Heartwarming / Rat-Man (1989)

• In a weird way, Valker's relationship with his son Rat-Man and granddaughter Thea, once he remembers the former and finds out of the latter, because for all his sociopathy he's actually a good father and grandfather.
  • The reason Valker and Rat-Man didn't remember they were father and son: when Valker realized he was going to be the host of the Shadow and there was nothing he could do about it he gave his son a treatment that would erase his memory of his father and sent him away and then erased his own memory of his son to protect him.
  • How Deboroh, the future Rat-Man, ended up in Valker's care: Valker's brother Joba told him his sperm had been used to make a child and said child was at an orphanage, and Valker dropped everything to take him in - and tolerated his crazy antics. By the time Valker finds out that Deboroh is not his biological son (or so he's told) the only reason he seeks out his real family is because he believes he's putting him at risk... But once he meets the La Roccias and sees just how dumb they are, he lies and goes back to his lab.
  • The greatest show of love for his son and granddaughter Valker is capable of is the utter annihilation of their enemies:
  • Once he was brought back to life, Valker discovered that Rat-Man is the new host of the Shadow. The death toll among the Shadow's monsters is immense.
  • At the end the broken and defeated Topin is bragging that if Rat-Man kills him he won't be a hero anymore and if he spares him he will come back and take Thea... And before Rat-Man can decide to kill him, Valker, believed to have died in combat to cover Thea's escape, comes out of nowhere and stomps his head, because after all he's a villain if a redeemed one.
  • His own words about his relationship with Rat-Man and Rat-Man's own with Thea:
    If your child can't save you, who can?
• During the story with their first encounter, Brakko seemed unaware that Cinzia is a transexual, even missing the blatant hints dropped by the other cops. At the end Cinzia tells him, ready for his reaction of horror and disgust... And Brakko reveals he knew all along and doesn't care, to him she's a woman.
  • The culmination of this comes in the final issue, where the recently divorced Brakko marries Cinzia.
• Brakko doing his best to be a good father to his son... In spite of knowing perfectly he's actually the mailman's son: he's his wife's son and the biological father was a no-show, so as far he's concerned Brakko Jr. is his son, no matter anything else.
  • Eventually Clara left Brakko and took their child with her, and then started dating a rich guy who'd pay for their expenses and encouraging Junior to treat him as his new father. Brakko Jr. made immediately clear Brakko is his father, and talked his mother into going back to Brakko (and when she shows up during the final battle with all her lovers they turn back the Shadow's monsters, as they're that numerous) and see a marriage counselor. Granted, this ends up causing their divorce when Clara cheats on Brakko with the counselor, but Junior and Clara at least have tried.
• The fact Rat-Man and Aima fell in love twice, even with Rat-Man having some warped memories of his past love and Aima not remembering him at all, and eventually tying the knot in the same ceremony as Brakko and Cinzia.