Back for another dose of the Down, But Not Out? Okay, so maybe you accidentally clicked a link for midget porn and found yourself here. That’s okay, while you’re here, you might as well stay a while!

So, what’s this column all about?

I’m here to hopefully get you interested in comic books. Or, if you’re already interested in comics, then I’m here to shine some light on books you might not have read or have and just wanna relive via what my limited writing skills can provide.

Let’s get on with it, shall we?

Ragman #1 (of 5) - “Origin of the Tatterdemalion”
Original Release Date: September 1976
Created By: Joe Kubert and Bob Kanigher
Script: Bob Kanigher
Art: The Redondo Studio


Sometimes it’s easier to get the innocent to do your dirty work for you. That’s the thought behind Vorst’s decision to have a young child bounce a ball toward a man in a red car. On its own, that seems innocent enough, right?

It would have been if the ball had not actually been a bomb. It would have been if the ball had not hit the red car and exploded, sending the man in it to his doom and injuring the girl unlucky enough to have been innocent that day.

Vorst is not alone, though. His partner-in-crime, Anders, flees the scene along with him. Paranoia is key for criminals and it’s what causes Vorst to make an even more fatal mistake in a back alley. His feeling that the shadows were moving in the dark, dead end, helps him decide to pull a pistol and shoot blindly into the darkness. Anders hurries Vorst, telling him that it’s nothing but a pile of rags he’s shooting at. The two reach a fire escape and take to the roof of an old tenement.

Little do they know that pile of rags is something alive; something full of vengeance; the Ragman. The green, rag-cloaked figure leaps up the ladder after the two thugs.

Vorst calls out to Anders that something is after them. It’s not long after spotting the Tattered Tatterdemalion before Anders’ body is crushed against the pavement below.

The mysterious costumed avenger leaves the scene, thinking nothing of the death he has caused, and returns to his real life at “Rags-N-Tatters,” a pawn store run by the Ragman’s alter ego, Rory Regan.

The next morning, Rory opens up shop for business as usual. After the normal bit of neighborhood customers, Bette, a freelance photographer for The Clarion Call and possible love interest, stops by. She shows Rory the morning edition of the Clarion Call featuring pictures she took last evening of the Ragman battling thugs on a nearby rooftop.

Bette reminds Rory that, while he may not be a hero like the Ragman, he could have so much more than this lowly pawn shop. She tells him that he’s falling into the same rut his father did with the store.

Rory tells Bette that it’s not possible for him to leave the business and that she just doesn’t understand. Bette leaves him, but not without telling him, “You’re hopeless Rory! You like living amidst junk… just like your poor father!”

Rory watches her leave and again repeats that she just doesn’t understand; she doesn’t understand what it was like when he was a child and his father, using his “junk wagon,” would ride through the city, taking people’s junk to resell in “Rags-N-Tatters.” His father would explain that it was his duty to do all of this so that he could properly take care of Rory. It may not have been a glamorous job, but it was all they had.

Later, when Rory was older and after he’d returned from Vietnam, he would go behind the old store and watch his father and his father’s friends hit the bottle. Each of them had been something years before in their life, but now they were nothing; each of them clung to their glamorous past while their current lives were nothing.

A few days after talking to his father and those friends out behind the store, the old men found two million dollars stuffed in an old mattress that had been brought in. The old guys decide to take the mattress out back to hid it amongst the junk that had been piling up, but once they make it outside they’re confronted by a couple of thugs wanting to know exactly where the money was.

Unfortunately for Rory’s father and friends, the thugs shoot down a couple of live wires suspended above them. With the live wires on them, the thugs demand to know where the money is. Rory makes it out back and attempts to pull his father and friends out by having them lock hands. With one pull the current flows through Rory, his father, and friends via their hands.

Some time later, Rory awakens to find his father and friends dead. Rory wonders what in the junkyard could possibly be worth dying over. Stumbling to the telephone to call the police, he finds a note from his father. On it, Rory’s father explains that he was given a costume that’d be perfect for the costume party Rory plans on taking Bette to next week.

Rory, with a plan in his mind, puts it on…

*****

That’s that for the first issue of Ragman. If you’re familiar with the character from DC’s 2005 Day of Vengeance miniseries, then you’re probably wondering what’s up with this Ragman.

1976’s Ragman was pretty damn cool; he was a straight-up vigilante looking for justice and he did it his own way. It’s really your typical dark vigilante fare, which has been a staple of comic books over the years. Nothing wrong with that, but then again, nothing too special; this is probably why this book only lasted five issues.

So, the “new” Ragman, what’s up with him? Why is he different?

Well, if you want to get technical, the Crisis on Infinite Earths actually erased the origin of the 1976 Ragman. It was Keith Giffen in 1992 that recreated the character as the one you’re probably more familiar with. His Ragman is much more mystical; he collects the souls of evil-doers, which creates a patch on his “rags.”

Giffen’s Ragman had another miniseries in 1993, penned by Elaine Lee, and then made various guest appearances in DC books (Batman, Martian Manhunter) across the years. It wasn’t until Bill Willingham’s Day of Vengeance that the character gained any real audience. Willingham writes a damn cool Ragman, so if you’re not already knee-deep in Infinite Crisis (or you just didn’t buy that mini in the first place), you should, because it’s a fun read. And hey, with the success of that, he’ll be appearing in the Infinite Crisis/Day of Vengeance spin-off, Shadowpact, so there’s lots of Ragman in your future.

Hopefully this will give you a little insight as to where the character originally came from. For most people, Ragman probably began with Giffen, but hey, now you know better!