The Tattooed Man

Mark Richards (Secret Identity) OC
Former aliases: Abel Tarrant, John Oakes,
Non-player Character

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Abel Tarrant

The first Tattooed Man first appeared in Green Lantern v2, #23 (September 1963). Abel Tarrant was a sailor based in Coast City who turned to burglary. During one of his heists, he was exposed to a bunch of mysterious chemicals which left him with the mental ability to create actual objects from the chemicals. When he got back from the robbery, he tattooed himself using the chemicals so he would always have the chemicals near him. Some of the shapes he was able to conjure from his tattoos were an axe, shield, cannon, and dragon. The Tattooed Man originally had the advantage against Green Lantern because the chemicals' base was yellow. The Emerald Gladiator eventually beat the Tattooed Man by making him concentrate on more than one of his tattoos. The Tattooed Man would return, however, as a member of the Injustice Gang. While previously he had tattooed only his arms (that he may hide them under a shirt), by this point he has tattooed much of his body, including his face. Tarrant would fall along with the rest of the Injustice Gang, and his activities would remain mysterious for some time. Tarrant was eventually murdered by the Goldface mafia for trying to con them. Apparently surviving, years later as a reformed man he would appear at the funeral for Hal Jordan in Green Lantern Vol. 3 #81. He would later attend the funeral of former Injustice Gang teammate David Clinton, aka Chronos, in Chronos #6. While Clinton left Tarrant his 1965 Mustang, what he really wanted was Clinton's time travel equipment. Forcing the secret of time travel out of Walker Gabriel, he unsuccessfully attempted to dissuade himself from becoming the Tattooed Man, before Walker dragged him back to the present. He made an appearance in Villains United: Infinite Crisis Special #1 trying to escape from Alcatraz only to be stopped by Arsenal.

He resurfaced as a member of the Suicide Squad in Checkmate #6, saying that despite his attempted reform, he couldn't escape his past and was upset the new Tattooed Man had been accepted into the Society. He was apparently killed by Mirror Master and Jewelee when it turned out that he betrayed the Squad to the Society.

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John Oakes

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).

A cellmate of Abel Tarrant, John Oakes learned the art of tattoo - with a supernatural edge - from his fellow prisoner. After being released from jail, Oakes learned that his strange tattoos were a curse as well as a blessing as his tattoos now opened arcane 'doors' and could involuntarily trap people as 'tattoos' on his own body. Further studying for the Irezumi master Kobo in Kyoto, Oakes learned to control his strange abilities, and finally defeated both Tarrant and the 'tattoo killer' Mizoguchi Kenji by absorbing them. However, Oakes' beloved Yuko died in the battle as well, which prompted him to make her part of his own self.

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Mark Richards

The third Tattooed Man first appeared in Green Lantern Vol. 4 #9. Mark Richards was a former U.S. Marine who went missing after his helicopter crashed a few years ago. He was presumed dead until he showed up in Gotham as a hit man. All his victims had tattoos of their sins. He was eventually stopped by Green Lantern and Batman.