Arrow: Who is Ragman?

So, Arrow has been lighter on DC Comics references than the other three shows on the CW right now, but that’s just fine. The most pleasant surprise on this show in ages was their use of Ragman in this episode.

The character of Ragman dates back to DC Comics in 1976, and he was created by the legendary team of Robert Kanigher and Joe Kubert, so there’s definitely a DC Comics pedigree here. This isn’t a direct translation of the character, but the basics, that the rags contain the souls of others (albeit not the souls who were the victims of an ill-advised missile strike), are in place.

There are a couple of reasons why Ragman is appropriate here. For one thing, he played a part in the Day Of Vengeance mini-series, which had some loose ties to the Justice Society, and they’re coming to Legends of Tomorrow. But Arrow is still determined to develop the magic elements of the CW superhero universe on the side here, and Ragman is the perfect kind of “second string” magic DC character to do it with. Ragman was also a member of a team called the Shadowpact, and I’d love to see a kinda CW version of this team with Matt Ryan’s John Constantine, Emmett Scanlan’s Jim Corrigan/The Spectre, and whoever else they can sneak in here. It’s certainly time for this show to introduce Zatanna, for example.

And if you hit the next page, you can see our breakdown of DC Comics references from the first episode of the series, too!

Click the blue title to go to the full review!

Arrow Season 5 Episode 1: Legacy

– Anarky is back! I…guess that’s exciting? I do dig his slightly evolved supervillain look, though. Now, if only they’d let him have his comic book duds…

Nah, probably never gonna happen.

– Who’s that hockey masked vigilante? Well, I’m glad you asked! That’s Wild Dog!

The comic book version of Wild Dog is Jack Wheeler, a former marine. His mini-series from 1987 by Max Allan Collins and Terry Beatty is worth tracking down in comic shop dollar bins, though, if you can find it. He did a spell in backup stories in Action Comics back when that became Action Comics Weekly in the late ’80s.

He looks just like his comic book counterpart, too…

– During the flashbacks, there are names read from Ollie’s book, which are familiar enemies from early season one.

– Anatoli is back! Maybe we’ll finally get him as the KGBeast (actual name from the comics) this year.

– We also have Konstantin Kovar…a Teen Titans character so obscure that I can’t even pretend to have any previous knowledge of him.

– Who the hell is that mysterious archer at the end? That’s Prometheus. However, it’s apparently not the Grant Morrison/Howard Porter version who menaced the JLA a few times. That Prometheus was the son of two career criminals who decided to become a supercriminal after watching them finally get gunned down by law enforcement. He was kinda badass, but bears little resemblance to this guy.