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Tattooed Man

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The Tattooed Man is the name of three characters appearing in media published by DC Comics, primarily as an enemy of Green Lantern.

Tattooed Man
Publication information
PublisherDC Comics
First appearanceAbel Tarrant: Green Lantern (vol. 2) #23 (September 1963)
John Oakes: Skin Graft: The Adventures of a Tattooed Man #1 (July 1993)
Mark Richards: Green Lantern (vol. 4) #9 (2006)
Lala Johnson: Black Lightning Season 1×1 (January 2018)
Created byGardner Fox and Gil Kane
In-story information
Alter egoAbel Tarrant
John Oakes
Mark Richards
Lala Johnson
SpeciesMetahuman
Team affiliationsAbel Tarrant
Injustice Gang of the World
The Society
Suicide Squad
Mark Richards
The Society
Justice League
Titans
AbilitiesLiving tattoos

An original version of the Tattooed Man, Latavius "Lala" Johnson, appeared as a recurring character in the Arrowverse television series Black Lightning, portrayed by William Catlett.

Publication history

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The first Tattooed Man first appeared in Green Lantern (vol. 2) #23 (September 1963) and was created by Gardner Fox and Gil Kane.[1]

Fictional character biography

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Abel Tarrant

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Abel Tarrant is a burglar and former sailor who wields special chemical tattoos that enable him to create constructs.[2][3] He later reforms and becomes a tattoo artist before being forced to battle Guy Gardner.[4]

Tarrant later returns to crime and joins the Suicide Squad before Mirror Master and Jewelee kill him.[5]

In Doomsday Clock, Tarrant is among the villains who meet with the Riddler to discuss the Superman Theory.[6][7]

John Oakes

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The second Tattooed Man was John Oakes, the main character of the Vertigo series Skin Graft: The Adventures of a Tattooed Man by Jerry Prosser and Warren Pleece. Oakes first appeared in Skin Graft #1 (July 1993).

Oakes is a cellmate of Abel Tarrant, who gives him cursed supernatural tattoos. He trains in Japan to control his abilities and absorbs the spirit of his lover Yuko following her death.[8]

Mark Richards

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The third Tattooed Man first appeared in Green Lantern (vol. 4) #9. Mark Richards was a former U.S. Marine who went missing following a helicopter crash and was presumed dead until he showed up in Gotham City as a hit man. He claimed that the tattoos covering his body were the sins of men he had killed and that by the art of "sin-grafting", which he had learned from the nation of Modora, in which he takes the sins of others and puts them on himself, he claimed to be redeeming the men and women he killed. All his victims had tattoos of their sins. He was eventually stopped by Green Lantern and Batman.

In Infinite Crisis, Mark becomes a member of the Society.[9]

He appears as one of a group of villains seeking to avoid being sent to the prison planet.[10]

In Trinity, reality is altered by the removal of Superman, Batman, and Wonder Woman. In this world, Morgaine Le Fay's Dreambound recruit Richards to replace one of their fallen number. He becomes Sun-Chained-In-Ink and gains sun-based powers. As the series progresses, Richards comes to dislike the Dreambound, deeming them "losers". Reality eventually returns to normal, depowering Richards.

In Final Crisis, Richards becomes an honorary member of the Justice League while battling the Anti-Life Equation.

In DC's Brightest Day event, Mark appears as a member of Deathstroke's new team of Titans.[11] He is convinced to join by Deathstroke who offers to help him track down Slipknot, the person responsible for murdering his son.[12] After a breakout at Arkham Asylum, Richards was about to leave his team until Deathstroke reveals that he has captured Slipknot for him.[13] Deathstroke allows the two to fight to the death, with Richards winning after he beheads Slipknot.[14] After this act, Richards quits Deathstroke's team, declaring that he is done with killing.[15] When Richards returns to Liberty Hill, he discovers his old neighborhood is afraid of him and the gangbangers have forced citizens and even the police themselves to clean up the area. His former assistant explains to him that they have taken control of the community and made a fortune for themselves through crime. Richards was then confronted by Vixen who believed that he was responsible for the acts of violence committed by his former thugs. Vixen rescinds her offer of Justice League membership and attacks Richards.[16] After a brutal fight, Vixen willingly surrenders and Richards agrees to leave her and take care of his neighborhood in his own way.[17] Richards later rejoins Deathstroke's Titans. Upon returning to the labyrinth, Deathstroke reveals to them that the items the Titans collected were used to form a healing machine called the "Methuselah Device", intended to restore his dying son, Jericho.[18] After healing Jericho, Deathstroke declares that the machine can also resurrect the dead, including Richards' son. Richards initially accepts but after Cinder declares the Methuselah Device a curse, he joins her and Arsenal in fighting the other Titans to destroy it.[19] After Cinder sacrifices herself to destroy the Methuselah Device, Richards returns home.[20]

In 2011, DC Comics rebooted the DC Universe as part of "The New 52". During the Forever Evil storyline, Tattooed Man appears as a member of the Crime Syndicate of America's incarnation of the Secret Society of Super Villains. In the aftermath of the Crime Syndicate's defeat, he was seen with its members when the Justice League apprehend them.[21]

During the Heroes in Crisis storyline, Tattooed Man is shown as a patient at Sanctuary.[22] He was among those killed by Savitar after he escaped from the Speed Force, which is blamed on Wally West losing control of it.[23][7] In The Flash #796, it was revealed that the hero Gold Beetle replaced all of the dead heroes with clones from the 31st century.

Powers and abilities

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Each of the Tattooed Man versions can bring their tattoos to life.

Collected editions

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  • Final Crisis: Submit one-shot
  • Crisis Aftermath: Ink (collects Crisis Aftermath: Ink #1-6)
  • Titans: Villains for Hire (collects Titans (vol. 2) #24-27 and Titans: Villains for Hire Special #1)

Other versions

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Flashpoint

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In the alternate timeline of the Flashpoint event, Tattooed Man is a member of Deathstroke's pirates before being killed during an ambush by Aquaman and Ocean Master.[24]

Similar characters

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  • A woman named "Tattoo" appeared in the comic book Aztek as part of a Lex Luthor-funded group named "Dial V for Villain". She displayed powers similar to Abel Tarrant's.
  • A young girl named "Pix" appeared in Batman: Gotham Knights. Her powers were virtually identical to those of the Tattooed Man, but her powers were nanotechnological in origin rather than chemical exposure. Ariadne Pixnit is an avant-garde artist who used nanobots in paints to program them to form what she wanted. After being beaten and raped by a gang of street thugs, Pinxit disguised herself as a tattoo shop worker, designing lethal tattoos that she brings to "life" via computer to kill all the gang members.
  • A character named "Abel Terror" represents a circus tattooed man in the Freakshow expansion of the game Horrorclix.

In other media

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Television

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  • The Abel Tarrant incarnation of Tattooed Man makes non-speaking cameo appearances in Justice League Unlimited as a member of Gorilla Grodd's Secret Society.
  • The Mark Richards incarnation of Tattooed Man appears in the Batman: The Brave and the Bold episode "Scorn of the Star Sapphire!", voiced by Michael Jai White.[27]
  • An original incarnation of Tattooed Man named Latavius "Lala" Johnson / Tattoo Man appears in Black Lightning, portrayed by William Catlett.[28] This version is a former student of the titular character and a member of the 100 under Tobias Whale. After repeatedly failing to kill Black Lightning, Whale kills Lala and reanimates him with help from Lady Eve, who provides Whale the means to control Lala. As a side effect, the latter sees the ghosts of those he killed, whose faces are forcibly tattooed onto him. Whale later uses Lala as a bomb mule in a failed attempt at killing A.S.A. agent Martin Proctor, though Lala is resurrected once more in the second season with help from Lazarus Prime, a coroner with a grudge against Whale. Lala tries to seek revenge on Whale, but is forced to serve him once more when Whale uses his tattoos to incapacitate him. In the third season, Lala gains control of the 100's remnants and mounts another revenge attempt on Whale, only to fall under Lady Eve's control. As of the fourth season, Lala has assumed leadership of the 100.

Film

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Video games

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The Abel Tarrant incarnation of Tattooed Man appears as a character summon in Scribblenauts Unmasked: A DC Comics Adventure.[31]

Miscellaneous

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References

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  1. ^ Wells, John (2015). American Comic Book Chronicles: 1960-64. TwoMorrows Publishing. p. 125. ISBN 978-1605490458.
  2. ^ Rovin, Jeff (1987). The Encyclopedia of Supervillains. New York: Facts on File. p. 337. ISBN 0-8160-1356-X.
  3. ^ Cowsill, Alan; Irvine, Alex; Manning, Matthew K.; McAvennie, Michael; Wallace, Daniel (2019). DC Comics Year By Year: A Visual Chronicle. DK Publishing. p. 154. ISBN 978-1-4654-8578-6.
  4. ^
    • Green Lantern (vol. 3) #2 (July 1990)
    • Green Lantern (vol. 3) #81 (December 1996)
    • Chronos #6 (August 1998)
    • Infinite Crisis Special: Villains United one-shot (June 2006)
  5. ^ Checkmate (vol. 2) #6 (November 2006)
  6. ^ "Doomsday Clock #2 Reviews". ComicBookRoundup.com. Retrieved July 29, 2018.
  7. ^ a b Doomsday Clock #6. DC Comics.
  8. ^ Cohen, Jason (June 10, 2009). "Skin Graft: The Adventures of a Tattooed Man #1-4". Vertigo Spotlight. Comics Bulletin. Retrieved 2009-07-25.
  9. ^ Villains United: Infinite Crisis Special #1. DC Comics.
  10. ^ Justice League of America (vol. 2) #17. DC Comics.
  11. ^ "Get a first look at Fabrizio Fiorentino's TITANS artwork". Dccomics.com. 23 April 2010. Retrieved 28 November 2021.
  12. ^ Titans: Villains for Hire one-shot (May 2010), DC Comics.
  13. ^ Titans (vol. 2) #30 (December 2010). DC Comics.
  14. ^ Titans (vol. 2) #31 (January 2011). DC Comics.
  15. ^ Titans (vol. 2) #32 (February 2011). DC Comics.
  16. ^ Titans (vol. 2) #35 (May 2011). DC Comics.
  17. ^ Titans (vol. 2) #36 (June 2011). DC Comics.
  18. ^ Titans (vol. 2) Annual 2011 (July 2011). DC Comics.
  19. ^ Titans (vol. 2) #37 (July 2011). DC Comics.
  20. ^ Titans (vol. 2) #38 (August 2011). DC Comics.
  21. ^ Justice League (vol. 2) #30. DC Comics.
  22. ^ Heroes in Crisis #3. DC Comics.
  23. ^ Heroes in Crisis #8. DC Comics.
  24. ^ Flashpoint: Deathstroke and the Curse of the Ravager #2 (July 2011). DC Comics.
  25. ^ Batman #484
  26. ^ Worlds' Finest #16
  27. ^ "Tattooed Man Voice - Batman: The Brave and the Bold (TV Show)". Behind The Voice Actors. Retrieved June 15, 2024. A green check mark indicates that a role has been confirmed using a screenshot (or collage of screenshots) of a title's list of voice actors and their respective characters found in its credits or other reliable sources of information.
  28. ^ "Black Lightning - Netflix". January 19, 2019. Archived from the original on 2019-06-04. Retrieved June 15, 2024.
  29. ^ Mayimbe, El (May 19, 2008). "Supermax: Green Arrow Story Details + Villains/Inmates Gallery - Movie News - Latest Movie Reviews and trailers". Latino Review. Archived from the original on October 13, 2008. Retrieved June 1, 2008.
  30. ^ Kit, Borys (April 22, 2015). "Common Joins 'Suicide Squad' (Exclusive)". The Wrap. Retrieved April 27, 2015.
  31. ^ Eisen, Andrew (October 4, 2013). "DC Characters and Objects - Scribblenauts Unmasked Guide". IGN. Retrieved June 15, 2024.
  32. ^ Harvey, James (9 April 2012). ""Young Justice", "Green Lantern: The Animated Series" July 2012 Comic Solicitations, More". The World's Finest. Retrieved 2 December 2018.
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