Ras Al Ghul

[El Kabong]

I've got a couple of questions regarding this guy. I've seen the cartoons, watched the movie, and read a few books with him but I've never got the full on effect. I know he's incredibly old, constantly rejuvinating himself with the Lazarus Pit and the head of the League of Assassins (or was at least). I know he has two daughter, Talia and Nyssa who hated him but then took over after he "died" the most recent time. All this I've gleamed from various websites and posts but I've never got the feeling he's the big bad most people make him out to be. So I stumbled across Batman #232 and the storyline, the Demon's Daughter. Since it's pretty pricey on Ebay has DC collected the story in a trade? I know "Son of the Demon" is another good Ras read (not in continuity thought I believe) and I'm tracking that down. My core question is really a dumb one though. Does "ras al ghul" really translate into english as the demon's head or is it gibberish? I'm not fluent in arabic and I know no one who is and every search for ras al ghul brings me to an encyclopedic listing for the characer.

[Mia]

Yes it is collected in trade. It's called "Tales of the Demon". DC actually reissued it with a newly edited edition back in June. Don't know about the Arabic stuff though.

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0930289943/qid=1128448355/sr=1-1/ref=sr_1_1/104-2665514-2953533?v=glance&s=books

[Lorendiac]

I have been told that "Ra's" means "head" and "Ghul" means "demon." (Probably a cognate relative of our own English word, "ghoul.")

For what it's worth, if you're curious about Ra's I can also point you to a "Ra's al Ghul FAQ" (http://forums.comicbookresources.com/showthread.php?t=73528) I posted here a couple of months ago. It was only a rough draft, and I need to revise and expand it before I post the second draft, but it might conceivably answer a few questions for you. (One of the things it lacks is a bibliography listing the exact issue numbers for all his appearances, I'm afraid, although I'm thinking of putting one into the second draft.)

[ExoKnight]

As mentioned during the FAQ he is in Death & Maiden and also in Trinity by Matt Wagner.

[hondobrode]

Great FAQ, Lorendiac !

I would love to see some inter-villain conflict with Vandal Savage.