Comics / Comic Reviews / DC Comics

Ragman: Suit of Souls

By Andy Frisk
October 20, 2010 - 23:45

Rory Regan, the Ragman, is having trouble reconciling his father’s use of the Suit of Souls with his father’s sudden abandonment of it. Rory’s father, a wielder of the suit that has been passed from generation to generation from the year 1500 AD on down, was Ragman during the 1940s in Europe. After the Nazi siege of the Jewish Warsaw Ghetto in 1943 though, Rory’s father abandoned the suit and title of Ragman. Rory, seeking out help from a local Gotham City Rabbi is trying to determine why his father took such action. The answer is easier to find that he thinks though. All he has to is look to the Suit…

Ragman, the only discernable Jewish superhero active in the DCU (or anywhere for that matter), is also one of the most unique superheroes ever. As the story goes, The Suit of Souls was created in 1500 AD by Jewish Rabbis who, wanting to provide their people (and by extension all those who are downtrodden—not just Jews) with a hero and protector that had a soul as opposed to a soulless Golem (a construct of immense physical power shaped like a man in Jewish folklore). The suit is basically a collection of sewn together rags that each house an evil soul which the suit has absorbed and from which the Suit’s wearer can draw power from. This power manifests as physical strength, intelligence, limited flight, and invulnerability (except to fire—a safety mechanism build in by the Rabbis). Once the soul has paid its penance, it can move on to the afterlife. While souls do get to move on, there’s never a shortage of evil souls needing to be absorbed and therefore never a shortage of power available to the Ragman. A Ragman is chosen “whenever he is needed,” or more aptly, every generation or so. The current Ragman, Rory Regan, has a complicated history and continuity, but Ragman: Suit of Souls really clears it up and streamlines it nicely, along with the history of the Ragmen and their suit (which spans at least 600 years—plenty of opportunity here for some great historical stories).

Ragman has been regulated to a sort of side kick team member (of the short lived Shadowpact series) and guest star (most noticeably and relevantly in the pages of Azrael) recently. In the hands of writer Christos Gage (Invaders Now!) though, Ragman stands well on his own, and really hasn’t been portrayed as interestingly as he is here in quite some time. This one-shot issue looks like it sets the stage for new Ragman adventures that will be the type of history referencing tales that are often times the most interesting. The Ragman has been active since 1500 AD according to the story, so there’s plenty of opportunity to mine history for plot ideas that can be set either in a past epoch or modern times.

Speaking of historical epochs, artist Steven Segovia (Reign in Hell, Dark Wolverine) gets to pencil some wide ranging historical time periods in this issue. We see snippets of 1500 AD Prague, 1604 AD London, the American Wild West of 1882 AD, and 1942 AD Warsaw. Some of the portrayed periods are regulated to one panel affairs that simply show characters from the time period (like the 1882 Wild West panel), but the sense of history and rich background story surrounding the Suit of Souls is conveyed very well. Segovia also draws the most visually striking Ragman that I’ve seen in quite some time. Segovia’s Ragman look is a little bit McFarlane Spawn and a little bit Batman, but all Ragman with the long cowl, green color scheme, and patchwork rag suit. This is a Ragman that I want to see more of, he’s spooky, tough, and unique looking. The potential adventures of this supernatural superhero look much more appealing in potential than those of his former group's book were. Even I, who was an avowed Shadowpact fan, will admit as much, and would much rather see a well done Ragman title than a poorly ressurected Shadowpact. 

DC Comics has tried launching, some dark and grim, gothic and supernatural mainstream superhero titles recently to scant positive review and success (Anyone remember Simon Dark?), but with Ragman, they already have an established character with a cool look and a built in plethora of potential storylines. As Gage and Segovia demonstrate with Ragman: Suit of Souls, if written and drawn well, Ragman can carry a title…well, at least a very good one

Rating: 9 /10

Last Updated: August 31, 2023 - 08:12