In this column, I will spotlight plotlines by writers that probably weren't a good idea at the time and have only become more problematic in retrospect. I'll try to stick with stuff that's more ill-conceived than flat-out offensive (like racist stereotypes of characters during the 1940s).

My buddy Jude D. wrote in to suggest this one a couple of years back. He also then wrote a nice article on Bodies Endangered going into detail about why this particular plot was ill-conceived. So check out his article. It's a lot more in-depth than what I'm doing here.

Titans: Villains for Hire was a weird book. I'll spotlight some other aspects of the book in the future (Arsenal is due his own column, for instance) but for now, let's look at Cinder.

The basics for Cinder is that she was an Italian woman from a well-to-do family that was molested by her uncle. So she then hunts down sex offenders and kill them. When we first meet her, she's killing a sex offender by burning him alive (her power is to turn into walking molten lava) while having sex, so she uses her vagina to attack the guy...





It's a ridiculous sequence. Very faux edgy, which honestly describes much of Titans: Villains for Hire.

So Deathstroke offers her a deal - join his new team and he'll help her hunt down well-protected sex offenders...



So to help with her crusade, she agrees to help murder the Atom...



Speaking also to the weird sexual politics of this comic book, the sex abuse victim's powers work in such a way that she looks like an attractive naked lady when using them...



Because, you know, of course they do.

But perhaps the worst thing about Cinder is that there is so little going on with her as a character. She has a death wish and she is obviously dealing with a lot of trauma issues, but beyond that, she doesn't really DO much in the Titans.

Go to the next page to see her most notable plot line during the series (it is not good)...

So at one point, the Titans break into Arkham Asylum. So Cinder decides to use this opportunity to go kill a child molester. It does not go well....





The lady is walking molten lava, so how does that scene even make any sense?

And she shuts down...





The intent in the series was that Cinder would hunt Nursery Crymes (oh man, that name - brutally stupid name. "My name is Nursery Crymes!" "Nursery Crimes?" "No, can't you hear the Y in my name!" but then the book was canceled, so instead Cinder just sacrifices herself at the end of the book to destroy a machine that can bring people back to life (Deathstroke used it to save his son, Jericho).

Cinder was just a really poor attempt to take on some rather serious issues involving rape trauma. Rather than walking molten lava, she was more a walking cliche, with very little in the way of real characterization. These above pages show you nearly all of the character work that Cinder got in the entire 15-issue Titans: Villains for Hire run. There's one bit where she shows an interest in her teammate, Tattooed Man, but that's about it.