Ragman starts getting more profile in the DC Universe? Current writer Christos Gage speaks:
“I like working on obscure characters,” Gage admitted to CBR News. “It was an opportunity, because let’s face it, you’re not going to say anything new about Batman. But with Ragman, you can put your mark on [the character].”
In order to begin making that mark, Gage first went back and re-read all of Ragman’s previous appearances – an easy task according to the writer, because another benefit of obscure characters is a relatively limited comic book library. By going through the hero’s continuity, the story began to present itself – ragged pieces that Gage felt he needed to bring together. “I basically looked at the origins of the character. He has an Irish name but he is a very strongly identified Jewish character. For me, the big question is, how did this happen? Why does he have an Irish name? What is his relationship with his father, who was retconned as having been the previous Ragman,” explained the writer. “There’s this idea that there have been many Ragmen throughout history. So, I tried to reconcile all those things into a story about Ragman trying to explore his past and his identity and specifically his father’s identity. It’s an interesting character exploration that also looks at the past of the character and gives glimpses of Ragman throughout history.”
Every DC fan is familiar with the concept of heroic legacy, a long-standing tradition found throughout the company’s various titles. Almost every hero and villain in the Universe stems from a long line of successors – from the Flash to the entirety of the Justice Society of America to even Batman – and the “Shadowpact” series introduced Ragman into that world. Gage said that he explores this thread in the one-shot, specifically when it comes to the previous incarnation of the character during World War II. “Obviously, during World War II the Holocaust occurred, so you’re left wondering how that affected the champion of the Jewish people. So, we see Ragman in the Warsaw Ghetto,” said Gage. “That’s one of the things about working in the DC Universe – you want to take advantage of its strengths, and [the idea of] legacy characters is one of them. It’s cool to have this concept of history and to be able to look at these different points in history and say, ‘Okay, if Ragman was around here, what would he be doing?'”
Source: CBR
