During an early story, Cinzia goes to the police to get their help looking for the missing Rat-Man, but the cops start mocking the transexual prostitute... Up until Cinzia decides she has enough and starts listing the nicknames she gave them for their weird fetishes, getting the Hypocrites to do their job either out of shame or to keep her from continuing the list and expose the rest. Not that it stops Cinzia from referring to every one of them with their nicknames. The only exceptions are Brakko and Jordan, who never went and had sex with her, and "Fragolino" (little strawberry)... Because she doesn't remember his nickname at first.
In issue #94, Valker said he classifies superheroes in two categories: the ones who (try and fail to) stop gunshots with their hands and the ones who think he won't shoot them. Later in the story he asks Rat-Man what of these two kinds of heroes he is, and Rat-Man replies "I'm of the kind you can't shoot". Classifying Rat-Man as the one who thinks he won't shoot, Valker reaches for his gun... And that's when he realizes Rat-Man stole it before he asked.
Rat-Man versus Il Drago (a Shallow Parody of Goku from Dragon Ball Z). No one had ever succeeded in resisting more than a minute against him, or even scoring an hit. Rat-Man not only resists longer than anyone before (at one point Il Drago started hitting him with a rock and demanded he pleaded for mercy. Rat-Man didn't plea,the rock did), but even hit him square on the nose with a punch. That was when Il Drago prepared his ultimate attack, that would send the victim in another dimension so far that everyone would forget it, but also when Rat-Man had another moment of awesome (this one shared): The Man With The Spider Costume (a Spider-Man Expy), has recovered his will to fight (previously lost after getting mauled by Il Drago) by seeing Rat-Man, and so he first socked Il Drago in the face, and then caused the ultimate attack to hit the two of them. To complete the awesome, Il Drago was forgotten immediately, but The Man With The Spider Costume wasn't.
In hindsight, this moment is even better as this when true superheroes returned. After the death of the First Secret Squad there were numerous costumed and sometimes superpowered vigilantes, but, not being able to hold on their hope no matter what or inspire it in other, they were considered just "Men in Tights", even the more formidable ones like The Man With the Spider Costume. Then Rat-Man not only didn't lose his hope while fighting someone who could literally make him fly away by breathing at him, his resistance made The Man With The Spider Costume recover his-and so did with many, many others, turning many Men in Tights in proper superheroes.
The end of 299+1, the 300 parody. Rat-man pulled an Ephialtes (by accident and sheer stupidity). But then he comes back and makes a Last Stand, so epic that the Persians run and don't dare to attack with swords but use a Rain of Arrows (against a single man). He gets to not be left behind and joins the Spartans in the march for the afterlife.
Persian Soldier: God Dwarfy! (referencing Rat-Man stature) Rat-Man: (spears him) Say hello to him.
The last part of the Matrix parody. Rat-man actually mans up and (at least tries to) fights with the Mr. Smith Expy. And then, battered and defeated, comes up with this:
Sparks of comprehension flash before my eyes. And I begin to understand. I understand that disks and toilet paper can be used on one side only... (Why your disks are full of fingerprints?) I understand how babies are born... (Push, Madam!) And I understand what is my power. I don't fly. I don't break walls with a punch. I don't stop rocks with my mind. But every time everything seems lost, i come down here. Beyond all the masks. Beyond all the names... down... until I touch the bottom. Here lies the Rat-Man. Here I find the strength to climb back up. The strength to get up. The Rat-Man is out. And now, no one can stop him.
Also, the beginning of his battle with the Smith expy is the only time ever he subverts his Catchphrase (see main article for reference): "I flex my muscles and I'M FLYING!".
Issue 86 and 87. A Darker and Edgier mini-arc about Janus Walker, set a post-apocalyptic world Dream Land, specifically Rat-man's subconscious. This "Walker" is Rat-man's memory of his adoptive father. Badassery ensues.
Woman: How are you planning to enter Joba's fortress? It's as closed as a fist!
"Walker": Look inside your closed fist. What do you see?
Some people like to look at my son's memories. They find it funny. They rummage in my bag, and they laugh. They have no respect for a father's feelings. Big ugly beasts. Fathers, I mean.
During the same story arc, Rat-Man, for discovering his childhood hero and costume inspiration Mr. Mouse (a Shallow Parody of Mickey Mouse) has created multiple generations of both superheroes and supervillains in the name of profit, is left on the roof of southern one of the Sister Towers (counterparts to the Twin Towers), that is promptly hit by a plane with the other Vendicatopi on board to kill them all. With some prompting from the ghost of his mentor The Bat (the only other superhero who had ever opposed Mr. Mouse), Rat-Man takes the only way to safety to continue the battle... Namely jumping on the roof of the Northern Tower. It's promptly shot into Negated Moment of Awesome when the ghost points out the Northern Tower was on the other side, but without that idiotic error he would have reached it...
Rat-Man is saved by the Fly Man, another superhero who swears to help him against Mr. Mouse. How does the issue end? With Rat-Man's signal projected on a cloud before Mr. Mouse's heliocarrier as a warning he's coming for him. That's when Mr. Mousefinally stops being smug.
Issue #99 is the Grand Finale (the series is slated to end with issue #100, but it will be a celebration issue). Its awesomeness, with the final defeat of Mr. Mouse, is beyond words.
Another for the author: he managed to make a Tear Jerker of Mr. Mouse's death, with a parody of the Italian version of the Mickey Mouse March being sung.
One for Mr. Mouse: he may have created multiple generations of superheroes and villains to profit from their adventures, but said creations include an alien invasion and the Rat-Man verse equivalent of Galactus.
After that, the Ending stood back up thanks to his possession... When he discovered the hard way why Rat-Man was paraplegic: he had rejected his will to be a hero, who had left him and became a gigantic and muscle-bound copy of Rat-Man who always tried to get back into him... And the gigantic Rat-Man was about to try and return into Rat-Man. Cue asskicking andLudicrous Gibs. Immediately followed by Rat-Man accepting the call... And absorbing the giant Rat-Man into himself, reacquiring the use of his body.
As it turns out, Ortolani lied (or changed his mind) about the series ending with issue #100. And in issue #102 we have something awesome beyond belief, when Rat-Man is being chased by Ending with the intention to bring him to his master to become the new host. Rat-Man cannot escape anymore, when someone chase away Ending. Who? Janus Valker, who, completing a Brick Joke set up earlier in the same issue, apologises for being late, but he couldn't find a place to park]]. [[Didn't See That Coming Rat-Man, Ending and the Shadow itself didn't expect this to happen.
Issue #103 reveals it wasn't actually Valker but Jorgensson in disguise. Still awesome for Valker, as his likeness is enough to chase awayThe Shadow and its minions. And that's why Jorgensson and Rat-Man now plans to bust the real deal out of hell.
The attempt to bust Valker out of hell worked, but Rat-Man got trapped behind, with the Shadow planning to make him its new host. Rat-Man did the impossible: he kept it out. The Shadow expected him to be that good, so it forced Rat-Man to fight his own shadow, something that had destroyed any and all superheroes who had managed to come to the Shadow's realm to fight it. Rat-Man not only resisted more than any other hero, he went won. In the end the Shadow managed to get a new host after finding a way to break him, but still it's impressive.
The early three-parter "The Ripped Web"-"The Wrath of Cover-Man"-"Spider Hunt". Because it featured Rat-Man helping the realFantastic Four... And not only the adventure is as awesome as the Fantastic Four demands without losing the humour, but Ortolani managed to not have to alter their identities in reprints.
Valker's fights against The Shadow:
After Valker is rescued from The Shadow to fight it, he dies. We are treated to a long Dying Dream, two Endings come to claim his body (because they knew better than coming for him alive)... And Valker kills them while still dead. His heartbeat only returns after strangling them with a hand each...
In the meantime The Shadow has taken over Rat-Man's body and is keeping him in the invincible The Rat-Man form, and, knowing how terrifying Valker could be, breaks into the room Kalissa is keeping him to recover... And finds an old man who can't keep his bladder shut. The Shadow laughs... Then Valker grabs an electric cable from the ceiling broken by The Rat-Man and throws it in the puddle of piss, electrocuting the monster. It doesn't stop him, but it's one of exactly two times The Rat-Man was hurt - and the other time it had been Rat-Man himself (The Rat-Man was incarnating his will of being a superhero that Rat-Man had temporarily rejected, and to keep the monster away he too had used high-voltage electricity).
How Valker breaks the Shadow's Demonic Possession of Rat-Man: he goes to Thea, Rat-Man's daughter, and has her talk to him as daughter to father, annihilating the Shadow's host body and freeing Rat-Man. This is also a moment for Rat-Man for why Valker knew: Rat-Man had saved him, and so he knew that "If your child can't save you, who can?".
And later, Valker is the one to put down The Shadow for good by killing Topin.
It might not be exactly awesome, but it's pretty cool and telling of how ruthless Valker could be even when fathering Rat-Boy: Rat-Boy was getting beat up by Raymond, the biggest kid in the orphanage, when Valker grabbed him by his shirt and lifted him. Raymond told him "You can't hurt me because I'm a child". Valker's response? "I'll wait". Guess what happened during his 18th birthday.
Raymond: I've been waiting for this moment for so long! Valker: Me, too.]]
BANG!
Topin's defeat:
The Shadow's army seemed invincible, its monsters starting to overwhelm the last free humans... And then, before facing death, Rat-Man admits a truth he desperately wanted to deny, and a single ray of light pierces the veil of darkness surrounding the world and kills one of the monsters. The entire world follows suit, and the Shadow's army is wiped out.
In the meantime, however, Topin has kidnapped Thea, Rat-Man's daughter, planning to make her the Shadow's next host. Rat-Man goes to save her but is repeatedly overpowered by Topin's monster form, as Rat-Man's cannot access the power of The Rat-Man anymore because it was the manifestation of people requesting his help and now that they've won nobody is doing it anymore... Then Thea does just that, and The Rat-Man proceeds tobreakTopin.
Battered and broken, Topin proceeds to mock Rat-Man, because if he doesn't kill him he'll be back and will take Thea, if he does he's not a hero anymore... And then, Valker comes out of nowhere and stomps his head, shouting "Ma vuoi morire una cazzo di buona volta?!" (translating as "Can't you fucking finally die?!"). Do not endanger Valker's family.
Valker being still alive. The last time he had been seen he was wounded and unarmed in a backstreet, had just sent away Thea after admitting he had always expected to die in a nameless backstreet, and had just asked what that alley's name was to the monsters surrounding him. And now he's alive, quipping about the many uses of thrash as weaponry and stating that alley's name.
A moment for Earth itself in an early issue. Cosmicus, a GalactusExpy, comes to feed on our planet and it's so powerful that no one — not even a Cosmic Power-enhanced Rat-Man — can stop it. But when Cosmicus connects to Earth to feed, tentacles burst from deep underground and drag it in. Because in the Galactic food chain, even Cosmicus is just one link.
At Rat-Man and Aima's wedding, long delayed by many events that include Topin's interference and Kalissa erasing Aima's memory of the man she loved, she briefly pretends to have lost her memory, finally giving Rat-Man a taste of his own sense of humor.
