what you become and that "hero" is just a label, an illusion. On paper, this is a mismatch. Two-Face wouldn't last long in a fight, but forcing Cyborg into a more Batman-like role, keeping to the shadows, etc. gives the tale an Acts of Vengeance feel. Oh no, the cops found him!

Man, lucky shot. He confronts the cops with his sonic gun-arm, but realizes he can't harm the police, so he zonks a tree in their way and jumps to the rooftops. Did Two-Face almost win there? Once Vic finds Two-Face's hideout, it's time to break the powers out.

Two-Face taunts Cyborg into killing him, but Vic isn't a monster, so he resists the impulse. Then Two-Face reveals he already killed Cynthia, so... does Cyborg fire?

No, and it's a good thing too! As for the electrified floor, the coin comes up Harvey on that one and Vic brings Cynthia home. No word as to whether she learned her lesson about dating superheroes, but she is never mentioned again, so.

I admit it, I liked this JMS story. And I also like Cyborg when he had more "flesh" on him (even if the first Cyborg story I ever read showed a lot of that was a kind of plastic). These days he's a robot with half a human head, which is too much. The less human he is, the less relatable you make him, in particular with amputees and even black readers. In favor of what? Pushing the sci-fi? Not necessary.

Who's Next? The first atom-splitter.