Rat-Man (comics)

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caption="Tutto Rat-Man" #1.
Cover art by Leo Ortolani and Larry Ortolani.
comic_color=background:#ff8080
character_name=Rat-Man
real_name=Deboroh La Roccia
publisher=Panini Comics (formerly Marvel Italia and part of Marvel Comics)
debut="Spot" 2, supplement to "L'Eternauta" #86 of June, 1990
creators=Leo Ortolani
alliance_color=background:#ffc0c0
status=Active
alliances=None
previous_alliances=The Second Secret Squad, The Ex-Men
aliases=Rat-Boy; Zappo, L'Uomo Imbarazzante ("Zappo the Embarrassing Man"); Marvelmouse
relatives=Lost his parents (at a supermarket sale), but both are alive, although they don't know who or where he is. His stepfather and nemesis, Janus Valker, is alive.
powers=None. On the contrary, he sports a complete lack of common sense or other forms of intelligence.|

Rat-Man is an Italian comic about an inept superhero of the same name, created by Leo Ortolani in 1990. Although it was initially meant to be a satire of other superheroes, most prominently Batman, it has since evolved into an independent comic sporting a complex, evolving continuity. The comic is well known for its nonsense humor à-la Monty Python, its engaging storytelling and its frequent breaking of the fourth wall. Ortolani often pays both direct and indirect tribute to other comic authors (Jack Kirby above everyone else) and he frequently makes his characters use pop-culture references, either generic or specific to the native Italian context and background. The comic is currently being published by Panini Comics both as new installments under the name of "Rat-Man Collection" and as reprints of older stories in "Tutto Rat-Man".

Publishing history

The character of Rat-Man appeared for the first time in the second issue of "Spot", a supplement to the Italian magazine "L'Eternauta" #86 of June 1990, shortly after Ortolani won a young artists' contest. From 1990 to 1995 Rat-Man was published on the fanzine "Made in USA". After the debut, Ortolani chose to self-publish the comic alongside his primary job as a geologist; however, in 1997 he signed a contract with Marvel Italia, today a brand owned by Panini Comics (and, at the time, a branch of Marvel Comics itself), to publish the comic under the Marvel brand, which allowed him to become a full-time comics author. The contract also allowed him to use popular Marvel characters like Captain America, Wolverine, Doctor Doom and Elektra in Rat-Man stories; however, copyright problems have since prohibited such use of characters in the Rat-Man world.

Leo Ortolani clearly stated his intention to close the series with issue #100, which would be published around January, 2014 if no changes are made to the current bi-monthly publishing schedule.

Summary of Rat-Man adventures

Origins of the Hero

Before Rat-Man was born, as one of the many children of the La Roccia family, a team of superheroes known as the Secret Squad actively fought crime in the City Without Name. Their efforts were the inspiration of an entire generation of children, who dreamed of becoming great as them. But their hopes were shattered when the Squad, feeling it was too manipulated by "the Government", abandoned their careers and were subsequently killed in an attack in the cathedral. Young Deboroh la Roccia knows nothing of these events, but reads the comics that tell the adventures of the Squad, and he soon becomes a wannabe hero, possibly to avoid the anonymity of his huge family. One day, his parents lose him during a supermarket sale, and he is brought to an orphanarium. He refuses to tell his own name, to protect his "secret identity" and takes the alias Rat-Boy, with his sidekick Picettino (Weenie) the teddy bear. One day, a man, the austere Janus Walker, arrives to the orphanarium, claiming to be his father. Rat-Boy leaves with him, but life is not easy, as he is a dumb and ignorant moron who keeps daydreaming about becoming a superhero. He tries to escape from home, but is rapidly found by the police. Expecting a scolding, he is instead brought to a special center, where a new generation of superheroes is bred. Rat-Boy shows no special abilities and is therefore rejected, but Janus shows a terrible power to the centre's lead scientist, Doctor Abbard, and forces him to keep Rat-Boy into the project. Thus, the Second Squad is formed, with him as a member, and led by the Wolf, the only surviving member of the First Secret Squad. However, people show distrust in them, and they are opposed by "the men in tights", especially the Man With a Spider Costume, home-grown superheroes who spontaneously embraced the teachings of the First Squad and became new paladins of justice.

Rat-Boy becomes Marvelmouse

In this fight for the title of real descendants of the First Squad, Rat-Boy becomes less and less sure about his vocation of Superhero; in the meantime, Janus discovers he is not Deboroh's father, but had been tricked into believing so by the Shadow, as a way of controlling him. The Shadow is also the real entity behind the Government, who sought to form a Second Squad to control even more the nation. To protect Rat-Boy, Janus erases his memory of him, but is all too late, as Joba, Janus' brother, tries to eliminate him to become the only recipient of the power of the Shadow. In a bloody showdown, Janus defeats him and sacrifices himself for Rat-Boy by embracing the fullness of the Shadow and giving him time to escape. Rat-Boy leaves without leaving trace and loses his memory of his father, due to Janus' machine. He starts his life all over again, in the City Without Name as Marvelmouse. But rather than fighting crime, he fights in the arena, a brutish coliseum where the last of the superheroes, first among them the Man With a Spider Costume, battle each other for the amusement of the crowd. Soon, however, Marvelmouse is the last one, as the new manga characters replace them and outclass them. He finds himself a mentor, though, who helps him and trains him for the fight against the Dragon, the most powerful of all manga. Marvelmouse, under his guidance, finally finds his true nature as Rat-Man and tries to become the future of the superheroes, as he and the Man With a Spider Costume, who never found the courage to fight the Dragon, are the very last ones. Despite brave resistance, he is beaten, but his last stand encourages the other remaining superhero to fight, and the Dragon is finally defeated, although with the death of the Man With a Spider Costume. Rat-Man's mentor, who was in fact the Bat, leader of the First Squad who managed to survive the attack and blamed himself for life for the death of his companions, is also killed that night, by a robot sent by Janus, now completely absorbed by the Shadow and bent into eliminating all superheroes.

Rat-Man as the only Superhero

Rat-Man is therefore the last of them and becomes the new guardian of the City Without Name. He fights in countless adventures, but is put into a coma after a fight with a child. After getting out of it, he struggles to find his place in a society who has forgotten him, but he has one last chance to save the city, when he stops being a superhero to chase away the same robot who killed his mentor. Because he is the last real superhero, stopping being one will deactivate the robot and save the city from the Shadow, but will also rob Rat-Man's life purpose, nevertheless, his sense of duty is stronger, and he does what must be done. Currently, Rat-Man is not back yet as himself, and Janus has eliminated any remnant of his humanity to embrace the Shadow even more, as the memory of Rat-Man as his son was the only thing that stopped engulfing him completely. Now, Janus has lost all memory of him, and his mission to ensure the domination of the Shadow can begin. However, his lack of purpose spills out in his personal life, as the wealthy Deboroh La Roccia, no more able to focus (even in his personal, nonsensical way), loses his money in faulty investiments. Poor, almost alone, with only Arcibald at his side, contemplates the idea to sell Rat-Man stories to support himself.

Main Characters

Rat-Man

A.k.a. Rat-Boy, Marvelmouse, Deboroh Walker or Deboroh la Roccia, he is always the main character of the story. He has now powers, no abilities and no intelligence, but his goodwill and greatness of heart compensate for this. Although he isn't very clever or strong, he has somehow managed to fend off many terrible threats against the City Without Name, like the Spider, a spider bitten by a radioactive man who ruthlessly ruled the comics industry until brought down by our hero, Cosmicus, a gigantic devourer of worlds, the Cat, the embodiment of the concept of desire, a mutant made out of turròn and countless others.

Cinzia Otherside

Originally a postman with the name of Paul, he/she is a transvestite who loves Rat-Man. Her/His outing as such is deeply related with Marvelmouse's realization of being Rat-Man. He/She has tried to marry him and seduce him over the years, to no avail.

Tadeus Brakko

An afro american police inspector, he is Rat-Man's best friend, and easily his only one. He was the only person to support Rat-Man after coming out of the coma and he has great faith in him. Probably it helps their friendship that he is almost as dimwitted as Rat-Man himself, not even realizing, in certain circumstances, Rat-Man's racial prejudices against him. His wife, Clara, constantly cheats on him but loves him deeply as well. They have a son, who is in fact son of the postman.

Captain Krik

Head of the City Without Name's police force, he often employs Rat-Man in missions and is a friend of his, although he is a lot more sceptical of his abilities than, for example, Brakko. When Rat-Man started to become a superhero, he was the only one in the police force to correctly identify him as an aid and not a threat to crime-fighting.

Janus Walker

Rat-Man's nemesis, he is the human puppet of the Shadow and their way of ensuring the control of the nation. He has clashed with Rat-Man many times, first during the creation of the Third Secret Squad. Currently, he has finally embraced the fullness of the Shadow.

Thea

The only woman who Rat-Man ever truly loved, she appeared in only one comic book, where she died. She was the most advanced experiment of Doctor Denam, who was also one of the authors of Abbard's Second Squad Project. The Doctor's plan was to create a super race of sentient vegetable humanoids. In the end, he was killed by his first creation, the imperfect Primus, and Rat-Man only managed to escape thanks to Thea, who Denam had created out of a rose. She dies in the end of that book, and her memory haunts Rat-Man forever. His life-long struggle to find a partner ends then in pornography (twice), but Thea's image saves him from brutish desire. She also was his wife in a parallel universe, had things gone slightly differently, and she was never forgotten by Rat-Man, even appearing in his fantasy as his final dream at the age of 80.

Animated series

A Rat-Man animated series has been produced by the Italian public television company RAI and Stranemani Animation Studios. Up to now 52 episodes have been made, each 13 minutes long. The series is currently being aired on Saturday mornings. An official website of the production is [http://www.ratman.rai.it/R2_HPprogramma/0,,1067087,00.html available] , in it surfers can see a selection of episodes in video streaming, albeit the dialogue is just in Italian the linear nature of the plots and the visual gags can offer a rewarding experience even to non-Italian speakers.

ee also

*"Venerdì 12"
*"L'ultima burba
*"Gli intaccabili

External links

* [http://www.rat-man.it/ The Rat-Man official site] it icon
* [http://www.ratmanfc.com The Rat-Man Fan Club] it icon
* [http://www.paninicomics.it Panini Comics] it icon
* [http://www.ratman.tv The Rat-Man Animated Series web site] it icon