Cavalier Reponse

Well, since no one else seems to want to talk about it, I will: specifically, what is apparently comics' newest gay couple, The Cavalier and Captain Stingaree (from the most recent issue of JLA, in case you missed it).

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.