Welcome to Adventure(s) Time's forty-ninth installment, a look at classic animated series and their tie-in comic books. This week we're looking back on a lesser light in the Batman Beyond rogues gallery. (Thanks to reader Gravity Falls Poland for the suggestion.) Demand for his return was likely minimal, but he came back anyway. Vermin are like that, aren't they?

"Rats" debuted on November 20, 1999, featuring a story by Rich Fogel and direction from Curt Geda. The show was in its second season by now, and the trope of Terry abandoning his girlfriend Dana in order to fight crime as Batman had already been well established. "Run into the ground," some fans might've argued. "Rats" uses this as its starting point. After being abandoned too many times, Dana is finally ready to dump Terry. She changes her mind when she discovers a white rose, a gift she believes is from Terry.

Before going out on their next date, the viewers are given some glimpse into Dana's home life for the first time. We discover Dana has a stern father who doesn't want her dating Terry. (Complaining about his juvie record, the second reference to Terry's shadier past on the series.) He apparently works from home, seems to be a single father, and...that's it.  Okay, turns out Dana's home life isn't fleshed out particularly well.  It's the only time we'll ever see her outside of school or social situations, and it's clear not a lot of thought was given to Dana's backstory. She was there to be the girlfriend staring at her watch and giving the hero grief for showing up late.

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The producers have acknowledged that Dana was shortchanged during Beyond's run, to be fair. And while "Rats" isn't an intense exploration of her character, it is an episode that gives Dana more to do than nag the hero. And, yeah, it involves her being kidnapped and ultimately rescued by Batman.  But she does have some cool moments during the story.

Dana's kidnapped by the end of the first act. Turns out the white rose was from a deformed young man who dwells in the Gotham sewers. Deemed Ratboy due to his appearance, he retreated to the underground years ago. There, he befriended the city's rodents, including a few gigantic rats created by toxic radiation. Can you guess that much of the story has Batman searching for his girlfriend, as Ratboy develops a possessive crush on Dana? And that Batman eventually locates his home, then saves the girl? And, because this is Beyond, a massive explosion in the climax kills the villain of the week? Also, to preserve the illusion of change, that Dana and Terry reconcile in the closing?

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You'd be right in guessing all of these. But, in "Rats"' defense, Dana does have some memorable moments of her own. She's sympathetic throughout the story, not having a stereotypical teen girl reaction to the physically deformed villain. And the lengthy escape sequence, fruitless as it might've ultimately been, shows Dana has some courage of her own. (It's a nicely staged scene, largely silent, that has Dana navigating the sewers and facing Ratboy's army of rats.) She also plays a key role in the ending, teaming up with Batman against the rats and triggering the explosion that enables them to escape.

So, as a Dana spotlight episode, this isn't so bad. It's certainly not deep, but we see Dana truly standing up for herself more convincingly. And, shockingly, having more to do than whine about missed dates. "Rats" doesn't seem to be a favorite amongst Batman Beyond fans, however. Ratboy is one of the lamest villains in the canon, and even as the episode attempts to subvert one of its clichés, it can't avoid numerous others. There's an overall silliness to the episode (Dana's love of chili is a key plot point), that turns people off.

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While Ratboy was forgotten in the animated series, one of the show's writers eventually felt he was due a return appearance. Hilary J. Bader was also writing the monthly Batman Beyond comic during her stint on the show, and many of her stories were direct sequels to past episodes. With artist Craig Rousseau, Bader presented Ratboy's return in issue #17 of the monthly series.

Behind that awesome Brian Stelfreeze cover is "A Sinking Ship," the not-so-welcome revival of Ratboy. The explosion didn't kill him after all, but it did blind his left eye and leave him covered in third-degree burns. Considering more than one Beyond villain went out in a fiery detonation, it's kind of refreshing to see some consequence for those rushed endings.

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Ratboy's new scheme is to impress Dana with his wealth, so he's developed a means of shaking down local businesses by infesting their establishments with rodents. He's also robbing them blind, using the rats as a distraction. This new wealth enables him to purchase a mansion. Not one he can bear to live in, because the sewers are his true home. (An interesting bit of psychological depth for the villain.  Not that it's truly explored.) He thinks the mansion will be the perfect palace for his queen Dana, however.

Dana, meanwhile, is suffering PTSD from her kidnapping experience. It's triggered on the opening page of the comic, when resident Flash Thompson knockoff Redhead Jock in Letterman Jacket tosses a lab rat at her. Exploring how the incident haunts Dana is a solid idea, and the early pages of the issue indicate this could be a credible Dana story. Ultimately...nah. There's some effort to make Dana right when Terry's wrong (she feels the rats spying on her, Terry thinks it's her imagination), but nothing truly comes of it.

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Just as "Rats" follows the standard Beyond templateso goes its sequel. Batman follows the clues, Bruce Wayne offers guidance, the villain is tracked down, then there's a climax with a second vague death scene for Ratboy. This time, a sewer flood, one triggered by Batman, drowns Ratboy. Terry does attempt to save him, but it's hard not to notice how often he employs lethal means. This Batman regularly triggers fires, explosions, floods, while rarely rescuing his opponents.

Ratboy, as revealed on the final page, is just fine, though. Escaping death once again, sans explanation. Free to reappear in the inevitable Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles crossover, perhaps.

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The Wrap-Up

Design-y

Ratboy does have perhaps the weakest design of a Beyond villain. His mutated rodent friends are pretty cool, though.

Continuity Notes

"Rats" only gives Ratboy's name as Patrick. Some online databases (like the Wiki page of his voice actor) list his last name as Poundstone. In "A Sinking Ship," he purchases a mansion under the name Patrick Fitz. That's the name some of the promotional material assigns Ratboy. A more notable Beyond villain debuts in "Rats," by the way. Recurring joke threat Mad Stan surfaces, already treated as an established menace.

Hey, I Know that Voice

Taran Noah Smith, who played the youngest son on Home Improvement, voices Ratboy. Henry Rollins debuts as Mad Stan, the character's visuals apparently inspired by the actor/musician. In fact, Stan's dialogue is similar to lines spoken by Rollins' character in the film Johnny Mnemonic.

Approved By Broadcast Standards & Practices

Even in the midst of the goofiness of "Rats," we're also told Ratboy has kidnapped and apparently killed several kids before Dana.

I Love the '90s

Our idea of forty years in the future in 1999 still included a singular phone shared by the entire family. Terry hates it when his younger brother answers the house phone when the call's for him.

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Battle of the Rattus Norvegicus

Ratboy will not go down as a classic villain from this canon. Beyond had a string of one-shot antagonists that served their purpose as the threat of the week and then disappeared into obscurity. Ratboy stands out possibly because he seems like such a corny concept, coming from a show that tended to lean darker and more adult. Not that Ratboy escapes the darker edge of Beyond -- we do learn he's a killer, after all. But is he ever truly threatening? Too dark for a kids cartoon and too silly for a serious all-ages show that skews older, there doesn't seem to be a place for Ratboy.

What both stories do have in their favor is a willingness to address the Dana issue. She's never much of a character in this canon, and each story tries some way to expand her role in the series. Fogel's script is more sympathetic towards her view of Terry, and gives her some solo moments to participate in the action. Bader's story shows the human side of what it's like to be the damsel in distress, while also establishing (in this one case, at least) that her instincts are truer than Batman's. Both are strong starting places for stories, but "Rats" feels like Dana's best showing. Ideally, Dana could have engaging material that doesn't involve Ratboy at all, but this didn't turn out to be the case.

That’s all for now. If you have any suggestions for future topics, just leave a comment or contact me on Twitter.