In November's Batman/Catwoman: Follow the Money one-shot, Howard Chaykin uses as the bad guy Golden Age Bat-villain, the Cavalier, out of the blue, really. The Romantic Rogue has a reputation of being a lightweight character, a reputation well-deserved. It started off so well, too. He debuted long ago in Detective Comics #81 (N'43) as an eccentric thief who stole, not what was valuable but what piqued his interest e.g. knick-knacks, bric-a-brac, etc. And he got away from Batman and Robin. This from a guy dressed up like a gaudy extra from The Three Musketeers! His weapons were an electrified sword, his dreaded hat-plume-dart, a hankerchief with lead pellets sewn into it and a debilitating "snuff". Mere toys to today's villains yet they were doable in the 40s! And in his next two GA adventures, he escaped the Dynamic Duo each time!
His fourth and final Golden Age appearance, Batman #26 (Ja'45), "The Twenty Ton Theft" in which he tries to steal a live whale, was my first encounter with the character as it was reprinted in Batman #258 (O'74). We learn that he was also a master of disguise. Unfortunately his luck ran out as he was finally captured by the Caped Crusader who, it should be noted, was awfully proud of himself! Worse for our Blustering Blademaster, not only did he miss out on the rest of the Golden Age but the entire Silver Age as well!
But his reprinted story was not his first venture into the Bronze Age. Three months earlier he was revived, in all places, Wonder Woman #212 (Jl'74), the opening chapter of the Twelve Trials WW put herself through in order to rejoin the JLA. In the Denny O'Neill/Curt Swan tale, The Sweet-talking Swashbuckler was given a much needed, much improved and all-to-short new look. He was also able to control women for a time. He was identified as Batman's long-forgotten foe and was the adversary in a tale that had Wonder Woman and Superman in it. Certainly a career highlight!
Sadly it was all downhill from there. In Batman Family #10 (Ap'77), he teamed with fellow "will-never-get-another-solo-shot-at-Batman-ever-again" member Killer Moth and used illusions and giant robot moths (but no tiny robot girls) to terrorize a small town. They were stopped by Batgirl and the returning Batwoman. In BF #15 (Ja'78), the Pathetic Pair decide to trick Robin into leading them to the Bat-Cave in order to use whatever weapons are there to rule the underworld. However, they are led to a false base which convinces them that Batman and Robin are ALIENS! In fact they see Robin's "nest"! Makes you wonder if they mentioned that at their trial!
After that, he usually appeared in the background at gatherings of Bat-foes like in Detective #526 (My'83). After the Crisis, a more serious Cavalier debuts in Legends of the Dark Knight #32-34 "Blades". I don't have the exact dates because I can't find my index binder from that period so I went to Wikipedia! (I am ashamed!!) What I recall is that the new Cavalier pretended to be a hero, that Batman cut him some slack because he resembled Zorro and that he died at the end. But then, in other gatherings, we saw another Cavalier! This one looked like the old one, acted like the old one and was treated like as much of a loser as the old one! One story even commented on his "relationship" with Captain Stingaree!
I don't know if THAT will be mentioned in the one-shot but with Chaykin, you never know!
Replies
Gotta love someone who steals a live Whale, 'just because'.
Is 'Catman' Golden Age too? He had a hard road out of 'laughable' status, but no-one would laugh at him now. At least not to his face.
Simone did great things with Catman, and still is...
And who the hell is Captain Stingaree?
Also left out of the New Look era: Clayface II, Signal Man, Mirror Man and the Firefly among others.
Captain Stingaree was a pirate type who believed there was more than one Batman, fighting him in Detective #460-462 (Ju-Au'76). He actually needed Flash's help for this one!
He also teamed with Captain Cold and Captain Boomerang against Captain Comet and Black Canary in Secret Society of Super Villains #6.
And he appeared in a Hostess Fruit Pies ad in 1978.
And he was frozen to death by Mister Freeze in Detective #526 (My'63).
It says he appeared in the debut issue of the "Batman Adventures" title. I'll have to dig that up!