Creation
Raving Beauty was created by Richard Rainey and Isaac M. del Rivero, first appearing in The Punisher #96 – Raving Beauty in 1994.
History
Raving Beauty
Cheryl Gates was a beautiful girl that was 1st runner up in the Ms. USA Pageant and came to Hollywood to pursue an acting career. She worked for a producer named Mr. Redmond and started doing B-list films like the Horror of Hermit Beach. Mr. Redmond introduced her to other photographers and other film makers that led into nude photos and eventually pornography. Gates had a hard time doing these films straight so Redmond started giving her drugs. Gates was always high or wasted so Redmond had her work on the streets as a prostitute when the cameras and crews no longer wanted her. Redmond was actually a local mob boss and Gates wanted revenge after they stole her dreams. Cheryl Gates was dubbed Raving Beauty from a tabloid paper called the Hollywood Examiner.
The LAPD released a composite sketch of Raving Beauty after a mystery woman was seen leaving the Sunset Boulevard studio of a slain photographer believed to have connections to the mob. Raving Beauty struck again when she killed a high roller named Gil Tremaine by lacing her lipstick with poison she called toxic titillation. Raving Beauty was targeting the mob members that mistreated her and killed her dreams.
Frank Castle was arriving to a hotel in San Francisco where he planned to lay low after a get together with Saracen at a terrorist convention when he saw Raving Beauty enter the same hotel. Castle realized that two hitmen were waiting at the door and believed he was being targeted until they started to follow the beautiful blond. Castle followed the party when the hitmen attempted to assassinate Raving Beauty outside her hotel room. Castle shot one guy in the back and Gates killed another man with a stiletto heel into the neck.
Frank Castle and Raving Beauty decided to work together to take down Redmond. A reporter from the Hollywood Examiner named Mike Lourdes came to the hotel and was able to bribe the concierge to divulge some important information on Raving Beauty. Lourdes paid a helicopter pilot from the San Fran Tour Craft to fly him above Redmond’s compound just outside of San Francisco where the Punisher and Raving Beauty were planning their assault.
They saw the chopper get shot down and they saved Lourdes from the incoming mobsters. Raving Beauty and the Punisher infiltrated the compound and the beautiful Gates exacted her revenge on Redmond with an automatic rifle. Mike Lourdes wrote an article in the Hollywood Examiner stating that Raving Beauty was killed in an explosion and did not mention the Punisher’s involvement. The whole world or at least the mobs believed Gates was dead and she had no idea what to do next. Castle told her to do what you do best, rave on.
Civil War: Battle Damage Report
Raving Beauty is listed as a potential recruit for the Initiative program in the Civil War Battle Damage Report.
Abilities & Paraphernalia
Raving Beauty is a skilled marksman and formidable in hand-to-hand combat. She also wears a lipstick laced with poison she calls toxic titillation.