The Catbat comic was a nice little treat for the upcoming Crash Team Rumble game, but I especially love the addition of this particular character.
Like up until the ending slide show in Crash 4, I don't think there was anything to indicate Cortex's robotic scientists weren't anything but mindless automatons that did his bidding (and also end up as cannon fodder during.) The slide show implied they had to do something while Cortex was away post-final battle, which could either be them fulfilling their commands to keep themselves busy (or something) or the first signs of sentience and a life beyond their creator.
So you got one of the Lab Assistants who doesn't seem to work for Cortex. Or maybe he does and he has a rock gig in secret. Whatever the case is, there are signs of a free man here, one who grew beyond his programming and doesn't have to live a degrading, butt monkey existence as Cortex's minion. One who could be altruistic and help those in need.
Even the outfit he wears evokes the many, many costumes the Lab Assistants have donned over the games. They were always situational and appropriate to wherever Cortex sent them, but this rock n' roll look though? It's all his. This is his personal identity and what he can claim to call his own. Cortex did not choose this, HE did. I hope Rock n' Roll Lab Assistant Guy continues to explore his identity (find a name, continue to help people and rock out, etc.)
I don't know if Catbat told him the truth of their origin. If so, then they're with good company because he understands, and oh MAN, I really want to do fanart of these two buddies being good friends (or more? Catbat/Rock n' Roll LA pairing? Sure, why not?)
Catbat has such a great potential if Toys For Bob plays their cards right. Because yeah, there really isn't a Cortex science experiment who carried the kind of emotional baggage the way they do. None of the Bandicoots are as burdened with angst about the whole thing. Crash is more than willing to forgive and embrace Cortex because he is a cinnamon roll and I bet he just wants to reconcile with his dad. Coco has healthy outlets when she isn't kicking Cortex's ass through engineering and gaming, as well as a loving sibling bond with her brother. Prime!Tawna? ...Who knows. Crunch? ...That character is so goddamn useless he's not worth talking about here (I'm sorry, Crunch was a better character when he was an evil rival to Crash. You strip that off of him and what does he contribute?) But I digress.
What I'm saying is, I dig Catbat's background, because it continues where Crash 4 took off by creating pathos and character exploration instead of ha ha goofy character and dumb 2005-era Dreamworks humor (god, post-CNK games before the revival era really flattened these characters into senseless clowns.) Like I don't know if Catbat is even on Crash's side, or they happen to want to work together because of common goals. We'll see, I guess!
If a hypothetical Crash 5 happens and Catbat returns, I would genuinely love to see them returning, with an even more greater focus on their revenge against Cortex. But I'm getting ahead of myself; let's see how they do in Rumble first.
Apparently we'll be getting snippets of lore like these throughout Rumble's updates, and I am genuinely looking forward to them expanding the world built by Crash 4.
Look man, I'm not saying Crash Bandicoot has the deepest lore, but seeing little things like these add so much.