HERO OF THE WEEK: RAG DOLL (DC)Real Name: Peter Merkel
First Appearance: Flash Comics #36 (December, 1942)
Fight Club Ranking: #DNR
Featured Fights:
- Yet To Be Featured on Secret Wars on Infinite Earths
It's no secret I'm not the biggest fan of the current crop of superhero television -- but there's also no denying that sometimes they deliver the goods! Case in point: Rag Doll - who made his striking screen debut during this week's episode of The Flash. Don't hit play below if you're squeamish!
Rag Doll started out as a cutesy Jay Garrick villain, but over the decades he's become increasingly creepy, cranking up the twisted body horror and spooky doll factor! That's the element the TV show looks to capture - embellishing the performance of real-life contortionist Troy James with inhuman CG twists, and some very effective costuming!
The live-action incarnation seems to infuse the character with a little bit of the spirit of Peter Merkel Jr (of Secret Six fame), stopping short of his full harlequin look, while borrowing the eerie white face mask. The classic Raggedy Anne look is finally switched out for a vintage suit, recalling sinister ventriloquist dummies, and the uncanny disjointed movements of an old marionette.
It's always nice to see TV digging deeper into comic book obscurities, and even better when they do it well! I'm not gonna become a regular Flash viewer any time soon, but interesting and visual ideas like these will always warrant a second look.
The return of John Wesley Shipp as 1990's TV Flash will be another reason to watch during next month's Elseworlds crossover! It was an exciting talking point of October, but if you flash back to this time a couple of years ago, we were also talking about his role as Jay Garrick a week after Marvel's Champion of the Universe was Hero of the Week. The Champ was back in last week's HOTW, and here we are talking The Flash once again. Has somebody been screwing with time again? See you next week!
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