Ragman
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Ragman is a fictional mystic vigilante and superhero who first appeared in the short-lived series named after him. He is one of a limited number of Jewish superheroes, and his continuity is tied to that of DC's Golem, from Jewish folklore.
He is sometimes compared to the other night-time defender of Gotham City, Batman.
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[edit] Character history
Rory Regan is a ragman, doing good in his community by buying used items from people who need money. The suit of rags that he wears was originally just a costume made from materials found around the rag shop he shared with his father, Rags'n'Tatters. This was retconned in a 1991 limited series, and currently each of the patches in the suit is made from the soul of an evildoer that the Ragman had punished and absorbed.
The absorption of these souls caused a problem for Rory at one point, when the evil souls hungered for murder and finally freed themselves of Ragman. It was only with the support of Batman and Regan's old friend, Rabbi Luria, that he regained control, though at the cost of Luria's life. Ragman's powers have increased since then. Currently, he can absorb souls into his costume. With each new soul added, a rag is added. He can call upon the souls in his costume to lend him their attributes or power. He is also a very proficient magic user.
Ragman is one of the members of the Shadowpact, a team that formed to confront the Spectre in DC Comics 2005 Day of Vengeance limited series, a lead-up to the seven-issue Infinite Crisis limited series. As of January 2007, the Shadowpact comic book series is still in publication.
In the Shadowpact series, Ragman, along with his teammates, was trapped inside a shield of solid blood that grew over the town of Riverrock, Wyoming. They spent about a year inside the town, but the story shifts between the team just entering the shield and the events of a year later.
While inside Riverrock, Rory met an evil counterpart of himself belonging to the supervillain group that had formed the shield, the Pentacle. His counterpart is named Bagman. He/it dresses in similar green garb, and can turn his body to goo and while in this form he absorbs people. While inside Bagman they either suffocate or they are digested. Bagman even mentioned how oddly similar the Shadowpact and the Pentacle are.
In Shadowpact #8, Rory was temporarily trapped in the limbo dimension of his own cloak. He met the soul of an ancient Centurion working off his crimes. This man, Marcus Liberius, revealed that the cloak was actually the "Great Collector Artifact", which has been in existence in some form since the time of Abraham, he also helped Rory, who had become disenchanted with the job of collecting corrupted souls, to see that he is not a punisher but a redeemer — allowing a better afterlife for those who work for it. Ragmen in Rory's line have been in action since 1812 BCE.
[edit] Powers and Abilities
The Ragman can draw upon the physical powers of any number of the corrupted souls that make up his suit. This way he can increase his strength, speed and stamina dozens or even hundreds of times over, though he has stated that it isn't easy to tap into a large number of souls at once (at the time, he commented that the most he had ever done was somewhere over a hundred). Most significantly, having defeated an enemy, he can acquire new souls by absorbing them with the suit. This adds a new rag to the suit, and thus adds to the Ragman's power supply. However, Rory has mentioned that the process of acquiring a new soul gives him stomach cramps and nausea. Also, the Ragman possesses a number of minor magical powers, such as kinetically controlling the suit (i.e. entangling Eclipso with his cloak while grappling with her), and long-distance teleportation.
It has recently been revealed that the suit can take on other forms, such as weapons, and still collect souls. Whether Rory will use this ability in the future is yet to be seen.
[edit] Ragman Appearances
| Ragman Ragman: Cry of the Dead (vol. 3) |
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- Ragman issues 1 through 5, published from 1976 through 1977
- Cancelled Comic Cavalcade issue 2, published in 1978
- Batman Family issue 20, published in 1978
- The Brave and the Bold issue 196, published in 1983
- Crisis on Infinite Earths issue 5, published in 1985
- Red Tornado issue 3, published in 1985
- Ragman issues 1 through 8, published from 1991 through 1992
- Ragman: Cry of the Dead issues 1 through 6, published from 1993 through 1994
- Batman: Legends of the Dark Knight issues 51 and 100, published in 1993 and 1997
- Batman issues 551 and 552, published in 1998
- JLA: The Nail issues 1 and 3, published in 1998
- Day of Judgment issues 1 through 5, published in 1999
- Day of Judgment Secret Files issue 1, published in 1999
- Martian Manhunter issue 28, published in 2001
- Day of Vengeance issues 1 through 6, published in 2005
- Day of Vengeance Special published in 2005
- Robin issues 143 through 145, published from 2005 through 2006
- Infinite Crisis issues 2 and 5, published in 2006
- Shadowpact from issue 1 on, published from 2006 onward
- 52 issues 1 and 18, published in 2006
[edit] External links
- The Grand Comics Database Project - Index for Ragman vol. 1.
- The Grand Comics Database Project - Index for Ragman vol. 2.
- The Grand Comics Database Project - Index for Ragman: Cry of the Dead.
