Ordinarly, I am, in principle, in favor of new gay characters or newly "gayed" characters, particularly if those are characters no one is doing anything else with anyway. In this case, however, I must confess I'm not happy that Brad Meltzer apparently thought it was funny to make Batman's two foofy swashbuckler opponents gay, and lovers to boot. Brad tends to get too "cute" with characters sometimes, and this is certainly an instance of that.
Besides, it's absurd. The fabulous Cavalier (Mortimer Drake) is a wealthy socialite and oddities collector with a distinguished Golden Age pedigree; stinky D-lister Captain Stingaree (Karl Courtney) is the one-eyed owner of a seafood restaurant, whose greatest moment was holding a football player hostage to protect himself in issue 6 of the original Secret Society of Super-Villains.
The Cavalier wouldn't even be seen with Captain Stingaree. Even if the Captain has hidden charms best left unmentioned on a family blog, the two would only stay in together, they would never go out together. I mean, really.
Not even I am gay enough to say,"Let me advise you to attend to your own knitting!"
But I intend to work on it.
I also don't like the idea that Black Lightning is, apparently, blackmailing Cavalier with the threat of outing him. Good lord, the man's a costume Gothamite, not a member of some street gang. Who's going to give a flying that the Cavalier is gay? For that matter, who doesn't already think he is, for pity's sake?
To me, it only works if Cavalier is one of those queeny comedotragic "no one knows I gay and I can't risk ruining my career" types, whom everyone knows is gay. That is funny; that is realistic.
"I'm the Cavalier; no one must ever suspect I'm gay!", says the bonnetted man flinging his lace hankie at a teenage boy.
On Earth Prime, this guy'd be in Congress.
The Cavalier is fabulous. He's one of those early "Anti-Batmans" they used to churn out in the forties; rich playboy who turns pointlessly to crime for sport, excitement, and the opportunity to wear a funny hat. Just like another one of our favorites here at the Absorbascon: Killer Moth!
The Cavalier is the zig to Killer Moth's zag, and, face it, they are ones who are obviously a couple (or were!). Can't you picture them shopping together? "Well, yes, dear, it is orange and purple and green ... but is it orange and purple and green enough?" They really do belong together.
It's no wonder that the two are often paired, as when they posed with for photos with the A-listers in Batman 292, during the famous "Who Killed Batman?" storyline:
Note Captain Stingaree in the background, legs crossed in pained jealousy: "Some day, Cavalier ... you WILL be mine."
As for Captain Stingaree, well, Scott Tipton's covered his brief moment in the sun thoroughly already. Cap's main plus is being the only comic book character I can think of who's a quadruplet. I mean, besides his three brothers, of course.
The JLA is not where we need to Captain Stingaree right now. I challenge the team who's writing Mystery in Space to work into their story a second fight between Captain Comet and Captain Stingaree...
Once that's done, what we deserve to hear is the story of why the Cavalier left his decades-long soulmate, Killer Moth, and started shacking up with Popeye the Supervillain.
Was it the Charaxes thing? I bet it was the Charaxes thing... . Love has its limits, you know.
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I also don't like the idea that Black Lightning is, apparently, blackmailing Cavalier with the threat of outing him. Good lord, the man's a costume Gothamite, not a member of some street gang. Who's going to give a flying that the Cavalier is gay? For that matter, who doesn't already think he is, for pity's sake?
Great point. Metlzer was being overly clever.
I love the idea of a Cavalier/Killer Moth couple, specially if you throw in KM's animated daughter; imagine the three happily shoping/pillaging together
It would also explain why aren't the two together right now, Killer Moth just couldn't accept his sexuallity and in denial married some woman, but he promptly abandoned her, took his child with him, and went looking for his one true love
As for Captain Stingaree, well you how rebound guys usually are
Black Lightning wasn't threateining to out the Cavalier for being GAY.
He was threatening to out him for the CRIME AGAINST GOOD TASTE AND CLASS by dating CAPTAIN STINGAREE.
Who's going to give a flying that the Cavalier is gay? For that matter, who doesn't already think he is, for pity's sake?
Maybe that's why he's been able to hide it for so long. He portrays his sexuality in such a foppish caricature that no one would suspect it was the truth. Kind of like Clark Kent's glasses, people dismiss the possibility because they assume if he were trying to hide something, he'd go to a bit more trouble to do so.
why yes , it is totally inconceivable that a gay man would be attracted to a burly, older, bald man with a huge beard and fetishistic black eye patch
Say what you will, I'm just amazed and impressed that Mr. Meltzer even freaking mentioned the Cavalier and Cap'n Stingaree...in the same context, no less.
While I'm certainly no John Wells, as far as I know, the Cavalier was last seen in 1991's somewhat-amusing-at-the-time-(but-not-really-for-us-purists)-and-certainly-best-left-forgotten Justice League America #43-44 (the "Wally Tortolini" issues), while the good Cap'n hasn't been heard of since 1983, where he seemingly died at the gun of Mr. Freeze in 1983 ('Tec #526).
Mr. Brad gets cred points from me for just using D-listers that I thought only I loved.
(And, yes, it IS bittersweet. Is Comic Book Limbo a lesser or worse fate than Slipknot being a crazed Kobra cultist, the Signalman being a dirty junkie, and/or Captain Boomerang, Sr being, well, deceased?
Sunnuva...I think I just answered my own question....)
"He was threatening to out him for the CRIME AGAINST GOOD TASTE AND CLASS by dating CAPTAIN STINGAREE."
Touche. An acceptable interpretation.
Captain Stingaree's latest appearance was Batman #400 (October 1986)in "Resurrection Night!".
Captain Stingaree used to be Captain Cold cellmate (no, really), and it's been shown that he acquired cold-tech that way (he's frozen both Robin and Batman); later he worked closely with Cold in the SSOSV. So let's say he had enough cold-tech (and anti-cold-tech!) to undo whatever Freeze did to him.
Yeah... that's it.
What comic had the Queer Cavalier? Was it Flex Mentallo?
The cavalier appeared in Knightfall. He last two panels and got his nose broken
I remember SSSOV #6!
It was one of the best comic books ever!
EVER, do you hear?!?!
Lookit! Black Canary! Captain Boomerang! Captain Comet! Captain Cold!
And Captain Stingaree!
(Sorry, I had a hectic day. Somebody called the sheriff on my roommate and I also had a tough day at work. Plus the cat is mad at me and won't tell me why.)
The Cavalier is not gay. The Cavalier is a roguish ladies man whose very pheremones drive women wild with lust. And even if he were gay - Captain Stingaree?! Puh-lease. No way.
This cannot really work, I feel so.
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