Now the glossy reflection is on his ears.

If we can infer the cosmology from this cover, the villain is “The Count,” a member of middle-European nobility; this is underscored by his cape - and yet undermined by his hat, which seems to belong to another genre of character. What motivated the Count I don’t know, aside from the usual taking-over-the-world plans that failed for grandiose generalities and likelihood of getting sidetracked by vendettas related to the adversarial rodent.

Count Gatto - that's his name - does have a remarkable ability to judge the weight of any large object that strikes him in the street, though.