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* WarIsHell: Played surprisingly straight in the "Rat" storyline, a ferocious satire of the developed countries' indifference to the plight of people living in war-torn Thirld-World countries. Rat-Man and his friends buy a package holiday to visit [[IDontLiketheSoundofThatPlace Eutanésia]], [[CrapsackWorld a developing country ravaged by a terrible civil war (the civil war being the main tourist attraction of the country!)]]. Naturally, as soon as they get there, their own stupidity and ignorance of the local situation get them in horrible trouble. Meanwhile, in a [[AlternateUniverse parallel universe]], Rat-Man has become a [[SociopathicSoldier sociopathic]] [[HiredGuns mercenary]], who is starting to question his life choices. And the two stories seem strangely to converge...
to:
* WarIsHell: Played surprisingly straight in the "Rat" storyline, a ferocious satire of the developed countries' indifference to the plight of people living in war-torn Thirld-World Third-World countries. Rat-Man and his friends buy a package holiday to visit [[IDontLiketheSoundofThatPlace Eutanésia]], [[CrapsackWorld a developing country ravaged by a terrible civil war (the civil war being the main tourist attraction of the country!)]]. Naturally, as soon as they get there, their own stupidity and ignorance of the local situation get them in horrible trouble. Meanwhile, in a [[AlternateUniverse parallel universe]], Rat-Man has become a [[SociopathicSoldier sociopathic]] [[HiredGuns mercenary]], who is starting to question his life choices. And the two stories seem strangely to converge...
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* EndOfAnAge: Issues #77-81 of the original Italian series feature a long story where Rat-Man visits UsefulNotes/NewYorkCity and meets the local superheroes, who are clearly based on Creator/MarvelComics's [[CaptainErsatz classic characters]]. The saga ends with the American superheroes accepting that they have no place any more in the modern world and [[DisappearsintoLight disappearing into the light]]. The story is an affectionate homage of the UsefulNotes/TheSilverAgeOfComicBooks and a scathing parody of the more modern approach of UsefulNotes/TheDarkAgeOfComicBooks.
to:
* EndOfAnAge: Issues #77-81 of the original Italian series feature a long story where Rat-Man visits UsefulNotes/NewYorkCity and meets the local superheroes, who are clearly based on Creator/MarvelComics's [[CaptainErsatz classic characters]]. The saga ends with the American superheroes accepting that they have no place any more in the modern world and [[DisappearsintoLight disappearing into the light]]. The story is an affectionate homage of the UsefulNotes/TheSilverAgeOfComicBooks MediaNotes/TheSilverAgeOfComicBooks and a scathing parody of the more modern approach of UsefulNotes/TheDarkAgeOfComicBooks.MediaNotes/TheDarkAgeOfComicBooks.
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See this post
for why these don't fit the trope.
for why these don't fit the trope.Deleted line(s) 220,227 (click to see context) :
* SurprisinglyRealisticOutcome: Much of the humour relies on this:
** Superheroes aren't all there with their mind due to the toll taken by both training and actual superheroing.
** Valker divides superheroes into two kinds: those who think they can [[BulletCatch grab speeding bullets out of thin air]] and those who think he won't shoot. [[HeroKiller Valker has a collection of superhero masks and gloves with bullet holes in them]].
*** On the above, turns out that letting a CombatPragmatist superhero come close was a bad idea on Valker's part, as Rat-Man stole his gun.
** If you're a lab assistant for a murderous sociopath like Valker, showing your colleagues a card trick during work hours results in Valker using the cards to predict the future and then calling your widow to inform her of your imminent death.
*** Speaking of Valker being a murderous sociopath, stay away from his family: he deeply loves his son [[spoiler:and granddaughter]], and threatening them means he ''will'' find a way to murder you, no matter how many tries it takes him.
** When the authorities outlaw superheroes, some give up, some are captured, and the rest form a resistance movement that the authorities just can't stop, as they all have superpowers.
** Clara's constant cheating on her husband puts an enormous strain on their relationship, especially as [[spoiler:he knows but has never said anything]], and in the end [[spoiler:they divorce after he catches her having sex with their marriage counselor]].
** Superheroes aren't all there with their mind due to the toll taken by both training and actual superheroing.
** Valker divides superheroes into two kinds: those who think they can [[BulletCatch grab speeding bullets out of thin air]] and those who think he won't shoot. [[HeroKiller Valker has a collection of superhero masks and gloves with bullet holes in them]].
*** On the above, turns out that letting a CombatPragmatist superhero come close was a bad idea on Valker's part, as Rat-Man stole his gun.
** If you're a lab assistant for a murderous sociopath like Valker, showing your colleagues a card trick during work hours results in Valker using the cards to predict the future and then calling your widow to inform her of your imminent death.
*** Speaking of Valker being a murderous sociopath, stay away from his family: he deeply loves his son [[spoiler:and granddaughter]], and threatening them means he ''will'' find a way to murder you, no matter how many tries it takes him.
** When the authorities outlaw superheroes, some give up, some are captured, and the rest form a resistance movement that the authorities just can't stop, as they all have superpowers.
** Clara's constant cheating on her husband puts an enormous strain on their relationship, especially as [[spoiler:he knows but has never said anything]], and in the end [[spoiler:they divorce after he catches her having sex with their marriage counselor]].
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per TRS; ZCE
; ZCEDeleted line(s) 80 (click to see context) :
* CloningBlues: One of the first story arcs (issues #11-13 of the original Italian Series).
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None
Unfortunately, the series is not yet available in English language. There were shy attempts at translating ''Rat-Man'' in Croatian and Spanish, but they didn't go beyond a few dozen issues due to the lack of a genuine interest among non-Italian readers.
The SpinOff ''ComicBook/TwoHundredNinetyNinePlusOne'' has a separate page.
The SpinOff ''ComicBook/TwoHundredNinetyNinePlusOne'' has a separate page.
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The SpinOff ''ComicBook/TwoHundredNinetyNinePlusOne'' has a separate page.
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Updating Links
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* BetterManhandleTheMurderWeapon: Rat-Man does it in a Marvel crossover... ''twice''. First by "securing" the weapon used to kill an old [[ComicBook/ThePunisher Punisher]]'s relative, just in time for the latter to see him. After several pages of dodging bullets, he manages to escape only to "secure" a metal pipe used to beat a certain "Mrs May". Seconds before Franchise/SpiderMan enters the scene.
to:
* BetterManhandleTheMurderWeapon: Rat-Man does it in a Marvel crossover... ''twice''. First by "securing" the weapon used to kill an old [[ComicBook/ThePunisher Punisher]]'s relative, just in time for the latter to see him. After several pages of dodging bullets, he manages to escape only to "secure" a metal pipe used to beat a certain "Mrs May". Seconds before Franchise/SpiderMan ComicBook/SpiderMan enters the scene.
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** The very first story sets the tone for both Rat-Man's idiocy and badassery. When The Buffoon [[DidntThinkThisThrough kidnapped an orphaned child and demanded ransom from his parents]], Rat-Man tracked him and stormed his hideout: after an embarrassing false start, Rat-Man [[CurbStompBattle curbstomped the Buffoon's gang]] in the purest Franchise/{{Batman}} style save for pulling a gun on the last one (he had produced a knife), but when he confronted the Buffoon (who was terrified and possibly crapping in his pants) he just ''paid the ransom''. After Rat-Man left with the child, the Buffoon was still there holding the case of the ransom, too dumbstruck by what had just happened to even move.
to:
** The very first story sets the tone for both Rat-Man's idiocy and badassery. When The Buffoon [[DidntThinkThisThrough kidnapped an orphaned child and demanded ransom from his parents]], Rat-Man tracked him and stormed his hideout: after an embarrassing false start, Rat-Man [[CurbStompBattle curbstomped the Buffoon's gang]] in the purest Franchise/{{Batman}} ComicBook/{{Batman}} style save for pulling a gun on the last one (he had produced a knife), but when he confronted the Buffoon (who was terrified and possibly crapping in his pants) he just ''paid the ransom''. After Rat-Man left with the child, the Buffoon was still there holding the case of the ransom, too dumbstruck by what had just happened to even move.
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** The "New Superheroes" arc features ComicBook/{{Iron|Man}}crash [[Franchise/SpiderMan Wallclimber]], [[ComicBook/TheMightyThor Zoth]], [[ComicBook/CaptainAmerica Captain Battle]], [[Franchise/XMen the DNA-Men]], and others.
to:
** The "New Superheroes" arc features ComicBook/{{Iron|Man}}crash [[Franchise/SpiderMan [[ComicBook/SpiderMan Wallclimber]], [[ComicBook/TheMightyThor Zoth]], [[ComicBook/CaptainAmerica Captain Battle]], [[Franchise/XMen [[ComicBook/XMen the DNA-Men]], and others.
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* ShoutOut: Too many to count. Many covers are homages to famous comic book covers, such as the first appearances of Franchise/{{Superman}}, Franchise/{{Batman}} and Franchise/SpiderMan, and many other iconic arts. Rat-Man usually substitutes the hero in the cover.
to:
* ShoutOut: Too many to count. Many covers are homages to famous comic book covers, such as the first appearances of Franchise/{{Superman}}, Franchise/{{Batman}} ComicBook/{{Superman}}, ComicBook/{{Batman}} and Franchise/SpiderMan, ComicBook/SpiderMan, and many other iconic arts. Rat-Man usually substitutes the hero in the cover.
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* SuperEmpowering: Mr. Mouse' shtick, both through his own lab and those of others (the most prominent is August Abbard by virtue of handling the Second Secret Squad, Rat-Man included). At first he simply equipped people who wanted to be supeheroes inspired by Sorro (in-universe stand in for the ''Franchise/{{Superman}}'' comic book), but by the time of the Second Secret Squad at least some of the interventions included kidnapping and genetically altering ''fetuses''. [[spoiler:Mr. Mouse also created their villains, up to and including ''an alien invasion'' and a '''''PlanetEater'''''.]]
to:
* SuperEmpowering: Mr. Mouse' shtick, both through his own lab and those of others (the most prominent is August Abbard by virtue of handling the Second Secret Squad, Rat-Man included). At first he simply equipped people who wanted to be supeheroes inspired by Sorro (in-universe stand in for the ''Franchise/{{Superman}}'' ''ComicBook/{{Superman}}'' comic book), but by the time of the Second Secret Squad at least some of the interventions included kidnapping and genetically altering ''fetuses''. [[spoiler:Mr. Mouse also created their villains, up to and including ''an alien invasion'' and a '''''PlanetEater'''''.]]
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Not to be confused with the manga ''Manga/{{Ratman}}''.
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Not to be confused with the manga ''Manga/{{Ratman}}''.
''Manga/{{Ratman}}'', nor with ''Webcomic/{{Ratfist}}''.
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* BigNo: done by [[Franchise/StarWars Darth Vader]] when he is dumped by the [[AlphaBitch philosophal woman]] in the ''Franchise/HarryPotter[=/=]Literature/{{Twilight}}'' parody.
to:
* BigNo: done by [[Franchise/StarWars Darth Vader]] when he is dumped by the [[AlphaBitch philosophal woman]] in the ''Franchise/HarryPotter[=/=]Literature/{{Twilight}}'' ''Franchise/HarryPotter[=/=][[Literature/TheTwilightSaga Twilight]]'' parody.
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* CapeBusters: Valker's job for the government in a nutshell. He's frightenghly effective at it thanks to his talent at killing people in general, [[CombatPragmatism sheer pragmatism]], and his utter lack of fear and respect for superheroes (he divides superheroes in ones who think he won't shoot and ones who think they can stop bullets with their hands, and keeps a collection of superheroes masks and gloves with bullet holes in them). In fact, the only superhero who survived a confrontation with him without Valker being recalled was Rat-Man, who, [[spoiler:being Valker's amnesiac son]], had the sense of stealing his gun before Valker decided to kill him.
*** On the plus side, he's the one who finishes off [[spoiler:[[BigBad Topin and the Shadow with him]]]], [[BadGuysDoTheDirtyWork as Rat-Man, being a superhero, couldn't kill him without stopping being one]].
*** On the plus side, he's the one who finishes off [[spoiler:[[BigBad Topin and the Shadow with him]]]], [[BadGuysDoTheDirtyWork as Rat-Man, being a superhero, couldn't kill him without stopping being one]].
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Gag Boobs has been renamed to Boob Based Gag. Changing to the proper trope where appropriate and cutting misuse.
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* GoodAngelBadAngel: Parodied. Rat-Man once met the [[GagBoobs well-endowed]] starlet Gessica Lovebol, and had the chance to undress her. Both the devil and the angel on his shoulders asked him to remove her bathing suit!
to:
* GoodAngelBadAngel: Parodied. Rat-Man once met the [[GagBoobs well-endowed]] well-endowed starlet Gessica Lovebol, and had the chance to undress her. Both the devil and the angel on his shoulders asked him to remove her bathing suit!
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Removal of What An Idiot potholes
Changed line(s) 232,235 (click to see context) from:
--> '''Cinzia:''' "Hi there! I'm Cinzia, and I'm a transsexual!"
--> '''Interviewer:''' "Cinzia, there are ''kids'' [[NoFourthWall out there]]."
--> ''*{{Beat}}''
--> '''Cinzia:''' "Hi there, '''''kids!''''' [[ComicallyMissingThePoint I'm Cinzia, and I'm a transsexual!"]]
--> '''Interviewer:''' "Cinzia, there are ''kids'' [[NoFourthWall out there]]."
--> ''*{{Beat}}''
--> '''Cinzia:''' "Hi there, '''''kids!''''' [[ComicallyMissingThePoint I'm Cinzia, and I'm a transsexual!"]]
to:
--> '''Cinzia:''' "Hi there! I'm Cinzia, and I'm a transsexual!"
-->transsexual!"\\
'''Interviewer:''' "Cinzia, there are ''kids'' [[NoFourthWall out there]]."
--> ''*{{Beat}}''
-->"\\
''*{{Beat}}''\\
'''Cinzia:''' "Hi there, '''''kids!''''' [[ComicallyMissingThePoint I'm Cinzia, and I'm a transsexual!"]]
-->
'''Interviewer:''' "Cinzia, there are ''kids'' [[NoFourthWall out there]].
--> ''*{{Beat}}''
-->
''*{{Beat}}''\\
'''Cinzia:''' "Hi there, '''''kids!''''' [[ComicallyMissingThePoint I'm Cinzia, and I'm a transsexual!"]]
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** Brakko ([[WordOfGod described by the author]] as "Even stupider than Rat-Man, if it's even possible") proved to be the worst, and literally graduated to this, in issue #104. Previously in the issue his friend and subordinate police officer Jordan had told him that if he were ordered to arrest a friend he'd tell him to run and count to 20 before giving chase, knowing that, [[WhatAnIdiot having trouble remembering what comes after 12]], he'd give him a ''huge'' headstart. Later, we have this situation:
to:
** Brakko ([[WordOfGod described by the author]] as "Even stupider than Rat-Man, if it's even possible") proved to be the worst, and literally graduated to this, in issue #104. Previously in the issue his friend and subordinate police officer Jordan had told him that if he were ordered to arrest a friend he'd tell him to run and count to 20 before giving chase, knowing that, [[WhatAnIdiot having trouble remembering what comes after 12]], 12, he'd give him a ''huge'' headstart. Later, we have this situation:
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* ReallyGetsAround: Clara, Brakko's wife, has slept with almost every man in town (and, it's implied, her ''dog''), but Brakko is apparently completely oblivious to this.
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* ReallyGetsAround: Clara, Brakko's wife, has slept with almost every man in town (and, it's implied, her ''dog''), but Brakko is apparently completely oblivious to this. [[spoiler:He actually knows, he just loves her too much to say anything]]. During the final battle she arrives with all her lovers, and there's enough of them to turn back the Shadow's horde of monsters.
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*** Speaking of Valker being a murderous sociopath, stay away from his family: he deeply loves his son [[spoiler:and granddaughter]], and threatening them means he ''will'' find a way to murder you, no matter how many tries it takes him.
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* BirdsOfAFeather: All of Rat-Man's love interests are [[JerkWithAHeartOfGold good people with jerkish attitudes]] just like him: Cinzia is a raging pervert but ultimately one of the most moral characters in the series (only Brakko and his son are nicer), Kimmy is rude and abrasive but also can't stop herself from helping people, and [[spoiler:Aima]] can be as much of an asshole like Rat-Man (notably, they share the same cruel sense of humor) but is also a good mother and spent much of her life helping people.
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Hot Scientist is no longer a trope
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%%* HotScientist: Kalissa
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* HornyDevil: La Gatta ("The Cat")
* HotScientist: Kalissa
* HotScientist: Kalissa
to:
*
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* SuccubiAndIncubi: La Gatta ("The Cat") is implied to be some type of succubus, given she's a supernatural embodiment of {{Lust}}.
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Grammar
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* PragmaticAdaptation: Some plotlines, characters and jokes are recycled from the comic, usually simplified to compress it in a ten minute cartoon and not let the complex mythology [[ContinuityLockOut lock out]] those who do not know the source material. For example, the movie is based on the the cloning arc (Rat-Man 12-14) with several details changed to make it a stand-alone story.
to:
* PragmaticAdaptation: Some plotlines, characters and jokes are recycled from the comic, usually simplified to compress it in a ten minute ten-minute cartoon and not let the complex mythology [[ContinuityLockOut lock out]] those who do not know the source material. For example, the movie is based on the the cloning arc (Rat-Man 12-14) with several details changed to make it a stand-alone story.
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Per wick cleanup.
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%% * GettingCrapPastThe Radar: Due to overwhelming and persistent misuse, GCPTR is on-page examples only until 01 June 2021. If you are reading this in the future, please check the trope page to make sure your example fits the current definition.
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%% * GettingCrapPastThe Radar: Due to overwhelming and persistent misuse, GCPTR is on-page examples only until 01 June 2021. If you are reading this in the future, please check the trope page to make sure your example fits the current definition.
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Now Flame Bait.
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* GovernmentConspiracy: A main theme of the first story arc dealing with Rat-Man’s convoluted past. In the 30s a group of masked crimefighters [[SuperTeam joined together to form a so-called “Secret Squad” of superheroes]]. Some years later, they convened a press conference to denounce an attempt to bring them under the control of a secretive cabal inside the institutions and revealed their secret identities. [[IdiotPlot Unsurprisingly]],[[DoNotTauntCthulhu they were (almost) all killed shortly thereafter]] and the government decided to create a “Second Secret Squad” of superheroes to replace the first. A young Rat-Man (who went by the name “Rat-Boy”) became a member of the Second Squad.
to:
* GovernmentConspiracy: A main theme of the first story arc dealing with Rat-Man’s convoluted past. In the 30s a group of masked crimefighters [[SuperTeam joined together to form a so-called “Secret Squad” of superheroes]]. Some years later, they convened a press conference to denounce an attempt to bring them under the control of a secretive cabal inside the institutions and revealed their secret identities. [[IdiotPlot Unsurprisingly]],[[DoNotTauntCthulhu Unsurprisingly, [[DoNotTauntCthulhu they were (almost) all killed shortly thereafter]] and the government decided to create a “Second Secret Squad” of superheroes to replace the first. A young Rat-Man (who went by the name “Rat-Boy”) became a member of the Second Squad.
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* SuperEmpowering: Mr. Mouse' shtick, both through his own lab and those of others (the most prominent is August Abbard by virtue of handling the Second Secret Squad, Rat-Man included). At first he simply equipped people who wanted to be supeheroes inspired by Sorro (in-universe stand in for the ''{{Superman}}'' comic book), but by the time of the Second Secret Squad at least some of the interventions included kidnapping and genetically altering ''fetuses''. [[spoiler:Mr. Mouse also created their villains, up to and including ''an alien invasion'' and a '''''PlanetEater'''''.]]
to:
* SuperEmpowering: Mr. Mouse' shtick, both through his own lab and those of others (the most prominent is August Abbard by virtue of handling the Second Secret Squad, Rat-Man included). At first he simply equipped people who wanted to be supeheroes inspired by Sorro (in-universe stand in for the ''{{Superman}}'' ''Franchise/{{Superman}}'' comic book), but by the time of the Second Secret Squad at least some of the interventions included kidnapping and genetically altering ''fetuses''. [[spoiler:Mr. Mouse also created their villains, up to and including ''an alien invasion'' and a '''''PlanetEater'''''.]]
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Up To Eleven is a defunct trope
Changed line(s) 239 (click to see context) from:
** Brakko ([[WordOfGod described by the author]] as "[[UpToEleven Even stupider than Rat-Man, if it's even possible]]") proved to be the worst, and literally graduated to this, in issue #104. Previously in the issue his friend and subordinate police officer Jordan had told him that if he were ordered to arrest a friend he'd tell him to run and count to 20 before giving chase, knowing that, [[WhatAnIdiot having trouble remembering what comes after 12]], he'd give him a ''huge'' headstart. Later, we have this situation:
to:
** Brakko ([[WordOfGod described by the author]] as "[[UpToEleven Even "Even stupider than Rat-Man, if it's even possible]]") possible") proved to be the worst, and literally graduated to this, in issue #104. Previously in the issue his friend and subordinate police officer Jordan had told him that if he were ordered to arrest a friend he'd tell him to run and count to 20 before giving chase, knowing that, [[WhatAnIdiot having trouble remembering what comes after 12]], he'd give him a ''huge'' headstart. Later, we have this situation:
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!!''Rat-Man'' provides examples of the following tropes:
to:
!!''Rat-Man'' provides examples of the following tropes:
of:
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[[quoteright:324:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/rat_man_6.png]]
[[caption-width-right:324:''"I flex my muscles and I'm in the air!"'']]
''Rat-Man'' was an Italian comic book created in 1989 by Leonardo "Leo" Ortolani and published until 2017. It depicted the adventures of an unlikely hero, the eponymous Rat-Man, a not very bright (and very inept) guy without any superpowers in a goofy yellow rat costume.
What had begun as a ShallowParody (albeit very funny) of Creator/TimBurton's first ''Film/{{Batman|1989}}'' film [[CerebusSyndrome progressively grew into]] a very complex storyline, full of homages to the Silver and Golden Age of comics (Leo is an avid admirer of Creator/JackKirby's characters), but also to the gritty realism of the Dark Age. The main purpose of the comic was originally to make a parody of anything and everything, not only superhero-related tropes, but of other genres, films and popular culture in general; however, it introduced a number of long and fairly serious story arcs that gave a deeper insight into Rat-Man's previous life. Of course, there were still plenty of parodies and wacky moments.
In 2006, ''Rat-Man'' was given an AnimatedAdaptation which [[TheyChangedItNowItSucks was not very well received]].
Not to be confused with the manga ''Manga/{{Ratman}}''.
The SpinOff ''ComicBook/TwoHundredNinetyNinePlusOne'' has a separate page.
----
!!''Rat-Man'' provides examples of the following tropes:
* AbhorrentAdmirer: Cinzia the transgender hooker, a former male postman who fell in love with Rat-Man (or rather, his civilian identity before he became a hero). He never realized who she was despite some blatant evidence, and the fact she involuntarily helped him to become Rat-Man in the first place (in short, he subscribed to ''ComicBook/{{Mickey Mouse|ComicUniverse}}'' comic books and the postman sent him those comics every week, then he decided to wear a rat costume...).
* AbusiveParents:
** Played straight with Boda Valker, who was an horrible father for his son Janus. The desire to gain his love and respect was one of the factors [[FreudianExcuse that drove Janus to evil]].
** {{Averted|Trope}} with Janus Valker himself, who - while being very strict and even harsh with his son - clearly loves him dearly. [[spoiler:Ironically, this is another decisive factor in his descent into evil, as he decides to surrender to the Shadow to save him from Joba.]]
* [[AchievementInIgnorance Achievement in Ignorance]]/[[BeyondTheImpossible Beyond the Impossible]]: in the ''Ratto'' arc, Jordan gets [[BoomHeadshot shot in the head]]. A few pages later, he turns out to be ok, explaining that [[VoodooShark he had a bulletproof vest]]. [[RuleOfFunny And then he notices that it's just a heavy coat]].
* AllThereInTheManual: If the story gets a bit too confusing and convoluted, there have been summaries of the plot so far added after the stories (in ''Rat-Man'' 35 and ''Rat-Man'' 70-75), which also explain details and things you may have missed because you were laughing too much.
* AlwaysIdenticalTwins: In the "Marvelmouse" story arc Rat-Man meets Marcus and Marcellus, two nasty and cynical twins who arrange the fights between heroes in the Arena. They wear a T-shirt with "Io sono l'altro" (''I'm The Other One'') written on it, because nobody can tell them apart. In their final appearance Marcus [[RuleOfFunny incredibly]] manages to mistake his own brother for ''himself''. And, as stated in AuthorAvatar below, both of them are the avatar of Leo's publisher.
* AmbiguouslyGay: Jorgensson, Janus Valker’s right-hand man. [[ComingOutStory He is eventually revealed as being gay and deeply in love with his boss]], to the point of [[spoiler: sacrificing his life to save him from Hell]]. As Ortolani would say, even in Rat-Man’s world, AllGirlsWantBadBoys…
* TheAntichrist: [[spoiler: It is Rat-Man. Not bad for a monkey-face guy who habitually wears a mask with mouse ears]].
* AntiHero: Rat-Man is a Type 1.
* AreTheseWiresImportant: Parodied in an issue where, to stop a conspiracy of evil geologists (don't ask), Rat-Man infiltrates their base, finds a control room and smashes every piece of machinery he can put his hands on. This has the effect of shorting out the conspiracy's vending machine.
* ArtificialHuman: The "Vegetoidi", humanoids created from plants and vegetables. Thea, Rat-Man's LoveInterest and the only woman he ever really loved [[spoiler:or, rather, the clone and unwitting impersonator of the real deal]], [[TheReveal was one of these]], the most advanced example.
* ArtShift: In some issues, such as the "Yellow" trilogy which spoofs/homages {{Anime}} and {{Manga}}.
* AscendedExtra: Cynthia Otherside. In the first story she was just a male mailman who is mentioned becoming a transgender hooker as part of a throwaway gag, but acquired a larger role in following stories, and it was discovered she was already in love with him before the throwaway gag of the first story.
* AuthorAppeal:
** Geology. Ortolani has a degree in that field, and it shows when the usually dumb Rat-Man becomes knowledgeable about rocks. There are also many gags involving geology during the comic, including an ''entire story'', which is also a ''Film/JamesBond'' parody on top of that!
** "Author Not-Appeal": Rat-Man has an extreme hatred of cats, and it is implied that Leo hates them too.
* AuthorAvatar: Ortolani loves this trope. Not only his avatar, but also those of his editor, of his childhood friends and of his wife (who is usually depicted as the [[OnlySaneMan only sane woman]] of the group) regularly appear in the comic, both as [[RecurringExtra background characters]] and as main ones. His publisher (who has a double name, relatively uncommon in Italy) even gets two of them (one for each name).
* BackFromTheDead:
** In one issue Rat-Man dies and goes to Hell, but a very powerful demon (which is an obvious ShoutOut to Spawn) helps him on his way back to life. At the end of the issue, [[TheReveal it is revealed]] that the demon is really major antagonist Janus Valker's soul, and he helped Rat-Man because every time he performed a good deed his punishment would be a little less harsh.
** [[spoiler:Janus Valker]]
* BadassOnPaper: Rat-Man is a superhero whose achievements include defeating [[HeroKiller an apparently invincible robot designed to kill superheroes]] and a [[Franchise/DragonBall Goku]] {{Expy}}, and being the greatest enemy of [[EldritchAbomination the Shadow]]. He's also too stupid to operate a car's seatbelt.
* BadBoss: Janus Valker could well be the epitome of this trope. Among the most frightening examples:
** When Jorgesson is introduced in the Comic Book for the first time, he is calling his boss over the phone to inform him that something happened in the lab. We do not see Jorgesson at first, just Valker angrily commenting that he'd better not having touched Valker's keypad, as the last time. [[CutawayGag Cut to an American Shot of Jorgesson that reveals that he is a one-armed man]], [[DisproportionateRetribution the implication being that the last time Valker cut the poor guy's arm.]]
** In another story, Valker comments that - while one of his plans unfolds - he is able to spend many pleasant hours with the help of a good espresso. He then pours the coffee on his shirt and [[ForTheEvulz proceeds to berate one of his assistants]]:
-->'''Valker''': Look at the mess you have done, you idiot!
* BeatPanel: Leo is very fond of these. Many jokes and {{Overly Long Gag}}s rely on them for maximum comedic value, and to stretch the scene to make sure that the action continues from the first panel of the next page. It's even (hilariously) {{Discussed|Trope}} as a comedy tool in the story "Comic School".
* BerserkButton: Do. Not. Threaten. Or. Harm. Janus Valker’s son. Seriously, even if you are an [[SatanicArchetype all-powerful demonic entity]] [[TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt bound on conquering and destroying the Earth]]. Even if you have suicide tendencies and even if this may be one of the most effective suicide methods in history, there are more pleasant ways to die. Believe us. And faster. Definitively faster.
* BestialityIsDepraved: When Rat-Man was young, the papers ruined the career of a superhero revealing that he had sex with a sheep. Then they ruined the sheep's career by revealing she had sex with Rat-Man.
* BetterManhandleTheMurderWeapon: Rat-Man does it in a Marvel crossover... ''twice''. First by "securing" the weapon used to kill an old [[ComicBook/ThePunisher Punisher]]'s relative, just in time for the latter to see him. After several pages of dodging bullets, he manages to escape only to "secure" a metal pipe used to beat a certain "Mrs May". Seconds before Franchise/SpiderMan enters the scene.
* BigBad:
** Janus Valker.
** In the story arc starting with issue #94, [[spoiler:Mr. Mouse]].
* BigNo: done by [[Franchise/StarWars Darth Vader]] when he is dumped by the [[AlphaBitch philosophal woman]] in the ''Franchise/HarryPotter[=/=]Literature/{{Twilight}}'' parody.
* BigScrewedUpFamily: While they are not particularly extended, the Valkers are royally screwed up.
* BilingualDialogue: [[PlayedforLaughs Played for Laughs]] in an [[BonusMaterial out-of-continuity]] parody of Franchise/Star Wars}}, where Rat-Man plays a character [[CompositeCharacter who is a combination]] of Episode I's Anakin and of the original trilogy's Luke Skywalker and Brakko is the equivalent of Han Solo. The story parodies the famous bilingual dialogue of the ''Franchise/StarWars'' universe by having Rat-Man pretending to understand the language of his droid (a parody of R2-D2 resembling a Shop-Vac). Of course, this backfires spectacularly when the droid must perform a critical task that requires good communication between him and Rat-Man (which is something that happens [[RunningGag quite frequently]] in the story):
-->'''Bib Fortuna''': Great Jarba [[note]]A parody of Jabba the Hutt.[[/note]], we have captured two trespassers who were trying to free Brankio, while a third accomplice outside kept shouting "They are still awake".
* BlackComedy:
** Sometimes literally, like when Rat-Man joked that Brakko's son was stillborn.
** Example from the first story: the Buffoon kidnapped an orphan and [[DidntThinkThisThrough demanded a ransom from his parents]].
** The "I Vendicatopi" story arc decided to establish [[spoiler:Mr. Mouse]]'s villainy with a whole issue filled with September 11, 2001 jokes, starting with him recreating the attack on the Twin Towers to try and murder Rat-Man. Yes, this series is Italian, not American, why do you ask?
** The 2015 stories parodying ''Series/TheWalkingDead'' feature a character who is a stillborn zombie. Enough said.
* BlackComedyAnimalCruelty: In the "Yellow" storyline we discover that Rat-Man's stress relieving activities include throwing chicks against a wall with a tennis racket and beating pandas with a baseball bat.
* BlackDudeDiesFirst:
** [[DiscussedTrope Set up]] in the parody of ''Film/TheExpendables'', where there is a character known only as (even by that character himself) "Muscly Black Dude Who Dies a Gruesome Death", and whose purpose is only to say "You're totally mad, bro!" and "You said it, dude!". He frequently {{Lampshade|Hanging}}s this behaviour, and even explains how a [[FatalFamilyPhoto family photo]] is the way they chose to give depth to his character. [[spoiler:Eventually [[AvertedTrope averted]], because the first one to die is Creator/DolphLundgren's [[NoCelebritiesWereHarmed character]].]]
** Fully [[AvertedTrope averted]]: [[spoiler:as a bid to save their lives, [[CaptainErsatz Chat Morris]] (a not-too-subtle tweaking of Chuck Norris), cornered and taunted by ''Bel Pupone'' (a thinly disguised parody of Jean-Claude Van Damme) in calling someone's help, he calls for the defeated, broken ''Black Dude'', who earlier claimed that, owing to his useless, RedShirt status, was literally unable to outlive his lack of usefulness. As soon as ''Black Dude'' is made aware that Chat Morris, calling him "Toby", gave him a name, a backstory and a purpose, he [[TookALevelInBadass takes a level in badass]], dispatches ''Bel Pupone'' and forces him into a fistfight with Chat]]. And at the end [[spoiler:[[BrickJoke he dies in a car crash]].]]
* BreakingTheFourthWall: Often. Sometimes, it's more subtle, where the characters are aware that they are starring in a comic book (and they treat it as a job) and interact with panels and speech bubbles. Others, they make jabs at the artist, or comment on the nature of the comic (a favourite one is remarking on the bimonthly publication schedule.)
* BrownBagMask: Rat-Man as a young kid in an orphanarium used one to pass unnoticed to the bully who had previously threatened him. Unfortunately, he forgot to remove it during the classes...
* CallingYourAttacks: In the story "Il Grande Ratzinga!", Rat-Man became the pilot of a giant Super Robot, and naturally used this trope. The story was mostly a parody of the SuperRobot and anime tropes.
* CapturedSuperEntity: Averted in one of most surreal stories. It featured an evil comic book publisher who gave Rat-Man (the character and the series) an award as part of his plan to capture '''God''' (represented as a humongous hand over the horizon) and turn Him into another of his characters. In the end it was [[BatmanGambit all part of God's plan]] to trick the publisher into crossing over to the comic book world and let him meet his end at the hands of a forgotten comic book character. ItMakesSenseInContext, sort of.
* CatchPhrase: "Fletto i muscoli e sono nel vuoto!" ("I flex my muscles and I'm in the air!")
* CerebusSyndrome: A comic book originally published in a small fanzine? Check. As a parody of [[SuperHero a beloved Comic Book genre]] of its time? Check. With a (sort of) anthropomorphic animal as the protagonist? Check. That continued as a self-published independent comic book? Check. With a limited lifespan, as the author has decided to limit its run to a predetermined number of issues? Check. That progressively becomes DarkerAndEdgier, [[CerebusRetcon with huge retcons of previous storylines]]? Check. Transforming into [[AuthorTract a very personal (and surprisingly deep) reflection of his author on the Comic Book industry and contemporary life]]? Check. With strong religious overtones? Check. Let’s face it. Rat-Man could be the long lost Italian brother of [[ComicBook/CerebusTheAardvark the Trope Namer]]. Well, were it not for the fact that Ortolani accepted to publish the character with the Italian subsidiary of [[Creator/MarvelComics a mainstream publishing company]], that he decided to continue to write Rat-Man’s stories after the original deadline, as he believed that he had not exhausted the potential of the character, that he resorted to his country’s Roman Catholicism instead of inventing his own religion and, of course, that he apparently [[CreatorBreakdown did not drive himself mad in the process,]] as [[ComicBook/CerebusTheAardvark the Trope-Namer]]'s author.
* ChekhovsGag / BrickJoke: In spades. Expect minor jokes, throwaway lines, references and characters to return several times. It may be in the next page, at the end of the episode or even at the end of the story arc, several numbers later.
** At the beginning of a ''Film/TwoThousandOneASpaceOdyssey'' parody, a prehistoric monkey throws a bone in the air, and in the very last panel the bone falls down and hits Rat-Man in the head... followed by [[SerialEscalation another brick joke]] from that issue, a sabretooth tiger that carries an unconscious Rat-Man away.
** In "Rat-Man's Escape", Rat-Man is evading Cinzia, who claims to have a gift for him. He rudely remarks that it's probably [[GagPenis thirty centimetres long]], but she chastises him, saying it's only a rose. He apologizes and admits that sometimes he's biased against her/him, only for him/her to reveal that she had it tattooed on her penis. When, at the end of the arc, three episodes later (which correspond to six months of real life between publications), Rat-Man and another character are about to have a horse race, Cinzia promises a rose to the winner, prompting him to shoot his horse to avoid competing...
* ChekhovsGunman: The Incredible Ik, Aima, and [[spoiler:the woman that looked like Thea who called Denam "father" and suggested him Thea's name]], only appeared briefly, but the final story arc brings them back and reveal the truth: [[spoiler:Aima is the mysterious woman, Denam's real daughter and Rat-Man's ''real'' OneTrueLove, but their memories of each other were wiped out by Denam and Kalissa to set up a weapon against the Shadow for when it would possess Rat-Man, and Ik is the personification of Rat-Man's love for Aima who emerged after the memory wipe]].
* CityOfAdventure: La Città Senza Nome ("The City with No Name")
* CityWithNoName: Again, la Città Senza Nome, as you might have guessed.
** Another city in the Rat-Man universe is called La Città Molto Grande ("The Very Large City").
* CloningBlues: One of the first story arcs (issues #11-13 of the original Italian Series).
* CloneDegeneration: The eventual fate of Rat-Man's clones in the mentioned story arc.
* ClumsyCopyrightCensorship: Many earlier stories had Rat-Man meeting various Marvel heroes. Since the bonds between Panini (the Italian owner of Marvel comic rights, and Rat-Man's publisher too) and Marvel became looser in the years, the recent reprints of these stories have been altered turning the various heroes into [[{{Expy}} expies]]. More in detail:
** Spider-Man became "The Human Spider", and the web pattern on his suit was altered.
** Victor Von Doom's cape lacks the classic golden buttons, and his mask now looks like a japanese Oni's face (similar to the one [[Manga/SaintSeiya Guilty]] wears)
** The Punisher is now "The Polisher" and the skull insignia on his suit is replaced with a smiley face.
** Wolverine, now "Hunter", haves extendable fingernails instead of his classic claws.
** The big "A" on Captain America's mask is now a star, and his name is now "American Star".
** Nick Fury is now "Furio", [[SpecialEffectFailure with a blatant white space left after his name showing that a longer name was here before]].
* ComicallyMissingthePoint: Lots of. The most hilarious ones usually involve Brakko and the fact that he is completely oblivious to his wife's blatant infidelity and unbelievable promiscuity, even if she is sleeping with one (or more) of her many lovers when he is in the same home or [[BedroomAdulteryScene even when he is in the SAME BED]].
-->'''Brakko''': Father Angelini, please help me. I am desperate. I want to cheat on my wife
-->'''Father Angelini''': Come on, Brakko: revenge is useless. And the child is innocent. When he will grow up, it will be as if he were really yours.
-->'''Brakko''' (completely clueless): What?
** And even "his" 2-years old son seems to know the truth, as he regularly refers to the postman as "daddy".
* CrapsackWorld: In Rat-Man's world, almost everybody is stupid, violent or insane. Sometimes all three at once...
* {{Crossover}}:
** Back when ''Rat-Man'' was still little more than a fanzine, Rat-Man met various well-known characters such as Spider-Man and ComicBook/DoctorDoom ([[NiceJobBreakingItHero who he drove into madness, supervillainy and believing it was all Richards' fault]]).
** Later, he started to meet only expies of comic book heroes, but there were some cross-overs with Italian characters such as [[http://www.imd.it/rat-man/CoverREL2.htm Erinni]] and [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lazarus_Ledd Lazarus Ledd]].
* CrouchingMoronHiddenBadass:
** Rat-Man ''is'' a moron, but sometimes he'll do things like making a fool of an {{Expy}} of Son Goku ([[{{Determinator}} showing more resistance to pain than]] ''[[{{Determinator}} the rock Goku's expy was hitting him with]]'' in the process) or jump the VillainOfTheWeek ''while forced on a wheelchair''. And he still remains a moron.
** The very first story sets the tone for both Rat-Man's idiocy and badassery. When The Buffoon [[DidntThinkThisThrough kidnapped an orphaned child and demanded ransom from his parents]], Rat-Man tracked him and stormed his hideout: after an embarrassing false start, Rat-Man [[CurbStompBattle curbstomped the Buffoon's gang]] in the purest Franchise/{{Batman}} style save for pulling a gun on the last one (he had produced a knife), but when he confronted the Buffoon (who was terrified and possibly crapping in his pants) he just ''paid the ransom''. After Rat-Man left with the child, the Buffoon was still there holding the case of the ransom, too dumbstruck by what had just happened to even move.
* CruelAndUnusualDeath: See under "Janus Valker"...
* CutHisHeartOutWithASpoon: Janus Valker with Topin, literally and very, very effectively.
-->'''Topin:''' Are you threatening me with a SPOON?
-->'''Valker:''' Spoons are grossly underestimated as weapons. They need more strength and time, but you can get great satisfaction from using them.
* DarkestHour: You probably may take a hint from the fact that there is a storyline with this very name...
* {{Determinator}}:
** For God's sake, if you are between Janus Valker and whatever he may want, JUST STEP ASIDE!
** Even Rat-Man can be one sometimes: [[spoiler:as the saying goes, like father, like son]]
* DeathOfAChild: Sometimes it is ''Rat-Man himself'' who causes the death of children, through incompetence or sheer malice.
* DisneyOwnsThisTrope: Parodied with Mr. Mouse, a ShallowParody of WesternAnimation/MickeyMouse, [[spoiler: who has created countless superheroes and their villains to make money selling comic books about them]].
* DogsAreDumb: Svarz, Brakko's "guard" dog. Though it's hard to tell if he's dumber than his master...
* TheDogWasTheMastermind: All the events of the "Comic School" story (see StylisticSuck below) are revealed as the plot of Graziello, a doodle-boy with an AnnoyingLaugh appearing throughout the issue (scribbled on walls, papers etc.), who never had the opportunity to be published, and so hijacked Rat-Man's story to finally be printed and [[MediumAwareness appearing in a comic book]]!
* DownerEnding: [[spoiler:"The Darkest Hour" ends this way. Rat-Man realizes that Thea, his true love, is really dead. Janus Valker dies in an hospital (he eventually gets better), making Jorgesson's sacrifice to free him from the Shadow pointless. Brakko is fired by the police department and is hunted down as a criminal by his former colleagues. The Shadow possesses Rat-Man and throws the world into chaos. It can't get darker than that. [[FromBadToWorse Except that it does.]] ]]
* DragonAscendant: Janus Valker is initially introduced as the head of the "Governativi" [[note]]Literally, "the government men".[[/note]], the hit squad of a [[GovernmentConspiracy secret organization within the government]].
* EldritchAbomination:
** La Gatta, which looks like a beautiful woman, but whose true form is a demonic being from another dimension that feeds on humanity's lust and desires.
** One early issue featured Galactus and Silver Surfer expies, with Rat-Man being turned into another Surfer expy and trying (and, of course, failing) to save the Earth from being devoured. As soon as the Galactus expy is breaking the Earth's crust to get to the core, hundreds of tentacles attached to ''something'' living in the abyss wrap around him and consume him in seconds. [[DiabolusExNihilo This is never explained]] [[BigLippedAlligatorMoment or brought upon again in the comic]].
** The character of War in the "Rat" storyline is strongly implied to actually be [[WarGod the most feared horseman of the apocalypse]].
** The Shadow.
* EndOfAnAge: Issues #77-81 of the original Italian series feature a long story where Rat-Man visits UsefulNotes/NewYorkCity and meets the local superheroes, who are clearly based on Creator/MarvelComics's [[CaptainErsatz classic characters]]. The saga ends with the American superheroes accepting that they have no place any more in the modern world and [[DisappearsintoLight disappearing into the light]]. The story is an affectionate homage of the UsefulNotes/TheSilverAgeOfComicBooks and a scathing parody of the more modern approach of UsefulNotes/TheDarkAgeOfComicBooks.
* TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt: The final story arc is basically the story of the Apocalypse set in Rat-Man's world.
* EvenEvilHasLovedOnes: Janus Valker with his son, [[spoiler: who will eventually become Rat-Man]], and to a lesser extent with his wife, Kalissa.
* EvilVersusOblivion: Kalissa's group is a bunch of [[MadScientist mad scientists]] who [[spoiler:forcibly separate Rat-Man and his (pregnant) true love only to guarantee that Rat-Man remains a superhero]], but all of these is done in order to avoid that [[EldritchAbomination the Shadow]] consume all reality.
* EvolutionaryLevels: In the ''2001'' homage/parody, a scientist uses on himself the power of the monolith and suddenly evolves into various lifeforms (including [[StealthPun Pikachu]]), before [[AscendToAHigherPlaneOfExistence ascending to a higher plane of existence]] and short-circuiting the monolith.
* {{Expy}}: During his adventures Rat-Man meets many transparent expies of superheroes, such as "L'uomo con il costume da ragno" ("The Man in the Spider Outfit"). Justified by the fact that the times of real superheroes are over, and those are people without powers inspired by the heroes of times past. It is maybe something of an homage to the Golden and Silver eras of superheroes, it's not really that clear.
** Aldo of [[Franchise/FridayThe13th Jason]], in Venerdì 12. But only in his appearance.
** The "New Superheroes" arc features ComicBook/{{Iron|Man}}crash [[Franchise/SpiderMan Wallclimber]], [[ComicBook/TheMightyThor Zoth]], [[ComicBook/CaptainAmerica Captain Battle]], [[Franchise/XMen the DNA-Men]], and others.
* EyelessFace: One-time character Mr. Tristazzi from the "Comic School" story has spectacles... but no eyes underneath.
* FaceDeathWithDignity: Subverted in the final issue, when [[spoiler: Janus Valker]] is severely wounded and is lying in a nameless alley during the final fight with the Shadow’s horde. Everything plays straight according to this trope. He has a chance to speak with [[spoiler: his granddaughter]], [[PreSacrificeFinalGoodbye saying that he is happy]] because he never thought that he would [[spoiler: become a grandfather]] and [[ForeShadowing he always believed that he would have died alone in a nameless alley some day.]] Finally, [[AGoodWayToDie he sends her away saying that he has fought all his life and is a bit tired now; so he needs a moment to catch his breath]]. When she departs, [[LastStand a huge crowd of monsters slowly approaches]] and [[DefiantToTheEnd he quietly asks them: “So… Does any of you bastards know how this alley is called?”]] But he is back at the end [[spoiler: to kill the Shadow once and for all (maybe)]], [[BrickJoke also stating the name of that alley]].
* FakeCrossover / CoversAlwaysLie: One cover of the comic depicts Rat-Man being terrified by Aldo, the hideous main character of ''Venerdì; 12'', a series that shared space with Rat-Man in the comic books. The two characters have never met in the actual comics.
* FunnyBackgroundEvent: Often there will be one in order to cram more jokes or get through exposition.
* FutureMeScaresMe: Averted. Rat-Man meets his future self, but he looks and acts just like him... only fatter.
* GagPenis: Transgender Cinzia Otherside's defining feature.
%% * GettingCrapPastThe Radar: Due to overwhelming and persistent misuse, GCPTR is on-page examples only until 01 June 2021. If you are reading this in the future, please check the trope page to make sure your example fits the current definition.
* GoodAngelBadAngel: Parodied. Rat-Man once met the [[GagBoobs well-endowed]] starlet Gessica Lovebol, and had the chance to undress her. Both the devil and the angel on his shoulders asked him to remove her bathing suit!
* GoThroughMe: Parodied.
--> '''Ortolani''' (narrating a flashback, in which he's surrounded by thugs): I thought I was done for, but then... a shadow appeared.\\
'''Rat-Man''' (in the flashback): If you want him... you'll have to go through me.\\
'''Ortolani''' (back in the present): Marvellous. Just marvellous. ''(pauses)'' They put us in the same hospital room, so we quickly became friends.
* GovernmentConspiracy: A main theme of the first story arc dealing with Rat-Man’s convoluted past. In the 30s a group of masked crimefighters [[SuperTeam joined together to form a so-called “Secret Squad” of superheroes]]. Some years later, they convened a press conference to denounce an attempt to bring them under the control of a secretive cabal inside the institutions and revealed their secret identities. [[IdiotPlot Unsurprisingly]],[[DoNotTauntCthulhu they were (almost) all killed shortly thereafter]] and the government decided to create a “Second Secret Squad” of superheroes to replace the first. A young Rat-Man (who went by the name “Rat-Boy”) became a member of the Second Squad.
* HeelFaceTurn: [[spoiler: Janus Valker]], in the latest instalments of the saga. [[NominalHero Sort of]].
* HeartInTheWrongPlace: [[AvertedTrope Averted.]] Janus Valker, being a very clever scientist and an unstoppable killing machine, knows very well where your heart is.
* HeroKiller: Janus Valker is a ''professional'' one: while his job is to keep the superheroes under the Government's control, he's not only authorized to use any mean he wants (resulting in him being paid for killing superheroes), but when the Government wants a superhero dead he's the one doing the job.
* HiddenBuxom: Parodied in a story with the top model Jessica Lovebol: she has some visibly large breasts, but when she loses her bikini bra they're revealed as ''large as the entire beach''.
* HiddenDepths: Neither Rat-Man nor Brakko aren't as stupid as people think they are. Case in point, Rat-Man can come up with surprisingly intelligent plans at times, and Brakko, contrary to what almost everyone thinks, [[spoiler:is perfectly aware that his wife cheats on him and Cinzia is a transexual, he just loves Clara too much and doesn't think that Cinzia being born with a man's body makes Cinzia's less of a woman]].
* HitchhikersLeg: Hilariously parodied with Cinzia Otherside. She was in need of a lift and did this to stop a truck, but we only see the aftermath... Cinzia in a bar, and behind her the wrecked truck, upside-down and burning!
-->'''Cinzia:''' (''to the bartender'') Call a taxi for me.
* HollywoodJehovahsWitness: Rat-Man got a bad karma from how he scares them away.
-->'''Jehovah's Witness:''' Good morning. Do you know God?\\
'''Rat-Man:''' Yes, that's me. What do you want?
* HopeBringer: If Rat-Man has one redeeming quality which makes him worthy of being considered a true SuperHero is that he never gives up on hope, no matter how outclassed he is or how desperate the battle may seem (and, Rat-Man being Rat-Man, he is usually seriously outclassed and pretty much all of his battles are desperate). [[spoiler: And this makes the end of the "Darkest Hour" storyline even more heartwrenching, as the Shadow leads him to realize that:]]
-->[[spoiler: '''Rat-Man (v.o.):''' Sooner or later, hope just runs out.]]
** According to Valker and Topin, the ability to never give up on hope and even inspire it in other is what makes a ''true'' superhero. The absence of this ability is why the costumed and sometimes superpowered vigilantes that appeared after the death of the First Secret Squad are dismissively called "Men in Tights" rather than superheroes.
* HopeSpot: [[spoiler: at the end of the "Darkest Hour", Rat-Man has apparently defeated the Shadow, saved his father and, on the top of that, he has also discovered that Thea is alive. Wait a minute. Didn't the Shadow just said:]]
-->[[spoiler: '''The Shadow:''' The Shadow is deceit.]]
* HornyDevil: La Gatta ("The Cat")
* HotScientist: Kalissa
* HumanoidAbomination: Possibly Janus Valker and Joba, since they are possessed by l'Ombra (''The Shadow'').
* TheIgor: Janus Valker's assistant, Jorgesson, is a faithful and competent scientist who serves his boss with loyalty and abnegation. It is stated several times that he is one of the few people Valker cares for, and the only one he tolerates after embracing the shadow.
* InsistentTerminology: Valker does not like to be called "[[spoiler:granpa]]".
-->[[spoiler:'''Thea''': [[ItMakesSenseInContext Look, ma! I have a granpa!]]]]
-->[[spoiler:'''Valker''': You have a father of your father.]]
* LawyerFriendlyCameo: Recent reprints of the stories where Rat-Man meets Marvel heroes (see above) were altered for copyright issues. Spider-Man is replaced with "The Human Spider", for example.
* MadScientist: There are many, most notably Dr. Denam.
* MadScientistsBeautifulDaughter: Thea Denam, who really was an ArtificialHuman and his most advanced experiment ever. Also, [[spoiler:Aima, of whom Thea is a clone and a replacemnt love interest for Rat-Man]].
* MagiciansAreWizards:
** Spoofed in an issue that was a parody of Franchise/ConanTheBarbarian: the seemingly all-powerful wizard our "heroine" met fought with playing cards, [[PullARabbitOutOfMyHat a rabbit]] and spells from... a bunch of ''TabletopGame/MagicTheGathering'' cards!
** Later we get a two-issue spoof of ''Franchise/HarryPotter''... Where wizards liberally combine Potterverse-like magic and stage magic tricks. We're even treated to [[PullARabbitOutOfMyHat pulling rabbits out of hats]] for use as projectiles and a giant top hat used as a ''siege cannon''.
* TheManBehindTheMan: During the events of the six-part story about Rat-Man's origins (known among fans as "The Hexalogy"), a [[InTheHood mysterious cloaked man]] appears in various places without ever saying or doing anything, but it is mentioned that he knows about Rat-Man's fate and will control it. Characters acknowledge his presence, but rarely interact with him (an exception is, for example, the Jack Kirby expy) and Rat-Man is afraid of him. [[spoiler: The very last page [[TheReveal reveals that the cloaked man was Leo Ortolani himself]], and thus the story doubled as Leo's real-life issues in creating the Rat-Man character and his influences (Jack Kirby above all).]]
** From the story arc starting with issue #94, Mr. Mouse. Who, in issue #97, is revealed being responsible for [[spoiler: creating every single superhero and every single supervillain, including ''Cosmicus, the Devourer of Worlds'']]. It's also implied that there's someone behind ''him'' too, namely [[spoiler: The Shadow]], [[UnwittingPawn even if he doesn't know]].
* MeaningfulEcho: "The Shadow is deceit".
* MeaningfulName:
** Rat-Man's real name is revealed as being "Deboroh La Roccia". "La Roccia" in Italian means "The rock", a nod to Ortolani's degree in Geology. "Deboroh" is just a silly name, as it's a male version of Deborah, commonly used in Italy for vapid hot girls.
** Cinzia ''Otherside'' is trans. What a shock, uh?
** Thea Denam (see the ArtificialHuman example) is named after the Tea rose, the plant she was created from.
* TheMenInBlack: This is how the servants of the Shadow appear when they roam the earth.
* MindScrew: The story called "The R-Files", a parody of ''Series/TheXFiles'', but a very twisted story on its own, full of BreakingTheFourthWall moments and [[DoubleSubversion Doubly subverted]] tropes. For examples, the Mulder and Scully parodies find the real Rat-Man, but then he is revealed as being Leo Ortolani, the creator of the (real and in-story) series. Moments later, Ortolani accidentally spills ink all over his panels and he disappears into blackness, revealing they were characters in a comic all along... ItMakesSenseInContext. Or maybe not.
* MoleInCharge: [[spoiler: The Wolf is the head of the Second Secret Squad and an agent of the GovernmentConspiracy that killed the First Squad.]]
* TheMovie: ''Rat-Man: il segreto del supereroe''.
* MyFriendsAndZoidberg:
** Mixed with [[SelfDeprecation Self-Deprecating Humor]], the title of number 78: "The Greatest Heroes of the World! And Me."
** Also in number 88, "Il Grande Magazzi e il Principe Mezzo-rospo" (something like [[Literature/HarryPotterAndTheHalfBloodPrince "The Great Wizardus and the Half-toad Prince"]]), Rat Man is randomly called Olaf, and has been attending a Wizardry School for a long, long time (without success). The headmaster begins his start of year speech with the words "My dear future wizards...*beat*...and Olaf."
* NoCelebritiesWereHarmed: Many characters have features based on popular actors and other celebrities. Brakko is based upon Danny Glover, Kalissa (Janus Valker's LoveInterest) looks like Cher. Lupo, Rat-Man's former instructor, is based on Sylvester Stallone, and Il Pipistrello, Rat-Man's [[TheMentor mentor]], is obviously Patrick Stewart. Even the AnimatedAdaptation is not immune: recurring character Dr. Schafausen is based upon Creator/ChristopherLee. Venerdì 12 also had one-time character Cicciola, the fairy of love, who was almost a carbon copy of the infamous Hungarian pornstar [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ilona_Staller Ilona Staller]] AKA "Cicciolina".
* NoHoldsBarredBeatdown: It happens often to Rat-Man as Marvelmouse, while he was fighting many opponents in the Arena and getting destroyed in seconds by all of them. Once a member of the audience asked the [[Manga/FistOfTheNorthStar Kenshiro]] parody to stop senselessly beating [=Marvelmouse=], and another time Il Drago (see TakeThat below) bashed him with a stone for so long that... the stone asked for mercy! It's all part of the humorous tone of the comics, but these fights also show how much of a [[TheDeterminator determinator]] Rat-Man is.
* NonHumanSidekick: Piccettino (something like ''Li'l One''), Rat-Man's old, small, worn-out teddy bear. He's just a regular teddy bear (maybe), but Rat-Man thinks it can speak and do things. Then again, it's stated many times that Rat-Man is mentally retarded.
* NoNonsenseNemesis: Valker. If he feels you're a threat or otherwise need to be dealt with he ''will'' kill you, the fastest and most effective way possible.
* OneTrueLove: Thea Denam. [[spoiler:Or, rather, Aima, if Denam and Kalissa hadn't wiped their memories and replaced her with a clone.]]
* PapaWolf: ''Janus Valker''. Harm his son or [[spoiler:granddaughter]] and he ''will'' kill you as soon as he can get his hands on you. The only exception are [[WouldntHurtAChild children]]-for them, he'll wait their 18th birthday and ''then'' [[BoomHeadshot shoot them in the head]].
** [[spoiler:Rat-Man]] himself: when Topin kidnapped his daughter he left him a broken wreck barely alive, and when Topin threatened to come back and kidnap her again he was ''this'' close from killing him in cold blood before [[BadGuysDoTheDirtyWork Valker arrived and brutally finished him]].
* ParodyNames: Averted. The parodies usually give to the characters names with no relation to the original ones. Try to get which character's parody is supposed to be Professor Richlady without reading the story where he appears. [[note]]It's [[Franchise/HarryPotter Severus Snape]], if you're wondering.[[/note]]
* {{Patricide}}: [[spoiler: it is implied that Joba Valker ordered the murder of his father Boda so that he could claim the power of the Shadow for himself. This [[LaserGuidedKarma bites him in the ass]] when the Shadow chooses his brother Janus instead.]]
* PocketProtector: With a hamster.
** Also parodied with his encounter with the Punisher and gets shot eight times: the bullet to the heart is stopped by a Bible, the one to the stomach by a Quran, the one to the liver by a copy of ''[[Creator/KarlMarx Das Kapital]]'', one of ''Literature/TheBetrothed'' stops another...
* PoliticallyIncorrectHero: Where to begin? There is probably not a single issue or minority group, which is usually addressed with careful tact nowadays, from sexual orientation (mainly with Cynthia and his friend Tamara, two transgender prostitutes) to pedophilia, from the homeless to senior citizens, which has not been mercilessly mocked by Rat-Man, sometimes in the most inappropriate way. This may count both as [[ValuesDissonance values dissonance]] as political correctness is widely despised as hypocritical in Italy and as an [[AuthorTract author tract]], as Leo Ortolani’s notion of humor is that of “the old schoolmate whom you can’t help to find funny, even if he sometimes cracks outrageous jokes”. However, it must be said that he takes great pains to drive home the point that Rat-Man is a complete moron and (especially as the series progresses) that he can be [[JerkAss an unlikeable and selfish character]].
** This is [[LampshadeHanging lampshaded]] in one of the first stories, a parody of ''Series/Space1999'', where Rat-Man is deported to a detention facility on the Moon because of (among other things) his inappropriate sense of humor. The inmates wear [[SpaceClothes uniforms]] which allow to identify the reason they were deported by the different color of their sleeves (Rat-Man gets [[ToiletHumour the brown one]], of course) and are subject to mandatory counseling:
--> '''Yellow sleeve guy:''' “This is an old story. They dropped tons of nuclear waste on the Moon in the Seventies. Then they shut down the base because the personnel started to develop a lethal form of Capricorn.”
--> '''Rat-Man:''' “of Capricorn?”
--> '''Yellow sleeve guy:''' “Hey dude, I am just trying to help here. The last time you mentioned cancer in this comic book all hell broke loose!”
** And very bluntly in a more recent story:
--> '''Rat-Man:''' “With all this politically correct words we do not understand what the activity-between-two-people-for-the-purposes-of-pleasure-and/or-reproduction [[note]]Yes it is an euphemism for "fuck", duh.[[/note]] we want to say any more”
* PostModernism: The more this comic is running, the more its humour becomes post-modern: characters are aware of being in a comic book, or are just actors playing a part; one story arc eventually revolved around the fact that ''Rat-Man'' (the series) had won a prize (in real life) and Rat-Man was supposed to take it... and then discovered it was all a plan devised by an evil publisher who used Rat as a means to ''capture and publish God''! And it was "God" who [[BatmanGambit rigged the awards with the help of new toons so that Rat-man would try to run away from the editor, which would eventually lead the evil publisher to enter the toon world and be killed by a long-missing toon ]]. Obviously both Rat-man and Brakko don't understand what happened even after [[TooDumbToLive Brakko]] himself explains the convoluted plan.
* PsychoForHire: Reegar is a government killer nicknamed "The Bride". When he is given the task of killing someone, he falls in love with the victim and starts to plan the wedding (with the victim's collaboration). When he comes to you with a wedding dress, you know he's about to kill you. Oh, and he has [[EasySexChange changed his sex at least three times]] and is a [[ImAHumanitarian cannibal]].
* {{Pun}}: There are some: for example the plot-wise very important labs are called "Altrove", which means "Somewhere else":
--> ''Insomma, tutta la scienza del mondo era Altrove.'' ("In short, all the science in the world was Somewhere Else.")
* RealityWarper: Leo Ortolani can change the world with his drawings. {{Justified}} as he's the author.
* ReallyGetsAround: Clara, Brakko's wife, has slept with almost every man in town (and, it's implied, her ''dog''), but Brakko is apparently completely oblivious to this.
* TheReasonYouSuck: Rat-Man delivers an epic one to [[spoiler:Mr. Mouse]], while [[HangingbytheFingers hanging on for dear life from an aircraft thousands of feet high]], [[DefianttotheEnd with a gun in his face]]!
-->'''Rat-Man:''' You don't have any new dreams to sell, [[spoiler: Mister Mouse]]. Just one that keeps recurring. And do you know how recurring dreams are called? Nightmares!
* ReformedButNotTamed: Valker after his HeelFaceTurn: he's just as efficiently murderous as ever, he just turned his tendencies on the Shadow's minions [[PapaWolf out of paternal love]].
* RunningGag: There are some, such as Cinzia Otherside's desire to marry Rat-Man and the Website/ChuckNorrisFacts being treated as reality.
* SamusIsAGirl: [[spoiler:The Spectre. And, less dramatically, the Carp turns out to be this as well.]]
* SatanicArchetype: From its first appearance, the Shadow is strongly implied to be Rat-Man's world equivalent of the devil and the analogy only grows stronger with time. It is an all-powerful entity who rules on [[EldritchLocation a dimension where the standard rules of physics of our world do not apply]] through an [[TheLegionsOfHell army of monstrous creatures]] who can [[ShapeShifting change into the appearance of human beings]] to act in our world incognito. He lures good people to help him with its schemes through lies and deceit. Its preferred modus operandi is to possess a human being and transform him into an EldritchAbomination, granting him immense power in the process. Its victims are imprisoned into a [[BloodyBowelsOfHell living wall]] where they are confronted with their sins and mistakes for all eternity. Finally, in the final story arc it unleashes TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIT.
* ScreamDiscretionShot: [[PlayedforLaughs Played for Laughs]] in the "Yellow" storyline. Rat-Man asks [[spoiler: Rat-Girl]] to give him back her engagement ring, but she laughs and answers that her cat ate it. Cue to Rat-Man holding the engagement ring in an hand and a pair of nail scissors in the other. The horrified looks from the rest of the cast imply that he has just eviscerated the poor animal.
* SelfDeprecation: Leo Ortolani himself appears as a minor or semi-minor character, usually as a pathetic little man (whom even Rat-Man makes fun of sometimes!) who sometimes gets killed. He frequently makes fun of of his "useless" degree in Geology. But sometimes, like when Rat-Man succeeds in finding out a secret hideout by moving a rock that shouldn't be in that environment, it's surprisingly useful.
* SequelHook: As the series was slated to end with issue #100, issue #99 has one when Rat-Man finally opens the letter that reveals his real identity: he is Janus Valker's son not just by adoption but also by blood, taken from the mother as a fetus, and as Valker's son he's fated to become the avatar of The Shadow in 2014.
** Ortolani had either lied or changed his mind about that, so the hook was followed on starting with issue 101. Then the series ended for good... But the last panel is a shot of [[spoiler:the cryo chamber where Rat-Man's last surviving clone sleeps]].
* ShoutOut: Too many to count. Many covers are homages to famous comic book covers, such as the first appearances of Franchise/{{Superman}}, Franchise/{{Batman}} and Franchise/SpiderMan, and many other iconic arts. Rat-Man usually substitutes the hero in the cover.
* SiblingRivalry: this may sum up the relationship between Joba and Janus Valker nicely.
* SpecsofAwesome: Janus Valker almost always wears a pair of glasses and he is arguably the biggest badass of the series.
* StandInPortrait: Rat-Man tries to pass unnoticed by hiding among figures on a wallpaper. He fails... even if it is revealed that the pattern on the wallpaper looked exactly like him!
* StylisticSuck: The "Comic School" story is an interesting example of this. Basically, in the "Comic School" story, Rat-Man and other characters attend a school for future comic artists, but he and the others represent the ''real people'' behind those characters, and so each one of them is drawn in the style of those people wanting to be artists, but not having the abilities to do that. The majority of them are little more than doodles.
* SummonBiggerFish: In one story, Rat-Man revealed he never managed to read a book because as soon as he opens one Chuck Norris appears and takes him on an adventure. Later, threatened by an invincible killer robot, [[BrickJoke Rat-Man opened a book]], ''[[SugarWiki/MomentOfAwesome causing Chuck Norris to pull a DynamicEntry on the robot]]''.
* SurprisinglyRealisticOutcome: Much of the humour relies on this:
** Superheroes aren't all there with their mind due to the toll taken by both training and actual superheroing.
** Valker divides superheroes into two kinds: those who think they can [[BulletCatch grab speeding bullets out of thin air]] and those who think he won't shoot. [[HeroKiller Valker has a collection of superhero masks and gloves with bullet holes in them]].
*** On the above, turns out that letting a CombatPragmatist superhero come close was a bad idea on Valker's part, as Rat-Man stole his gun.
** If you're a lab assistant for a murderous sociopath like Valker, showing your colleagues a card trick during work hours results in Valker using the cards to predict the future and then calling your widow to inform her of your imminent death.
** When the authorities outlaw superheroes, some give up, some are captured, and the rest form a resistance movement that the authorities just can't stop, as they all have superpowers.
** Clara's constant cheating on her husband puts an enormous strain on their relationship, especially as [[spoiler:he knows but has never said anything]], and in the end [[spoiler:they divorce after he catches her having sex with their marriage counselor]].
* SunglassesAtNight: Valker and Joba never remove their sunglasses. They do this to hide their real demonic/possessed nature: the sunglasses also act as some sort of PowerLimiter, and when they remove them, they can unleash terrible powers in the form of living shadows.
* SuperEmpowering: Mr. Mouse' shtick, both through his own lab and those of others (the most prominent is August Abbard by virtue of handling the Second Secret Squad, Rat-Man included). At first he simply equipped people who wanted to be supeheroes inspired by Sorro (in-universe stand in for the ''{{Superman}}'' comic book), but by the time of the Second Secret Squad at least some of the interventions included kidnapping and genetically altering ''fetuses''. [[spoiler:Mr. Mouse also created their villains, up to and including ''an alien invasion'' and a '''''PlanetEater'''''.]]
* SuperZeroes: Rat-Man is an almost totally useless cretin and coward, whose attempts at being a superhero tend to end with his total humiliation. Keyword: almost. Once in a while he'll pull something worth of actual superheroes, like jumping on the head of a [[EldritchAbomination Shadow]]-possessed villain while being ''forced on an electric wheelchair'' (apparently there's the right sequence of commands for that) or ''[[SummonBiggerFish summoning freakin']] Creator/ChuckNorris'' on a [[HeroKiller killer robot designed specifically to kill superheroes]]. Also, Valker treats him with (grudging) respect since he managed to be the only superhero to survive a hostile encounter with him: most heroes think he won't shoot or that [[BulletCatch they can catch bullets with their hands]] and get killed, but Rat-Man ''stole his gun''.
* TakeThat: Many to be found, especially against anime and manga, which Leo isn't too fond of. Most notably the battle between Rat-Man and Il Drago, a transparent parody of ''Franchise/DragonBall'''s Son Goku.
* TheTelevisionTalksBack: Used in a story parodying ''Literature/TheRing''. [[RuleOfFunny Bizarrely]], it wasn't even a real cursed tape, just a prank by the owner of the store Rat-Man rented the tape from.
* ThinkOfTheCensors / ThinkOfTheChildren: ''Parodied'':
--> '''Cinzia:''' "Hi there! I'm Cinzia, and I'm a transsexual!"
--> '''Interviewer:''' "Cinzia, there are ''kids'' [[NoFourthWall out there]]."
--> ''*{{Beat}}''
--> '''Cinzia:''' "Hi there, '''''kids!''''' [[ComicallyMissingThePoint I'm Cinzia, and I'm a transsexual!"]]
* TooDumbToLive: Most of the characters behave like this one time or another, usually [[RuleofFunny for comedic effect]].
** The first price goes to an American tourist who is lynched by an angry mob in the Third World country of Eutanésia: he apparently started yelling "here I am!" when somebody asked if any Americans were present during an anti-American riot.
** Brakko ([[WordOfGod described by the author]] as "[[UpToEleven Even stupider than Rat-Man, if it's even possible]]") proved to be the worst, and literally graduated to this, in issue #104. Previously in the issue his friend and subordinate police officer Jordan had told him that if he were ordered to arrest a friend he'd tell him to run and count to 20 before giving chase, knowing that, [[WhatAnIdiot having trouble remembering what comes after 12]], he'd give him a ''huge'' headstart. Later, we have this situation:
-->'''Brakko:''' "Jordan? This is my office!"
-->'''Jordan:''' "I know, sir. I'm really sorry. '''RUN!'''"
-->''*Brakko [[OhCrap realizes Jordan has to arrest him]] and starts running*''
-->'''Jordan:''' "One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten, eleven, twelve..."
-->''{{Beat}}''
-->'''Jordan:''' "Twelve..."
-->''{{Beat}}'''
-->''*Brakko comes back*''
-->'''[[TooDumbToLive Brakko:]]''' [[TooDumbToLive "Thirteen!"]]
-->'''Jordan:''' "Oh, thank you!"
-->''*Brakko runs away again, and Jordan continues counting*''
* ThrowingYourShieldAlwaysWorks: ComicBook/CaptainAmerica's take on this is parodied twice:
** In a fanzine-era story, the actual Cap (transformed in a LawyerFriendlyCameo in later reprints) shows up to teach Rat-Man, and when he does it the shield does a lot of things among bounces, including ''cleaning with the vacuum''. But he wasn't always that good, [[EyeScream as Nick Fury's missing eye can testify]].
*** Rat-Man is obviously a disaster with it, and nearly hits Fury's remaining eye during training. Then, when he's the last hope against Hydra's take over of the world, he has an ImagineSpot in which he finally succeeds (and also hits a cat. He hates cats), then he actually launches... And then cut to old Rat-Man, who once again didn't end the story of his adventure with Cap and the blind colonel, [[TheBadGuysWin and then salutes them with "Heil Hydra"]].
** In a later story, [[HeroKiller Valker]] muses on the many superheroes he killed, all of which either believed themselves bulletproof or believed he wouldn't shoot. Then he remembers the one who carried a shield... And wonders why the hell he threw it (Valker shot him, and then took the Captain America-like shield as a trophy).
* TheTropeWithoutATitle: Almost every setting in the series has a name like this, such as "La Città Senza Nome" (City Without a Name), "La Città Molto Grande" (Very Big City) and so on.
* TurnCoat: At some point in time, [[spoiler: The Wolf, one of the members of the “First Secret Squad”,]] joined the GovernmentConspiracy that wanted to replace the Secret Squad with another under their control. [[spoiler: It is also implied that [[InsideJob it is him who actually killed the other members]].]]
* TwoGirlsToATeam: [[spoiler:The second Secret Squad is eventually revealed to be this.]]
* {{Unperson}}: PlayedForLaughs. Rat-Man as Marvel Mouse once fought a character called Il Drago (a parody of Son Goku and the Saiyan from ''Dragon Ball''), who had a special move which, according to Rat-Man, sent the opponents in a dimension so far away that nobody would have remembered their existence. Il Drago was stopped by a superhero called "L'uomo con il costume da Ragno'' (a [=Spider Man=] expy) who reversed the effect of the move and sent them both in the other dimension. Later, Rat-Man saw a poster of his fight with Il Drago and wondered who the latter one was.
* WarIsHell: Played surprisingly straight in the "Rat" storyline, a ferocious satire of the developed countries' indifference to the plight of people living in war-torn Thirld-World countries. Rat-Man and his friends buy a package holiday to visit [[IDontLiketheSoundofThatPlace Eutanésia]], [[CrapsackWorld a developing country ravaged by a terrible civil war (the civil war being the main tourist attraction of the country!)]]. Naturally, as soon as they get there, their own stupidity and ignorance of the local situation get them in horrible trouble. Meanwhile, in a [[AlternateUniverse parallel universe]], Rat-Man has become a [[SociopathicSoldier sociopathic]] [[HiredGuns mercenary]], who is starting to question his life choices. And the two stories seem strangely to converge...
* WhamEpisode: Many, especially when the MythArc is concerned.
** WhamLine: What was written in Abbard's letter.
** WhamShot: At the end of the Spider Trilogy, a panel set in the past of the main timeline showed Thea's cloning chamber and [[spoiler:a woman looking exactly like her telling professor Denam (''her father'') to name her Thea]].
* WhatHappenedToTheMouse: Fittingly, this happens to Tòpin The Wonder Mouse, Rat-Man's former sidekick and a parody of Robin the Boy Wonder. However, it is implied that Valker may have killed him. The question was answered in issue #94: [[spoiler:Tòpin asked him to teach him how to be evil, and Valker accepted]].
* WholeEpisodeFlashback: more precisely "Whole Story Arcs Flashback". Rat-Man's backstory is recounted in three long story arcs (in issues #3-4, #17-20# and #29-#34 of the original Italian series), two of whom are entirely composed by episodes happening in the past. Something similar is made in issues #91-93 for the backstory of the main antagonist, Janus Valker.
* YouWouldntShootMe:
** Janus Valker divides superheroes in two categories: the ones who think they can catch his bullets, and the ones who think he won't shoot.
*** ''Magnificently'' executed when he tried it on Rat-Man, who had earlier grabbed him by his clothes and told him he was finished. Valker asked him which of those two kinds of superhero Rat-Man was, Rat-Man replied "[[BadassBoast I'm the kind you can't shoot]]", Valker reached for his gun... And that's when Valker found out that ''Rat-Man stole his gun''.
*** Later one of the [[{{Mook}} Endings]] says this to Rat-Man, because he knows Rat-Man is a superhero and superheroes don't shoot anyone. Turns out, Rat-Man isn't exactly considering himself a superhero anymore and pulls the trigger.
** The Wolf to the Spectre. [[spoiler:He's right, because he knows something of [[SamusIsAGirl her]] that we don't.]]
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!!The Animated Adaptation provides examples of the following tropes
* {{Bowdlerised}}
* BreakoutCharacter: Corn Man, a giant humanoid ear of corn, was an enemy of Rat-Man who appeared in the comics for a grand total of '''one''' panel. In the cartoon he becomes the villain of an entire episode.
* TheCameo: In almost every episode a caricature of Andrea Plazzi, Leo's editor, appears. Caricatures of the production staff appear as well. Also [[WesternAnimation/{{Futurama}} Fry]] appears sometimes.
* ContinuityNod: In his Rat-Cave, Rat-Man has a picture of the Second Secret Squad, the Guardian and the Cat's calendar.
* CouchGag: At the end of the credits something different happens to Rat-Man every time. One of these even directly referenced ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'', the {{Trope Maker|s}}. [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b7Sj5nFxSIY Like this]] [[Series/MontyPythonsFlyingCircus giant foot?]]
%% * GettingCrapPastThe Radar: Due to overwhelming and persistent misuse, GCPTR is on-page examples only until 01 June 2021. If you are reading this in the future, please check the trope page to make sure your example fits the current definition.
* PragmaticAdaptation: Some plotlines, characters and jokes are recycled from the comic, usually simplified to compress it in a ten minute cartoon and not let the complex mythology [[ContinuityLockOut lock out]] those who do not know the source material. For example, the movie is based on the the cloning arc (Rat-Man 12-14) with several details changed to make it a stand-alone story.
* ShoutOut: Again, lots and lots.
----
[[caption-width-right:324:''"I flex my muscles and I'm in the air!"'']]
''Rat-Man'' was an Italian comic book created in 1989 by Leonardo "Leo" Ortolani and published until 2017. It depicted the adventures of an unlikely hero, the eponymous Rat-Man, a not very bright (and very inept) guy without any superpowers in a goofy yellow rat costume.
What had begun as a ShallowParody (albeit very funny) of Creator/TimBurton's first ''Film/{{Batman|1989}}'' film [[CerebusSyndrome progressively grew into]] a very complex storyline, full of homages to the Silver and Golden Age of comics (Leo is an avid admirer of Creator/JackKirby's characters), but also to the gritty realism of the Dark Age. The main purpose of the comic was originally to make a parody of anything and everything, not only superhero-related tropes, but of other genres, films and popular culture in general; however, it introduced a number of long and fairly serious story arcs that gave a deeper insight into Rat-Man's previous life. Of course, there were still plenty of parodies and wacky moments.
In 2006, ''Rat-Man'' was given an AnimatedAdaptation which [[TheyChangedItNowItSucks was not very well received]].
Not to be confused with the manga ''Manga/{{Ratman}}''.
The SpinOff ''ComicBook/TwoHundredNinetyNinePlusOne'' has a separate page.
----
!!''Rat-Man'' provides examples of the following tropes:
* AbhorrentAdmirer: Cinzia the transgender hooker, a former male postman who fell in love with Rat-Man (or rather, his civilian identity before he became a hero). He never realized who she was despite some blatant evidence, and the fact she involuntarily helped him to become Rat-Man in the first place (in short, he subscribed to ''ComicBook/{{Mickey Mouse|ComicUniverse}}'' comic books and the postman sent him those comics every week, then he decided to wear a rat costume...).
* AbusiveParents:
** Played straight with Boda Valker, who was an horrible father for his son Janus. The desire to gain his love and respect was one of the factors [[FreudianExcuse that drove Janus to evil]].
** {{Averted|Trope}} with Janus Valker himself, who - while being very strict and even harsh with his son - clearly loves him dearly. [[spoiler:Ironically, this is another decisive factor in his descent into evil, as he decides to surrender to the Shadow to save him from Joba.]]
* [[AchievementInIgnorance Achievement in Ignorance]]/[[BeyondTheImpossible Beyond the Impossible]]: in the ''Ratto'' arc, Jordan gets [[BoomHeadshot shot in the head]]. A few pages later, he turns out to be ok, explaining that [[VoodooShark he had a bulletproof vest]]. [[RuleOfFunny And then he notices that it's just a heavy coat]].
* AllThereInTheManual: If the story gets a bit too confusing and convoluted, there have been summaries of the plot so far added after the stories (in ''Rat-Man'' 35 and ''Rat-Man'' 70-75), which also explain details and things you may have missed because you were laughing too much.
* AlwaysIdenticalTwins: In the "Marvelmouse" story arc Rat-Man meets Marcus and Marcellus, two nasty and cynical twins who arrange the fights between heroes in the Arena. They wear a T-shirt with "Io sono l'altro" (''I'm The Other One'') written on it, because nobody can tell them apart. In their final appearance Marcus [[RuleOfFunny incredibly]] manages to mistake his own brother for ''himself''. And, as stated in AuthorAvatar below, both of them are the avatar of Leo's publisher.
* AmbiguouslyGay: Jorgensson, Janus Valker’s right-hand man. [[ComingOutStory He is eventually revealed as being gay and deeply in love with his boss]], to the point of [[spoiler: sacrificing his life to save him from Hell]]. As Ortolani would say, even in Rat-Man’s world, AllGirlsWantBadBoys…
* TheAntichrist: [[spoiler: It is Rat-Man. Not bad for a monkey-face guy who habitually wears a mask with mouse ears]].
* AntiHero: Rat-Man is a Type 1.
* AreTheseWiresImportant: Parodied in an issue where, to stop a conspiracy of evil geologists (don't ask), Rat-Man infiltrates their base, finds a control room and smashes every piece of machinery he can put his hands on. This has the effect of shorting out the conspiracy's vending machine.
* ArtificialHuman: The "Vegetoidi", humanoids created from plants and vegetables. Thea, Rat-Man's LoveInterest and the only woman he ever really loved [[spoiler:or, rather, the clone and unwitting impersonator of the real deal]], [[TheReveal was one of these]], the most advanced example.
* ArtShift: In some issues, such as the "Yellow" trilogy which spoofs/homages {{Anime}} and {{Manga}}.
* AscendedExtra: Cynthia Otherside. In the first story she was just a male mailman who is mentioned becoming a transgender hooker as part of a throwaway gag, but acquired a larger role in following stories, and it was discovered she was already in love with him before the throwaway gag of the first story.
* AuthorAppeal:
** Geology. Ortolani has a degree in that field, and it shows when the usually dumb Rat-Man becomes knowledgeable about rocks. There are also many gags involving geology during the comic, including an ''entire story'', which is also a ''Film/JamesBond'' parody on top of that!
** "Author Not-Appeal": Rat-Man has an extreme hatred of cats, and it is implied that Leo hates them too.
* AuthorAvatar: Ortolani loves this trope. Not only his avatar, but also those of his editor, of his childhood friends and of his wife (who is usually depicted as the [[OnlySaneMan only sane woman]] of the group) regularly appear in the comic, both as [[RecurringExtra background characters]] and as main ones. His publisher (who has a double name, relatively uncommon in Italy) even gets two of them (one for each name).
* BackFromTheDead:
** In one issue Rat-Man dies and goes to Hell, but a very powerful demon (which is an obvious ShoutOut to Spawn) helps him on his way back to life. At the end of the issue, [[TheReveal it is revealed]] that the demon is really major antagonist Janus Valker's soul, and he helped Rat-Man because every time he performed a good deed his punishment would be a little less harsh.
** [[spoiler:Janus Valker]]
* BadassOnPaper: Rat-Man is a superhero whose achievements include defeating [[HeroKiller an apparently invincible robot designed to kill superheroes]] and a [[Franchise/DragonBall Goku]] {{Expy}}, and being the greatest enemy of [[EldritchAbomination the Shadow]]. He's also too stupid to operate a car's seatbelt.
* BadBoss: Janus Valker could well be the epitome of this trope. Among the most frightening examples:
** When Jorgesson is introduced in the Comic Book for the first time, he is calling his boss over the phone to inform him that something happened in the lab. We do not see Jorgesson at first, just Valker angrily commenting that he'd better not having touched Valker's keypad, as the last time. [[CutawayGag Cut to an American Shot of Jorgesson that reveals that he is a one-armed man]], [[DisproportionateRetribution the implication being that the last time Valker cut the poor guy's arm.]]
** In another story, Valker comments that - while one of his plans unfolds - he is able to spend many pleasant hours with the help of a good espresso. He then pours the coffee on his shirt and [[ForTheEvulz proceeds to berate one of his assistants]]:
-->'''Valker''': Look at the mess you have done, you idiot!
* BeatPanel: Leo is very fond of these. Many jokes and {{Overly Long Gag}}s rely on them for maximum comedic value, and to stretch the scene to make sure that the action continues from the first panel of the next page. It's even (hilariously) {{Discussed|Trope}} as a comedy tool in the story "Comic School".
* BerserkButton: Do. Not. Threaten. Or. Harm. Janus Valker’s son. Seriously, even if you are an [[SatanicArchetype all-powerful demonic entity]] [[TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt bound on conquering and destroying the Earth]]. Even if you have suicide tendencies and even if this may be one of the most effective suicide methods in history, there are more pleasant ways to die. Believe us. And faster. Definitively faster.
* BestialityIsDepraved: When Rat-Man was young, the papers ruined the career of a superhero revealing that he had sex with a sheep. Then they ruined the sheep's career by revealing she had sex with Rat-Man.
* BetterManhandleTheMurderWeapon: Rat-Man does it in a Marvel crossover... ''twice''. First by "securing" the weapon used to kill an old [[ComicBook/ThePunisher Punisher]]'s relative, just in time for the latter to see him. After several pages of dodging bullets, he manages to escape only to "secure" a metal pipe used to beat a certain "Mrs May". Seconds before Franchise/SpiderMan enters the scene.
* BigBad:
** Janus Valker.
** In the story arc starting with issue #94, [[spoiler:Mr. Mouse]].
* BigNo: done by [[Franchise/StarWars Darth Vader]] when he is dumped by the [[AlphaBitch philosophal woman]] in the ''Franchise/HarryPotter[=/=]Literature/{{Twilight}}'' parody.
* BigScrewedUpFamily: While they are not particularly extended, the Valkers are royally screwed up.
* BilingualDialogue: [[PlayedforLaughs Played for Laughs]] in an [[BonusMaterial out-of-continuity]] parody of Franchise/Star Wars}}, where Rat-Man plays a character [[CompositeCharacter who is a combination]] of Episode I's Anakin and of the original trilogy's Luke Skywalker and Brakko is the equivalent of Han Solo. The story parodies the famous bilingual dialogue of the ''Franchise/StarWars'' universe by having Rat-Man pretending to understand the language of his droid (a parody of R2-D2 resembling a Shop-Vac). Of course, this backfires spectacularly when the droid must perform a critical task that requires good communication between him and Rat-Man (which is something that happens [[RunningGag quite frequently]] in the story):
-->'''Bib Fortuna''': Great Jarba [[note]]A parody of Jabba the Hutt.[[/note]], we have captured two trespassers who were trying to free Brankio, while a third accomplice outside kept shouting "They are still awake".
* BlackComedy:
** Sometimes literally, like when Rat-Man joked that Brakko's son was stillborn.
** Example from the first story: the Buffoon kidnapped an orphan and [[DidntThinkThisThrough demanded a ransom from his parents]].
** The "I Vendicatopi" story arc decided to establish [[spoiler:Mr. Mouse]]'s villainy with a whole issue filled with September 11, 2001 jokes, starting with him recreating the attack on the Twin Towers to try and murder Rat-Man. Yes, this series is Italian, not American, why do you ask?
** The 2015 stories parodying ''Series/TheWalkingDead'' feature a character who is a stillborn zombie. Enough said.
* BlackComedyAnimalCruelty: In the "Yellow" storyline we discover that Rat-Man's stress relieving activities include throwing chicks against a wall with a tennis racket and beating pandas with a baseball bat.
* BlackDudeDiesFirst:
** [[DiscussedTrope Set up]] in the parody of ''Film/TheExpendables'', where there is a character known only as (even by that character himself) "Muscly Black Dude Who Dies a Gruesome Death", and whose purpose is only to say "You're totally mad, bro!" and "You said it, dude!". He frequently {{Lampshade|Hanging}}s this behaviour, and even explains how a [[FatalFamilyPhoto family photo]] is the way they chose to give depth to his character. [[spoiler:Eventually [[AvertedTrope averted]], because the first one to die is Creator/DolphLundgren's [[NoCelebritiesWereHarmed character]].]]
** Fully [[AvertedTrope averted]]: [[spoiler:as a bid to save their lives, [[CaptainErsatz Chat Morris]] (a not-too-subtle tweaking of Chuck Norris), cornered and taunted by ''Bel Pupone'' (a thinly disguised parody of Jean-Claude Van Damme) in calling someone's help, he calls for the defeated, broken ''Black Dude'', who earlier claimed that, owing to his useless, RedShirt status, was literally unable to outlive his lack of usefulness. As soon as ''Black Dude'' is made aware that Chat Morris, calling him "Toby", gave him a name, a backstory and a purpose, he [[TookALevelInBadass takes a level in badass]], dispatches ''Bel Pupone'' and forces him into a fistfight with Chat]]. And at the end [[spoiler:[[BrickJoke he dies in a car crash]].]]
* BreakingTheFourthWall: Often. Sometimes, it's more subtle, where the characters are aware that they are starring in a comic book (and they treat it as a job) and interact with panels and speech bubbles. Others, they make jabs at the artist, or comment on the nature of the comic (a favourite one is remarking on the bimonthly publication schedule.)
* BrownBagMask: Rat-Man as a young kid in an orphanarium used one to pass unnoticed to the bully who had previously threatened him. Unfortunately, he forgot to remove it during the classes...
* CallingYourAttacks: In the story "Il Grande Ratzinga!", Rat-Man became the pilot of a giant Super Robot, and naturally used this trope. The story was mostly a parody of the SuperRobot and anime tropes.
* CapturedSuperEntity: Averted in one of most surreal stories. It featured an evil comic book publisher who gave Rat-Man (the character and the series) an award as part of his plan to capture '''God''' (represented as a humongous hand over the horizon) and turn Him into another of his characters. In the end it was [[BatmanGambit all part of God's plan]] to trick the publisher into crossing over to the comic book world and let him meet his end at the hands of a forgotten comic book character. ItMakesSenseInContext, sort of.
* CatchPhrase: "Fletto i muscoli e sono nel vuoto!" ("I flex my muscles and I'm in the air!")
* CerebusSyndrome: A comic book originally published in a small fanzine? Check. As a parody of [[SuperHero a beloved Comic Book genre]] of its time? Check. With a (sort of) anthropomorphic animal as the protagonist? Check. That continued as a self-published independent comic book? Check. With a limited lifespan, as the author has decided to limit its run to a predetermined number of issues? Check. That progressively becomes DarkerAndEdgier, [[CerebusRetcon with huge retcons of previous storylines]]? Check. Transforming into [[AuthorTract a very personal (and surprisingly deep) reflection of his author on the Comic Book industry and contemporary life]]? Check. With strong religious overtones? Check. Let’s face it. Rat-Man could be the long lost Italian brother of [[ComicBook/CerebusTheAardvark the Trope Namer]]. Well, were it not for the fact that Ortolani accepted to publish the character with the Italian subsidiary of [[Creator/MarvelComics a mainstream publishing company]], that he decided to continue to write Rat-Man’s stories after the original deadline, as he believed that he had not exhausted the potential of the character, that he resorted to his country’s Roman Catholicism instead of inventing his own religion and, of course, that he apparently [[CreatorBreakdown did not drive himself mad in the process,]] as [[ComicBook/CerebusTheAardvark the Trope-Namer]]'s author.
* ChekhovsGag / BrickJoke: In spades. Expect minor jokes, throwaway lines, references and characters to return several times. It may be in the next page, at the end of the episode or even at the end of the story arc, several numbers later.
** At the beginning of a ''Film/TwoThousandOneASpaceOdyssey'' parody, a prehistoric monkey throws a bone in the air, and in the very last panel the bone falls down and hits Rat-Man in the head... followed by [[SerialEscalation another brick joke]] from that issue, a sabretooth tiger that carries an unconscious Rat-Man away.
** In "Rat-Man's Escape", Rat-Man is evading Cinzia, who claims to have a gift for him. He rudely remarks that it's probably [[GagPenis thirty centimetres long]], but she chastises him, saying it's only a rose. He apologizes and admits that sometimes he's biased against her/him, only for him/her to reveal that she had it tattooed on her penis. When, at the end of the arc, three episodes later (which correspond to six months of real life between publications), Rat-Man and another character are about to have a horse race, Cinzia promises a rose to the winner, prompting him to shoot his horse to avoid competing...
* ChekhovsGunman: The Incredible Ik, Aima, and [[spoiler:the woman that looked like Thea who called Denam "father" and suggested him Thea's name]], only appeared briefly, but the final story arc brings them back and reveal the truth: [[spoiler:Aima is the mysterious woman, Denam's real daughter and Rat-Man's ''real'' OneTrueLove, but their memories of each other were wiped out by Denam and Kalissa to set up a weapon against the Shadow for when it would possess Rat-Man, and Ik is the personification of Rat-Man's love for Aima who emerged after the memory wipe]].
* CityOfAdventure: La Città Senza Nome ("The City with No Name")
* CityWithNoName: Again, la Città Senza Nome, as you might have guessed.
** Another city in the Rat-Man universe is called La Città Molto Grande ("The Very Large City").
* CloningBlues: One of the first story arcs (issues #11-13 of the original Italian Series).
* CloneDegeneration: The eventual fate of Rat-Man's clones in the mentioned story arc.
* ClumsyCopyrightCensorship: Many earlier stories had Rat-Man meeting various Marvel heroes. Since the bonds between Panini (the Italian owner of Marvel comic rights, and Rat-Man's publisher too) and Marvel became looser in the years, the recent reprints of these stories have been altered turning the various heroes into [[{{Expy}} expies]]. More in detail:
** Spider-Man became "The Human Spider", and the web pattern on his suit was altered.
** Victor Von Doom's cape lacks the classic golden buttons, and his mask now looks like a japanese Oni's face (similar to the one [[Manga/SaintSeiya Guilty]] wears)
** The Punisher is now "The Polisher" and the skull insignia on his suit is replaced with a smiley face.
** Wolverine, now "Hunter", haves extendable fingernails instead of his classic claws.
** The big "A" on Captain America's mask is now a star, and his name is now "American Star".
** Nick Fury is now "Furio", [[SpecialEffectFailure with a blatant white space left after his name showing that a longer name was here before]].
* ComicallyMissingthePoint: Lots of. The most hilarious ones usually involve Brakko and the fact that he is completely oblivious to his wife's blatant infidelity and unbelievable promiscuity, even if she is sleeping with one (or more) of her many lovers when he is in the same home or [[BedroomAdulteryScene even when he is in the SAME BED]].
-->'''Brakko''': Father Angelini, please help me. I am desperate. I want to cheat on my wife
-->'''Father Angelini''': Come on, Brakko: revenge is useless. And the child is innocent. When he will grow up, it will be as if he were really yours.
-->'''Brakko''' (completely clueless): What?
** And even "his" 2-years old son seems to know the truth, as he regularly refers to the postman as "daddy".
* CrapsackWorld: In Rat-Man's world, almost everybody is stupid, violent or insane. Sometimes all three at once...
* {{Crossover}}:
** Back when ''Rat-Man'' was still little more than a fanzine, Rat-Man met various well-known characters such as Spider-Man and ComicBook/DoctorDoom ([[NiceJobBreakingItHero who he drove into madness, supervillainy and believing it was all Richards' fault]]).
** Later, he started to meet only expies of comic book heroes, but there were some cross-overs with Italian characters such as [[http://www.imd.it/rat-man/CoverREL2.htm Erinni]] and [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lazarus_Ledd Lazarus Ledd]].
* CrouchingMoronHiddenBadass:
** Rat-Man ''is'' a moron, but sometimes he'll do things like making a fool of an {{Expy}} of Son Goku ([[{{Determinator}} showing more resistance to pain than]] ''[[{{Determinator}} the rock Goku's expy was hitting him with]]'' in the process) or jump the VillainOfTheWeek ''while forced on a wheelchair''. And he still remains a moron.
** The very first story sets the tone for both Rat-Man's idiocy and badassery. When The Buffoon [[DidntThinkThisThrough kidnapped an orphaned child and demanded ransom from his parents]], Rat-Man tracked him and stormed his hideout: after an embarrassing false start, Rat-Man [[CurbStompBattle curbstomped the Buffoon's gang]] in the purest Franchise/{{Batman}} style save for pulling a gun on the last one (he had produced a knife), but when he confronted the Buffoon (who was terrified and possibly crapping in his pants) he just ''paid the ransom''. After Rat-Man left with the child, the Buffoon was still there holding the case of the ransom, too dumbstruck by what had just happened to even move.
* CruelAndUnusualDeath: See under "Janus Valker"...
* CutHisHeartOutWithASpoon: Janus Valker with Topin, literally and very, very effectively.
-->'''Topin:''' Are you threatening me with a SPOON?
-->'''Valker:''' Spoons are grossly underestimated as weapons. They need more strength and time, but you can get great satisfaction from using them.
* DarkestHour: You probably may take a hint from the fact that there is a storyline with this very name...
* {{Determinator}}:
** For God's sake, if you are between Janus Valker and whatever he may want, JUST STEP ASIDE!
** Even Rat-Man can be one sometimes: [[spoiler:as the saying goes, like father, like son]]
* DeathOfAChild: Sometimes it is ''Rat-Man himself'' who causes the death of children, through incompetence or sheer malice.
* DisneyOwnsThisTrope: Parodied with Mr. Mouse, a ShallowParody of WesternAnimation/MickeyMouse, [[spoiler: who has created countless superheroes and their villains to make money selling comic books about them]].
* DogsAreDumb: Svarz, Brakko's "guard" dog. Though it's hard to tell if he's dumber than his master...
* TheDogWasTheMastermind: All the events of the "Comic School" story (see StylisticSuck below) are revealed as the plot of Graziello, a doodle-boy with an AnnoyingLaugh appearing throughout the issue (scribbled on walls, papers etc.), who never had the opportunity to be published, and so hijacked Rat-Man's story to finally be printed and [[MediumAwareness appearing in a comic book]]!
* DownerEnding: [[spoiler:"The Darkest Hour" ends this way. Rat-Man realizes that Thea, his true love, is really dead. Janus Valker dies in an hospital (he eventually gets better), making Jorgesson's sacrifice to free him from the Shadow pointless. Brakko is fired by the police department and is hunted down as a criminal by his former colleagues. The Shadow possesses Rat-Man and throws the world into chaos. It can't get darker than that. [[FromBadToWorse Except that it does.]] ]]
* DragonAscendant: Janus Valker is initially introduced as the head of the "Governativi" [[note]]Literally, "the government men".[[/note]], the hit squad of a [[GovernmentConspiracy secret organization within the government]].
* EldritchAbomination:
** La Gatta, which looks like a beautiful woman, but whose true form is a demonic being from another dimension that feeds on humanity's lust and desires.
** One early issue featured Galactus and Silver Surfer expies, with Rat-Man being turned into another Surfer expy and trying (and, of course, failing) to save the Earth from being devoured. As soon as the Galactus expy is breaking the Earth's crust to get to the core, hundreds of tentacles attached to ''something'' living in the abyss wrap around him and consume him in seconds. [[DiabolusExNihilo This is never explained]] [[BigLippedAlligatorMoment or brought upon again in the comic]].
** The character of War in the "Rat" storyline is strongly implied to actually be [[WarGod the most feared horseman of the apocalypse]].
** The Shadow.
* EndOfAnAge: Issues #77-81 of the original Italian series feature a long story where Rat-Man visits UsefulNotes/NewYorkCity and meets the local superheroes, who are clearly based on Creator/MarvelComics's [[CaptainErsatz classic characters]]. The saga ends with the American superheroes accepting that they have no place any more in the modern world and [[DisappearsintoLight disappearing into the light]]. The story is an affectionate homage of the UsefulNotes/TheSilverAgeOfComicBooks and a scathing parody of the more modern approach of UsefulNotes/TheDarkAgeOfComicBooks.
* TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt: The final story arc is basically the story of the Apocalypse set in Rat-Man's world.
* EvenEvilHasLovedOnes: Janus Valker with his son, [[spoiler: who will eventually become Rat-Man]], and to a lesser extent with his wife, Kalissa.
* EvilVersusOblivion: Kalissa's group is a bunch of [[MadScientist mad scientists]] who [[spoiler:forcibly separate Rat-Man and his (pregnant) true love only to guarantee that Rat-Man remains a superhero]], but all of these is done in order to avoid that [[EldritchAbomination the Shadow]] consume all reality.
* EvolutionaryLevels: In the ''2001'' homage/parody, a scientist uses on himself the power of the monolith and suddenly evolves into various lifeforms (including [[StealthPun Pikachu]]), before [[AscendToAHigherPlaneOfExistence ascending to a higher plane of existence]] and short-circuiting the monolith.
* {{Expy}}: During his adventures Rat-Man meets many transparent expies of superheroes, such as "L'uomo con il costume da ragno" ("The Man in the Spider Outfit"). Justified by the fact that the times of real superheroes are over, and those are people without powers inspired by the heroes of times past. It is maybe something of an homage to the Golden and Silver eras of superheroes, it's not really that clear.
** Aldo of [[Franchise/FridayThe13th Jason]], in Venerdì 12. But only in his appearance.
** The "New Superheroes" arc features ComicBook/{{Iron|Man}}crash [[Franchise/SpiderMan Wallclimber]], [[ComicBook/TheMightyThor Zoth]], [[ComicBook/CaptainAmerica Captain Battle]], [[Franchise/XMen the DNA-Men]], and others.
* EyelessFace: One-time character Mr. Tristazzi from the "Comic School" story has spectacles... but no eyes underneath.
* FaceDeathWithDignity: Subverted in the final issue, when [[spoiler: Janus Valker]] is severely wounded and is lying in a nameless alley during the final fight with the Shadow’s horde. Everything plays straight according to this trope. He has a chance to speak with [[spoiler: his granddaughter]], [[PreSacrificeFinalGoodbye saying that he is happy]] because he never thought that he would [[spoiler: become a grandfather]] and [[ForeShadowing he always believed that he would have died alone in a nameless alley some day.]] Finally, [[AGoodWayToDie he sends her away saying that he has fought all his life and is a bit tired now; so he needs a moment to catch his breath]]. When she departs, [[LastStand a huge crowd of monsters slowly approaches]] and [[DefiantToTheEnd he quietly asks them: “So… Does any of you bastards know how this alley is called?”]] But he is back at the end [[spoiler: to kill the Shadow once and for all (maybe)]], [[BrickJoke also stating the name of that alley]].
* FakeCrossover / CoversAlwaysLie: One cover of the comic depicts Rat-Man being terrified by Aldo, the hideous main character of ''Venerdì; 12'', a series that shared space with Rat-Man in the comic books. The two characters have never met in the actual comics.
* FunnyBackgroundEvent: Often there will be one in order to cram more jokes or get through exposition.
* FutureMeScaresMe: Averted. Rat-Man meets his future self, but he looks and acts just like him... only fatter.
* GagPenis: Transgender Cinzia Otherside's defining feature.
%% * GettingCrapPastThe Radar: Due to overwhelming and persistent misuse, GCPTR is on-page examples only until 01 June 2021. If you are reading this in the future, please check the trope page to make sure your example fits the current definition.
* GoodAngelBadAngel: Parodied. Rat-Man once met the [[GagBoobs well-endowed]] starlet Gessica Lovebol, and had the chance to undress her. Both the devil and the angel on his shoulders asked him to remove her bathing suit!
* GoThroughMe: Parodied.
--> '''Ortolani''' (narrating a flashback, in which he's surrounded by thugs): I thought I was done for, but then... a shadow appeared.\\
'''Rat-Man''' (in the flashback): If you want him... you'll have to go through me.\\
'''Ortolani''' (back in the present): Marvellous. Just marvellous. ''(pauses)'' They put us in the same hospital room, so we quickly became friends.
* GovernmentConspiracy: A main theme of the first story arc dealing with Rat-Man’s convoluted past. In the 30s a group of masked crimefighters [[SuperTeam joined together to form a so-called “Secret Squad” of superheroes]]. Some years later, they convened a press conference to denounce an attempt to bring them under the control of a secretive cabal inside the institutions and revealed their secret identities. [[IdiotPlot Unsurprisingly]],[[DoNotTauntCthulhu they were (almost) all killed shortly thereafter]] and the government decided to create a “Second Secret Squad” of superheroes to replace the first. A young Rat-Man (who went by the name “Rat-Boy”) became a member of the Second Squad.
* HeelFaceTurn: [[spoiler: Janus Valker]], in the latest instalments of the saga. [[NominalHero Sort of]].
* HeartInTheWrongPlace: [[AvertedTrope Averted.]] Janus Valker, being a very clever scientist and an unstoppable killing machine, knows very well where your heart is.
* HeroKiller: Janus Valker is a ''professional'' one: while his job is to keep the superheroes under the Government's control, he's not only authorized to use any mean he wants (resulting in him being paid for killing superheroes), but when the Government wants a superhero dead he's the one doing the job.
* HiddenBuxom: Parodied in a story with the top model Jessica Lovebol: she has some visibly large breasts, but when she loses her bikini bra they're revealed as ''large as the entire beach''.
* HiddenDepths: Neither Rat-Man nor Brakko aren't as stupid as people think they are. Case in point, Rat-Man can come up with surprisingly intelligent plans at times, and Brakko, contrary to what almost everyone thinks, [[spoiler:is perfectly aware that his wife cheats on him and Cinzia is a transexual, he just loves Clara too much and doesn't think that Cinzia being born with a man's body makes Cinzia's less of a woman]].
* HitchhikersLeg: Hilariously parodied with Cinzia Otherside. She was in need of a lift and did this to stop a truck, but we only see the aftermath... Cinzia in a bar, and behind her the wrecked truck, upside-down and burning!
-->'''Cinzia:''' (''to the bartender'') Call a taxi for me.
* HollywoodJehovahsWitness: Rat-Man got a bad karma from how he scares them away.
-->'''Jehovah's Witness:''' Good morning. Do you know God?\\
'''Rat-Man:''' Yes, that's me. What do you want?
* HopeBringer: If Rat-Man has one redeeming quality which makes him worthy of being considered a true SuperHero is that he never gives up on hope, no matter how outclassed he is or how desperate the battle may seem (and, Rat-Man being Rat-Man, he is usually seriously outclassed and pretty much all of his battles are desperate). [[spoiler: And this makes the end of the "Darkest Hour" storyline even more heartwrenching, as the Shadow leads him to realize that:]]
-->[[spoiler: '''Rat-Man (v.o.):''' Sooner or later, hope just runs out.]]
** According to Valker and Topin, the ability to never give up on hope and even inspire it in other is what makes a ''true'' superhero. The absence of this ability is why the costumed and sometimes superpowered vigilantes that appeared after the death of the First Secret Squad are dismissively called "Men in Tights" rather than superheroes.
* HopeSpot: [[spoiler: at the end of the "Darkest Hour", Rat-Man has apparently defeated the Shadow, saved his father and, on the top of that, he has also discovered that Thea is alive. Wait a minute. Didn't the Shadow just said:]]
-->[[spoiler: '''The Shadow:''' The Shadow is deceit.]]
* HornyDevil: La Gatta ("The Cat")
* HotScientist: Kalissa
* HumanoidAbomination: Possibly Janus Valker and Joba, since they are possessed by l'Ombra (''The Shadow'').
* TheIgor: Janus Valker's assistant, Jorgesson, is a faithful and competent scientist who serves his boss with loyalty and abnegation. It is stated several times that he is one of the few people Valker cares for, and the only one he tolerates after embracing the shadow.
* InsistentTerminology: Valker does not like to be called "[[spoiler:granpa]]".
-->[[spoiler:'''Thea''': [[ItMakesSenseInContext Look, ma! I have a granpa!]]]]
-->[[spoiler:'''Valker''': You have a father of your father.]]
* LawyerFriendlyCameo: Recent reprints of the stories where Rat-Man meets Marvel heroes (see above) were altered for copyright issues. Spider-Man is replaced with "The Human Spider", for example.
* MadScientist: There are many, most notably Dr. Denam.
* MadScientistsBeautifulDaughter: Thea Denam, who really was an ArtificialHuman and his most advanced experiment ever. Also, [[spoiler:Aima, of whom Thea is a clone and a replacemnt love interest for Rat-Man]].
* MagiciansAreWizards:
** Spoofed in an issue that was a parody of Franchise/ConanTheBarbarian: the seemingly all-powerful wizard our "heroine" met fought with playing cards, [[PullARabbitOutOfMyHat a rabbit]] and spells from... a bunch of ''TabletopGame/MagicTheGathering'' cards!
** Later we get a two-issue spoof of ''Franchise/HarryPotter''... Where wizards liberally combine Potterverse-like magic and stage magic tricks. We're even treated to [[PullARabbitOutOfMyHat pulling rabbits out of hats]] for use as projectiles and a giant top hat used as a ''siege cannon''.
* TheManBehindTheMan: During the events of the six-part story about Rat-Man's origins (known among fans as "The Hexalogy"), a [[InTheHood mysterious cloaked man]] appears in various places without ever saying or doing anything, but it is mentioned that he knows about Rat-Man's fate and will control it. Characters acknowledge his presence, but rarely interact with him (an exception is, for example, the Jack Kirby expy) and Rat-Man is afraid of him. [[spoiler: The very last page [[TheReveal reveals that the cloaked man was Leo Ortolani himself]], and thus the story doubled as Leo's real-life issues in creating the Rat-Man character and his influences (Jack Kirby above all).]]
** From the story arc starting with issue #94, Mr. Mouse. Who, in issue #97, is revealed being responsible for [[spoiler: creating every single superhero and every single supervillain, including ''Cosmicus, the Devourer of Worlds'']]. It's also implied that there's someone behind ''him'' too, namely [[spoiler: The Shadow]], [[UnwittingPawn even if he doesn't know]].
* MeaningfulEcho: "The Shadow is deceit".
* MeaningfulName:
** Rat-Man's real name is revealed as being "Deboroh La Roccia". "La Roccia" in Italian means "The rock", a nod to Ortolani's degree in Geology. "Deboroh" is just a silly name, as it's a male version of Deborah, commonly used in Italy for vapid hot girls.
** Cinzia ''Otherside'' is trans. What a shock, uh?
** Thea Denam (see the ArtificialHuman example) is named after the Tea rose, the plant she was created from.
* TheMenInBlack: This is how the servants of the Shadow appear when they roam the earth.
* MindScrew: The story called "The R-Files", a parody of ''Series/TheXFiles'', but a very twisted story on its own, full of BreakingTheFourthWall moments and [[DoubleSubversion Doubly subverted]] tropes. For examples, the Mulder and Scully parodies find the real Rat-Man, but then he is revealed as being Leo Ortolani, the creator of the (real and in-story) series. Moments later, Ortolani accidentally spills ink all over his panels and he disappears into blackness, revealing they were characters in a comic all along... ItMakesSenseInContext. Or maybe not.
* MoleInCharge: [[spoiler: The Wolf is the head of the Second Secret Squad and an agent of the GovernmentConspiracy that killed the First Squad.]]
* TheMovie: ''Rat-Man: il segreto del supereroe''.
* MyFriendsAndZoidberg:
** Mixed with [[SelfDeprecation Self-Deprecating Humor]], the title of number 78: "The Greatest Heroes of the World! And Me."
** Also in number 88, "Il Grande Magazzi e il Principe Mezzo-rospo" (something like [[Literature/HarryPotterAndTheHalfBloodPrince "The Great Wizardus and the Half-toad Prince"]]), Rat Man is randomly called Olaf, and has been attending a Wizardry School for a long, long time (without success). The headmaster begins his start of year speech with the words "My dear future wizards...*beat*...and Olaf."
* NoCelebritiesWereHarmed: Many characters have features based on popular actors and other celebrities. Brakko is based upon Danny Glover, Kalissa (Janus Valker's LoveInterest) looks like Cher. Lupo, Rat-Man's former instructor, is based on Sylvester Stallone, and Il Pipistrello, Rat-Man's [[TheMentor mentor]], is obviously Patrick Stewart. Even the AnimatedAdaptation is not immune: recurring character Dr. Schafausen is based upon Creator/ChristopherLee. Venerdì 12 also had one-time character Cicciola, the fairy of love, who was almost a carbon copy of the infamous Hungarian pornstar [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ilona_Staller Ilona Staller]] AKA "Cicciolina".
* NoHoldsBarredBeatdown: It happens often to Rat-Man as Marvelmouse, while he was fighting many opponents in the Arena and getting destroyed in seconds by all of them. Once a member of the audience asked the [[Manga/FistOfTheNorthStar Kenshiro]] parody to stop senselessly beating [=Marvelmouse=], and another time Il Drago (see TakeThat below) bashed him with a stone for so long that... the stone asked for mercy! It's all part of the humorous tone of the comics, but these fights also show how much of a [[TheDeterminator determinator]] Rat-Man is.
* NonHumanSidekick: Piccettino (something like ''Li'l One''), Rat-Man's old, small, worn-out teddy bear. He's just a regular teddy bear (maybe), but Rat-Man thinks it can speak and do things. Then again, it's stated many times that Rat-Man is mentally retarded.
* NoNonsenseNemesis: Valker. If he feels you're a threat or otherwise need to be dealt with he ''will'' kill you, the fastest and most effective way possible.
* OneTrueLove: Thea Denam. [[spoiler:Or, rather, Aima, if Denam and Kalissa hadn't wiped their memories and replaced her with a clone.]]
* PapaWolf: ''Janus Valker''. Harm his son or [[spoiler:granddaughter]] and he ''will'' kill you as soon as he can get his hands on you. The only exception are [[WouldntHurtAChild children]]-for them, he'll wait their 18th birthday and ''then'' [[BoomHeadshot shoot them in the head]].
** [[spoiler:Rat-Man]] himself: when Topin kidnapped his daughter he left him a broken wreck barely alive, and when Topin threatened to come back and kidnap her again he was ''this'' close from killing him in cold blood before [[BadGuysDoTheDirtyWork Valker arrived and brutally finished him]].
* ParodyNames: Averted. The parodies usually give to the characters names with no relation to the original ones. Try to get which character's parody is supposed to be Professor Richlady without reading the story where he appears. [[note]]It's [[Franchise/HarryPotter Severus Snape]], if you're wondering.[[/note]]
* {{Patricide}}: [[spoiler: it is implied that Joba Valker ordered the murder of his father Boda so that he could claim the power of the Shadow for himself. This [[LaserGuidedKarma bites him in the ass]] when the Shadow chooses his brother Janus instead.]]
* PocketProtector: With a hamster.
** Also parodied with his encounter with the Punisher and gets shot eight times: the bullet to the heart is stopped by a Bible, the one to the stomach by a Quran, the one to the liver by a copy of ''[[Creator/KarlMarx Das Kapital]]'', one of ''Literature/TheBetrothed'' stops another...
* PoliticallyIncorrectHero: Where to begin? There is probably not a single issue or minority group, which is usually addressed with careful tact nowadays, from sexual orientation (mainly with Cynthia and his friend Tamara, two transgender prostitutes) to pedophilia, from the homeless to senior citizens, which has not been mercilessly mocked by Rat-Man, sometimes in the most inappropriate way. This may count both as [[ValuesDissonance values dissonance]] as political correctness is widely despised as hypocritical in Italy and as an [[AuthorTract author tract]], as Leo Ortolani’s notion of humor is that of “the old schoolmate whom you can’t help to find funny, even if he sometimes cracks outrageous jokes”. However, it must be said that he takes great pains to drive home the point that Rat-Man is a complete moron and (especially as the series progresses) that he can be [[JerkAss an unlikeable and selfish character]].
** This is [[LampshadeHanging lampshaded]] in one of the first stories, a parody of ''Series/Space1999'', where Rat-Man is deported to a detention facility on the Moon because of (among other things) his inappropriate sense of humor. The inmates wear [[SpaceClothes uniforms]] which allow to identify the reason they were deported by the different color of their sleeves (Rat-Man gets [[ToiletHumour the brown one]], of course) and are subject to mandatory counseling:
--> '''Yellow sleeve guy:''' “This is an old story. They dropped tons of nuclear waste on the Moon in the Seventies. Then they shut down the base because the personnel started to develop a lethal form of Capricorn.”
--> '''Rat-Man:''' “of Capricorn?”
--> '''Yellow sleeve guy:''' “Hey dude, I am just trying to help here. The last time you mentioned cancer in this comic book all hell broke loose!”
** And very bluntly in a more recent story:
--> '''Rat-Man:''' “With all this politically correct words we do not understand what the activity-between-two-people-for-the-purposes-of-pleasure-and/or-reproduction [[note]]Yes it is an euphemism for "fuck", duh.[[/note]] we want to say any more”
* PostModernism: The more this comic is running, the more its humour becomes post-modern: characters are aware of being in a comic book, or are just actors playing a part; one story arc eventually revolved around the fact that ''Rat-Man'' (the series) had won a prize (in real life) and Rat-Man was supposed to take it... and then discovered it was all a plan devised by an evil publisher who used Rat as a means to ''capture and publish God''! And it was "God" who [[BatmanGambit rigged the awards with the help of new toons so that Rat-man would try to run away from the editor, which would eventually lead the evil publisher to enter the toon world and be killed by a long-missing toon ]]. Obviously both Rat-man and Brakko don't understand what happened even after [[TooDumbToLive Brakko]] himself explains the convoluted plan.
* PsychoForHire: Reegar is a government killer nicknamed "The Bride". When he is given the task of killing someone, he falls in love with the victim and starts to plan the wedding (with the victim's collaboration). When he comes to you with a wedding dress, you know he's about to kill you. Oh, and he has [[EasySexChange changed his sex at least three times]] and is a [[ImAHumanitarian cannibal]].
* {{Pun}}: There are some: for example the plot-wise very important labs are called "Altrove", which means "Somewhere else":
--> ''Insomma, tutta la scienza del mondo era Altrove.'' ("In short, all the science in the world was Somewhere Else.")
* RealityWarper: Leo Ortolani can change the world with his drawings. {{Justified}} as he's the author.
* ReallyGetsAround: Clara, Brakko's wife, has slept with almost every man in town (and, it's implied, her ''dog''), but Brakko is apparently completely oblivious to this.
* TheReasonYouSuck: Rat-Man delivers an epic one to [[spoiler:Mr. Mouse]], while [[HangingbytheFingers hanging on for dear life from an aircraft thousands of feet high]], [[DefianttotheEnd with a gun in his face]]!
-->'''Rat-Man:''' You don't have any new dreams to sell, [[spoiler: Mister Mouse]]. Just one that keeps recurring. And do you know how recurring dreams are called? Nightmares!
* ReformedButNotTamed: Valker after his HeelFaceTurn: he's just as efficiently murderous as ever, he just turned his tendencies on the Shadow's minions [[PapaWolf out of paternal love]].
* RunningGag: There are some, such as Cinzia Otherside's desire to marry Rat-Man and the Website/ChuckNorrisFacts being treated as reality.
* SamusIsAGirl: [[spoiler:The Spectre. And, less dramatically, the Carp turns out to be this as well.]]
* SatanicArchetype: From its first appearance, the Shadow is strongly implied to be Rat-Man's world equivalent of the devil and the analogy only grows stronger with time. It is an all-powerful entity who rules on [[EldritchLocation a dimension where the standard rules of physics of our world do not apply]] through an [[TheLegionsOfHell army of monstrous creatures]] who can [[ShapeShifting change into the appearance of human beings]] to act in our world incognito. He lures good people to help him with its schemes through lies and deceit. Its preferred modus operandi is to possess a human being and transform him into an EldritchAbomination, granting him immense power in the process. Its victims are imprisoned into a [[BloodyBowelsOfHell living wall]] where they are confronted with their sins and mistakes for all eternity. Finally, in the final story arc it unleashes TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIT.
* ScreamDiscretionShot: [[PlayedforLaughs Played for Laughs]] in the "Yellow" storyline. Rat-Man asks [[spoiler: Rat-Girl]] to give him back her engagement ring, but she laughs and answers that her cat ate it. Cue to Rat-Man holding the engagement ring in an hand and a pair of nail scissors in the other. The horrified looks from the rest of the cast imply that he has just eviscerated the poor animal.
* SelfDeprecation: Leo Ortolani himself appears as a minor or semi-minor character, usually as a pathetic little man (whom even Rat-Man makes fun of sometimes!) who sometimes gets killed. He frequently makes fun of of his "useless" degree in Geology. But sometimes, like when Rat-Man succeeds in finding out a secret hideout by moving a rock that shouldn't be in that environment, it's surprisingly useful.
* SequelHook: As the series was slated to end with issue #100, issue #99 has one when Rat-Man finally opens the letter that reveals his real identity: he is Janus Valker's son not just by adoption but also by blood, taken from the mother as a fetus, and as Valker's son he's fated to become the avatar of The Shadow in 2014.
** Ortolani had either lied or changed his mind about that, so the hook was followed on starting with issue 101. Then the series ended for good... But the last panel is a shot of [[spoiler:the cryo chamber where Rat-Man's last surviving clone sleeps]].
* ShoutOut: Too many to count. Many covers are homages to famous comic book covers, such as the first appearances of Franchise/{{Superman}}, Franchise/{{Batman}} and Franchise/SpiderMan, and many other iconic arts. Rat-Man usually substitutes the hero in the cover.
* SiblingRivalry: this may sum up the relationship between Joba and Janus Valker nicely.
* SpecsofAwesome: Janus Valker almost always wears a pair of glasses and he is arguably the biggest badass of the series.
* StandInPortrait: Rat-Man tries to pass unnoticed by hiding among figures on a wallpaper. He fails... even if it is revealed that the pattern on the wallpaper looked exactly like him!
* StylisticSuck: The "Comic School" story is an interesting example of this. Basically, in the "Comic School" story, Rat-Man and other characters attend a school for future comic artists, but he and the others represent the ''real people'' behind those characters, and so each one of them is drawn in the style of those people wanting to be artists, but not having the abilities to do that. The majority of them are little more than doodles.
* SummonBiggerFish: In one story, Rat-Man revealed he never managed to read a book because as soon as he opens one Chuck Norris appears and takes him on an adventure. Later, threatened by an invincible killer robot, [[BrickJoke Rat-Man opened a book]], ''[[SugarWiki/MomentOfAwesome causing Chuck Norris to pull a DynamicEntry on the robot]]''.
* SurprisinglyRealisticOutcome: Much of the humour relies on this:
** Superheroes aren't all there with their mind due to the toll taken by both training and actual superheroing.
** Valker divides superheroes into two kinds: those who think they can [[BulletCatch grab speeding bullets out of thin air]] and those who think he won't shoot. [[HeroKiller Valker has a collection of superhero masks and gloves with bullet holes in them]].
*** On the above, turns out that letting a CombatPragmatist superhero come close was a bad idea on Valker's part, as Rat-Man stole his gun.
** If you're a lab assistant for a murderous sociopath like Valker, showing your colleagues a card trick during work hours results in Valker using the cards to predict the future and then calling your widow to inform her of your imminent death.
** When the authorities outlaw superheroes, some give up, some are captured, and the rest form a resistance movement that the authorities just can't stop, as they all have superpowers.
** Clara's constant cheating on her husband puts an enormous strain on their relationship, especially as [[spoiler:he knows but has never said anything]], and in the end [[spoiler:they divorce after he catches her having sex with their marriage counselor]].
* SunglassesAtNight: Valker and Joba never remove their sunglasses. They do this to hide their real demonic/possessed nature: the sunglasses also act as some sort of PowerLimiter, and when they remove them, they can unleash terrible powers in the form of living shadows.
* SuperEmpowering: Mr. Mouse' shtick, both through his own lab and those of others (the most prominent is August Abbard by virtue of handling the Second Secret Squad, Rat-Man included). At first he simply equipped people who wanted to be supeheroes inspired by Sorro (in-universe stand in for the ''{{Superman}}'' comic book), but by the time of the Second Secret Squad at least some of the interventions included kidnapping and genetically altering ''fetuses''. [[spoiler:Mr. Mouse also created their villains, up to and including ''an alien invasion'' and a '''''PlanetEater'''''.]]
* SuperZeroes: Rat-Man is an almost totally useless cretin and coward, whose attempts at being a superhero tend to end with his total humiliation. Keyword: almost. Once in a while he'll pull something worth of actual superheroes, like jumping on the head of a [[EldritchAbomination Shadow]]-possessed villain while being ''forced on an electric wheelchair'' (apparently there's the right sequence of commands for that) or ''[[SummonBiggerFish summoning freakin']] Creator/ChuckNorris'' on a [[HeroKiller killer robot designed specifically to kill superheroes]]. Also, Valker treats him with (grudging) respect since he managed to be the only superhero to survive a hostile encounter with him: most heroes think he won't shoot or that [[BulletCatch they can catch bullets with their hands]] and get killed, but Rat-Man ''stole his gun''.
* TakeThat: Many to be found, especially against anime and manga, which Leo isn't too fond of. Most notably the battle between Rat-Man and Il Drago, a transparent parody of ''Franchise/DragonBall'''s Son Goku.
* TheTelevisionTalksBack: Used in a story parodying ''Literature/TheRing''. [[RuleOfFunny Bizarrely]], it wasn't even a real cursed tape, just a prank by the owner of the store Rat-Man rented the tape from.
* ThinkOfTheCensors / ThinkOfTheChildren: ''Parodied'':
--> '''Cinzia:''' "Hi there! I'm Cinzia, and I'm a transsexual!"
--> '''Interviewer:''' "Cinzia, there are ''kids'' [[NoFourthWall out there]]."
--> ''*{{Beat}}''
--> '''Cinzia:''' "Hi there, '''''kids!''''' [[ComicallyMissingThePoint I'm Cinzia, and I'm a transsexual!"]]
* TooDumbToLive: Most of the characters behave like this one time or another, usually [[RuleofFunny for comedic effect]].
** The first price goes to an American tourist who is lynched by an angry mob in the Third World country of Eutanésia: he apparently started yelling "here I am!" when somebody asked if any Americans were present during an anti-American riot.
** Brakko ([[WordOfGod described by the author]] as "[[UpToEleven Even stupider than Rat-Man, if it's even possible]]") proved to be the worst, and literally graduated to this, in issue #104. Previously in the issue his friend and subordinate police officer Jordan had told him that if he were ordered to arrest a friend he'd tell him to run and count to 20 before giving chase, knowing that, [[WhatAnIdiot having trouble remembering what comes after 12]], he'd give him a ''huge'' headstart. Later, we have this situation:
-->'''Brakko:''' "Jordan? This is my office!"
-->'''Jordan:''' "I know, sir. I'm really sorry. '''RUN!'''"
-->''*Brakko [[OhCrap realizes Jordan has to arrest him]] and starts running*''
-->'''Jordan:''' "One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten, eleven, twelve..."
-->''{{Beat}}''
-->'''Jordan:''' "Twelve..."
-->''{{Beat}}'''
-->''*Brakko comes back*''
-->'''[[TooDumbToLive Brakko:]]''' [[TooDumbToLive "Thirteen!"]]
-->'''Jordan:''' "Oh, thank you!"
-->''*Brakko runs away again, and Jordan continues counting*''
* ThrowingYourShieldAlwaysWorks: ComicBook/CaptainAmerica's take on this is parodied twice:
** In a fanzine-era story, the actual Cap (transformed in a LawyerFriendlyCameo in later reprints) shows up to teach Rat-Man, and when he does it the shield does a lot of things among bounces, including ''cleaning with the vacuum''. But he wasn't always that good, [[EyeScream as Nick Fury's missing eye can testify]].
*** Rat-Man is obviously a disaster with it, and nearly hits Fury's remaining eye during training. Then, when he's the last hope against Hydra's take over of the world, he has an ImagineSpot in which he finally succeeds (and also hits a cat. He hates cats), then he actually launches... And then cut to old Rat-Man, who once again didn't end the story of his adventure with Cap and the blind colonel, [[TheBadGuysWin and then salutes them with "Heil Hydra"]].
** In a later story, [[HeroKiller Valker]] muses on the many superheroes he killed, all of which either believed themselves bulletproof or believed he wouldn't shoot. Then he remembers the one who carried a shield... And wonders why the hell he threw it (Valker shot him, and then took the Captain America-like shield as a trophy).
* TheTropeWithoutATitle: Almost every setting in the series has a name like this, such as "La Città Senza Nome" (City Without a Name), "La Città Molto Grande" (Very Big City) and so on.
* TurnCoat: At some point in time, [[spoiler: The Wolf, one of the members of the “First Secret Squad”,]] joined the GovernmentConspiracy that wanted to replace the Secret Squad with another under their control. [[spoiler: It is also implied that [[InsideJob it is him who actually killed the other members]].]]
* TwoGirlsToATeam: [[spoiler:The second Secret Squad is eventually revealed to be this.]]
* {{Unperson}}: PlayedForLaughs. Rat-Man as Marvel Mouse once fought a character called Il Drago (a parody of Son Goku and the Saiyan from ''Dragon Ball''), who had a special move which, according to Rat-Man, sent the opponents in a dimension so far away that nobody would have remembered their existence. Il Drago was stopped by a superhero called "L'uomo con il costume da Ragno'' (a [=Spider Man=] expy) who reversed the effect of the move and sent them both in the other dimension. Later, Rat-Man saw a poster of his fight with Il Drago and wondered who the latter one was.
* WarIsHell: Played surprisingly straight in the "Rat" storyline, a ferocious satire of the developed countries' indifference to the plight of people living in war-torn Thirld-World countries. Rat-Man and his friends buy a package holiday to visit [[IDontLiketheSoundofThatPlace Eutanésia]], [[CrapsackWorld a developing country ravaged by a terrible civil war (the civil war being the main tourist attraction of the country!)]]. Naturally, as soon as they get there, their own stupidity and ignorance of the local situation get them in horrible trouble. Meanwhile, in a [[AlternateUniverse parallel universe]], Rat-Man has become a [[SociopathicSoldier sociopathic]] [[HiredGuns mercenary]], who is starting to question his life choices. And the two stories seem strangely to converge...
* WhamEpisode: Many, especially when the MythArc is concerned.
** WhamLine: What was written in Abbard's letter.
** WhamShot: At the end of the Spider Trilogy, a panel set in the past of the main timeline showed Thea's cloning chamber and [[spoiler:a woman looking exactly like her telling professor Denam (''her father'') to name her Thea]].
* WhatHappenedToTheMouse: Fittingly, this happens to Tòpin The Wonder Mouse, Rat-Man's former sidekick and a parody of Robin the Boy Wonder. However, it is implied that Valker may have killed him. The question was answered in issue #94: [[spoiler:Tòpin asked him to teach him how to be evil, and Valker accepted]].
* WholeEpisodeFlashback: more precisely "Whole Story Arcs Flashback". Rat-Man's backstory is recounted in three long story arcs (in issues #3-4, #17-20# and #29-#34 of the original Italian series), two of whom are entirely composed by episodes happening in the past. Something similar is made in issues #91-93 for the backstory of the main antagonist, Janus Valker.
* YouWouldntShootMe:
** Janus Valker divides superheroes in two categories: the ones who think they can catch his bullets, and the ones who think he won't shoot.
*** ''Magnificently'' executed when he tried it on Rat-Man, who had earlier grabbed him by his clothes and told him he was finished. Valker asked him which of those two kinds of superhero Rat-Man was, Rat-Man replied "[[BadassBoast I'm the kind you can't shoot]]", Valker reached for his gun... And that's when Valker found out that ''Rat-Man stole his gun''.
*** Later one of the [[{{Mook}} Endings]] says this to Rat-Man, because he knows Rat-Man is a superhero and superheroes don't shoot anyone. Turns out, Rat-Man isn't exactly considering himself a superhero anymore and pulls the trigger.
** The Wolf to the Spectre. [[spoiler:He's right, because he knows something of [[SamusIsAGirl her]] that we don't.]]
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!!The Animated Adaptation provides examples of the following tropes
* {{Bowdlerised}}
* BreakoutCharacter: Corn Man, a giant humanoid ear of corn, was an enemy of Rat-Man who appeared in the comics for a grand total of '''one''' panel. In the cartoon he becomes the villain of an entire episode.
* TheCameo: In almost every episode a caricature of Andrea Plazzi, Leo's editor, appears. Caricatures of the production staff appear as well. Also [[WesternAnimation/{{Futurama}} Fry]] appears sometimes.
* ContinuityNod: In his Rat-Cave, Rat-Man has a picture of the Second Secret Squad, the Guardian and the Cat's calendar.
* CouchGag: At the end of the credits something different happens to Rat-Man every time. One of these even directly referenced ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'', the {{Trope Maker|s}}. [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b7Sj5nFxSIY Like this]] [[Series/MontyPythonsFlyingCircus giant foot?]]
%% * GettingCrapPastThe Radar: Due to overwhelming and persistent misuse, GCPTR is on-page examples only until 01 June 2021. If you are reading this in the future, please check the trope page to make sure your example fits the current definition.
* PragmaticAdaptation: Some plotlines, characters and jokes are recycled from the comic, usually simplified to compress it in a ten minute cartoon and not let the complex mythology [[ContinuityLockOut lock out]] those who do not know the source material. For example, the movie is based on the the cloning arc (Rat-Man 12-14) with several details changed to make it a stand-alone story.
* ShoutOut: Again, lots and lots.
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