TATTOO
Real Name: Christine Cord
Identity/Class: Human mutant (depowered)
Occupation: Adventurer; former student
Group Membership: New Warriors (Blackwing/Barnell Bohusk, Decibel/Jonothan Starsmore, Night Thrasher/Donyell Taylor, Phaser/Christian Cord, Ripcord/Miranda Leevald, Skybolt/Vincent Stewart, Tempest/Angel Salvadore, Wondra/Jubilation Lee);
formerly Xavier Institute student body, Omega Gang (Glob Herman/Robert Herman, Kid Omega/Quentin Quire, Radian/Christian Cord, Redneck/Vincent Stewart)
Affiliations: Xavier Institute student body (Choir/Irina Clayton, Contact/Frida Rivera, Elf/Natalie Wood, Imp/Anders Nobel, Keratin/Dave Finn, Mentat/Robert Zepheniah, Polymer/Dana Holmes, Slick/Quincy Marrow, Spike/Gary Walsh, Stalwart/Adewale Ekoku, Stepford Cuckoos (Celeste, Esme, Mindee, Phoebe, Sophie Cuckoo), other unidentified students), Special Class (Angel/Angel Salvadore, Beak/Barnell Bohusk), X-Men (Beast/Henry McCoy, Cyclops/Scott Summers, Emma Frost, Phoenix/Jean Grey, Professor X/Charles Xavier, Wolverine/James "Logan" Howlett, Xorn/Kuan-Yin Xorn)
Enemies: Grey Gargoyle (Paul Duval), Cassandra Nova, U-Men, Zodiac (Aquarius, Aries, Cancer, Leo, Libra, Pisces, Sagittarius, Scorpio, Taurus, Virgo)
Known Relatives: Christian Cord (Radian/Phaser, brother)
Aliases: Longstrike
Base of Operations: Xavier's School for Gifted Youngsters, Salem Center, New York
First Appearance: New X-Men I#126 (July, 2002)
Powers/Abilities: Before Tattoo was depowered, she could mentally control and alter the color and patterns of her skin. She often used her power to show her thoughts on her body, temporarily manifesting words or tattoos. As an added mutation, she was able to phase portions of her body through solid matter; the full extent of this power was never catalogued. As Longstrike she wore a suit based on Stilt-Man's limb-extension technology, allowing her to grow to a height of 280', move at 30mph, and lift 1500 lbs. The suit mimicked her lost mutant phasing powers thanks to an intangibility burst based on the Ghost's technology.
Height: 5'8"
Weight: 130 lbs.
Eyes: Brown, white when under the influence of Kick
Hair: Black, dyed orange or shaven
History:
(New X-Men I#116 - BTS) - Following Professor Charles Xavier (secretly Cassandra Nova switching minds with her twin brother) coming out as a mutant on live TV, the Xavier Institute was opened to the public. Christine and her brother Christian were among the scores of young teenagers that decided to enroll at the Institute. Inspired by her mutation, she took the codename Tattoo.
(New X-Men I#126) - During the X-Men's confrontation against Cassandra Nova, Tattoo and most of the students refused to "hide like a common human" and joined the fight. Nova, now manifesting herself as the psychic Mummudrai entity, easily mind controlled Tattoo and her fellow students, sending them against Beast and Wolverine. Tattoo and the others were eventually freed from Cassandra's control by the Stepford Cuckoos.
(New X-Men I#134 (fb) - BTS) - Tattoo began dating the tall, trim and attractive Slick unaware he was actually a mutant illusion caster hiding his true, diminutive, rat-faced body with webbed feet.
(New X-Men I#134) - Tattoo was in class fawning over Slick, when news broke that mutant fashion designer Jumbo Carnation had been murdered. Shocked by the loss of a true mutant icon, Slick spread the news telepathically among his classmates. Quentin Quire didn't seem to care about Carnation, preferring to continue working on a pair of anti-gravity floats for Martha Johansson. Slick mocked Quire for being uncool and then announced he would be performing a benefit gig after lunch to honor Carnation with some songs he wrote himself after which he and Tattoo left.
(New X-Men I#134) - During Slick's performance, Tattoo accompanied him on the maracas, Quentin interrupted the show to ask Slick in what way this benefit was helping Jumbo or even to solve his murder. Before an annoyed Slick could turn on Quentin, the telepath used his powers to disrupt the mental illusion Slick was casting. As a result, everyone saw Slick for what he truly was: not a hunk, but the plump little troll he was. Disgusted, Tattoo immediately broke up with him and walked away with the snickering Quire and his companion Glob Herman.
(New X-Men I#135) - Tattoo attended Emma Frost's class alongside Mentat, Quire, the Stepford Cuckoos and two unidentified students headmaster Charles Xavier came in to inquire if any of his students were on the drug called Kick. He saw the telepathic prodigy Quentin Quire wear a provocative pin-striped outfit and confronted him about it. Quire declared he felt it high time young mutants reclaimed some of the offensive imagery produced by the "bigots", much to Mentat's annoyance who asked Quire to shut up and sit down. Tattoo seemingly enjoyed how Quentin questioned Xavier's dream of peaceful coexistence between humans and mutants.
(New X-Men I#135 - BTS) - Tattoo decided to join Quire's band of likeminded students along with her brother Radian, Redneck and Glob Herman. Calling themselves the Omega Gang. Tattoo received the same pin-striped outfit as Quire.
(New X-Men I#135) - After putting on the Omega Gang costume, Tattoo met Quire and the others in his dorm room to prepare their first outing. Quire revealed he had a Kick inhaler, explaining that the drug (hypercortisone D) could boost their powers and give a nice mental high in the process (in reality, Kick was the aerosol form of the sentient bacteria Sublime). Quire took a hit of the addictive substance and then offered it to Tattoo and the others. Charged up and ready to go, Quire told Omega Gang the dose would last about five hours and would enhance their mutant talents up to five times.
Now under the influence of Quire and Kick, the Omega Gang decided to go out to Mutant Town to start some trouble. The Omega Gang quickly came across a group of five young human teenagers and instigated a fight to justify using their mutant powers against the powerless humans. The fight quickly escalated and resulted in several deaths. Hopped up on Kick, Tattoo killed a teenager by phasing and solidifying her arm through his stomach. In the wake of Omega Gang's assault on Mutant Town, Xavier addressed the entire student body. Survivors had identified Omega Gang by their outfit, leading Xavier to ban the pin-stripes on campus.
Later that night Tattoo and the Omega Gang visited Mutatoo, a tattoo-shop ran by a mutant with several small arms/hands alongside his "normal" arms. All of the Omega Gang members received a special tattoo of the omega sign on their arm, the tattoo-artist was quick to note they were just a bunch of suburban Neo-Nazi frat boys on dope. Taking another hit of Kick, Quire declared they were the "new" X-Men.
(New X-Men I#136 - BTS) - Deciding to take a stance for mutantkind, and do what their teachers and leaders wouldn't, Tattoo and the Omega Gang hunted down the U-Men, a group of human fanatics harvesting mutants for body parts in order to become a human-mutant hybrid species.
(New X-Men I#136) - Tattoo and the Omega Gang tracked the U-Men down to their headquarters U-Man Central, which was little more than a garage box. The U-Men were right in the middle of operating on Smitts, one of their own deceased members, when Omega crashed their van into them. Tattoo administered Kick to Redneck and watched as he and Glob Herman killed the last U-Man, though they were all unaware a group of U-Men were about to attack the Special Class near the Institute.
Quire concluded that the Xavier Institute's open day would be the perfect opportunity for the Omega Gang to announce themselves to the world. High on Kick, they hid in Xavier's private quarters and took the headmaster hostage. Quire ranted and raved to Xavier that humans couldn't be reasoned with and would prefer Magneto's approach. Tattoo then discovered Xavier's secret lab and noted she smelled Kick.
The following morning while Emma Frost and Beast officially welcomed groups of humans and reporters to Xavier's for the Open Day, Quire appeared from a window. With bloodshot eyes, Quire incited a riot revealing they'd taken Professor X hostage and hijacked the corrupt and reactionary Xavier Institute. Quire went on to demand Year Zero for mutantkind and try humankind for their crimes.
(New X-Men I#137) - The Omega Gang watched Quire from Xavier's study. Unable to use his powers because of a telepathy proof helmet based on Magneto's design, Charles failed to reason with Tattoo and the others. After taping his mouth shut, joined the gang who were on their way out to confront their teachers and the crowd. After Quire easily dealt with Wolverine, Cyclops used his optic beam to break Redneck's nose who tried to motivate the other students into joining their riot. Tattoo went to help her friend, reminding everyone that it was humans who murdered their icon Jumbo Carnation. Beast stepped in to set the record straight: while a group of humans did rough him up, an autopsy had shown Carnation's death was caused by a self administered Kick overdose. Unwilling to believe his story, Tattoo's brother Radian used his light blast to blind the teachers while Tattoo phased her hand through Cyclops' face, threatening to solidify it. However mere moments later Emma Frost, transformed into her diamond-form, stuck her hand through Tattoo's still phased head noting that were she to solidify, she would be killed herself. Seemingly defeated Tattoo watched as a burning Glob Herman went after a bus of humans and Quire was defeated by the Stepford Cuckoos as Sophie used Kick herself to stop Quire which ultimately led to her death.
(New X-Men I#138) - While Quire was taken to the infirmary, Wolverine gathered Tattoo, Radian and Redneck in the school's gym. Wolverine explained all of them would do time in a human jail after which Xavier would eventually convince the authorities to hand them back so they could be sent to a third world country to put their revolutionary energy to use helping people who needed it.
(New X-Men I#140 - BTS) - Tattoo, Radian and Redneck were sent to jail.
(House Of M I#8 - BTS) - Following the events of M-Day, Tattoo was one of the millions of mutants who lost their powers due to the Scarlet Witch's reality altering spell.
(New Avengers I#17 - BTS) - Tattoo's mutant energies joined with those of the other de-powered mutants, creating the Collective, a massive force presence that ended up killing, among others, most of the members of the Canadian superhero team Alpha Flight.
(New Avengers I#18 - BTS) - S.H.I.E.L.D. analyzed the Collective's multiple energy signatures and managed to identify Tattoo's pattern, along with 50+ other victims of M-Day.
(New Warriors IV#1 - BTS) - At some unrevealed point, Christine and her brother were approached by Donyell Taylor to join his new New Warriors group consisting of depowered mutants. Christine was given extendable limbs once used by Stilt-Man and started operating under the new codename Longstrike. She began training with her new teammates as the team slowly made a name for itself by taking down the Grey Gargoyle.
(New Warriors IV#2) - Longstrike and the other New Warriors observed from a distance while Night Thrasher showed potential recruit Sofia Mantega around the training room.
(New Warriors IV#3) - Longstrike and the New Warriors were training in their makeshift Danger Room against a simulation of the futuristic Sentinel Nimrod. Jubilee chewed them out later for their lack of teamwork, leading Longstrike to sarcastically wonder if she thought they were part of the Fifty State Initiative.
(New Warriors IV#4) - After Night Thrasher single-handedly took down all of the New Warriors within a minute during a training session, he ordered them to engage in a full day's workout and daily double sessions even though the team had plans to hang out. Not too long after that, the Zodiac attacked downtown New York, forcing the New Warriors to intervene. She witnessed how, while retreating, the Zodiac member Cancer killed her teammate Longstrike.
(New Warriors IV#5) - Following Longstrike's death, the two teams hacked into each other, with Taurus grabbing Ripcord's cables to smack her into her teammate Decibel. When depowered mutant Sofia Mantega intervened, she caused a momentarily chance for the New Warriors to regroup, but this window of opportunity was lost when she was mortally wounded. Night Thrasher decided to a strategic retreat, even as the Zodiac left. In the aftermath, back at NW-headquarters, Phaser blamed his sister's death on Thrasher who proceeded to disband the team.
Comments: Created by Grant Morrison (writer), Frank Quitely (pencils), Tim Townsend (inks).
Just how a mutant with chameleon skin would also develop intangibility powers doesn't really make sense. Sure, seemingly illogical secondary mutations were a thing during the Grant Morrison New X-Men era. After all, Morrison introduced the concept mostly because he needed a powerhouse on the team and was told he couldn't use Colossus. That's why full time telepath Emma Frost was turned into a parttime living diamond without batting an eye. A possible in universe explanation might be Tattoo's excessive (ab)use of Kick, which led to jumpstarting and expanding her powerset.
New X-Men I#140 revealed Redneck had been sent to NY State Maximum Security Penitentiary. Tattoo and Radian were presumably sent to the same prison.
Also, the less said about the gawdawful fourth incarnation of New Warriors that roped Tattoo into becoming "Longstrike" the better.
Christine Cord received a profile in the Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe A-Z Update#1 (April, 2010).
Profile by MarvellousLuke
CLARIFICATIONS:
Tattoo has no known connections to
images: (without ads)
New X-Men I#135, p22, pan1 (main image)
New X-Men I#126, p10, pan2 (first appearance)
New X-Men I#135, p11, pan4 (Omega Gang)
New X-Men I#137, p14 pan5 (attacking Cyclops)
New Warriors IV#4, p9, pan2 (Longstrike)
New Warriors IV#5, p2, pan1,2 (death)
Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe A-Z Update#1, Longstrike's profile (Longstrike)
Appearances:
New X-Men I#126 (July, 2002) - Grant Morrison (writer), Frank Quitely (pencils), Tim Townsend (inks), Mike Powers, Mike Marts, Pete Franco, Mike Raicht (editors)
New X-Men I#133 (December, 2002) - Grant Morrison (writer), Ethan van Sciver (pencils), Norm Rapmund (inks), Mike Marts, Mike Raicht, Nova Ren Suma (editors)
New X-Men I#135 (February, 2003) - Grant Morrison (writer), Frank Quitely (pencils), Tim Townsend (inks), Mike Marts, Mike Raicht, Nova Ren Suma (editors)
New X-Men I#136 (March, 2003) - Grant Morrison (writer), Frank Quitely (pencils), Avalon Studios (inks), Mike Marts, Mike Raicht, Nova Ren Suma (editors)
New X-Men I#137 (April, 2003) - Grant Morrison (writer), Frank Quitely (pencils), Avalon Studios (inks), Mike Marts, Mike Raicht, Nova Ren Suma (editors)
New X-Men I#138 (May, 2003) - Grant Morrison (writer), Frank Quitely (pencils), Avalon Studios (inks), Mike Marts, Mike Raicht, Nova Ren Suma (editors)
New Warriors IV#1 (August, 2007) - Kevin Grevioux (writer), Paco Medina (pencils), Juan Vlasco (inks), Axel Alonso (editor)
New Warriors IV#2 (September, 2007) - Kevin Grevioux (writer), Paco Medina (pencils), Juan Vlasco (inks), Axel Alonso (editor)
New Warriors IV#3 (October, 2007) - Kevin Grevioux (writer), Paco Medina (pencils), Juan Vlasco (inks), Axel Alonso (editor)
New Warriors IV#4 (November, 2007) - Kevin Grevioux (writer), Paco Medina (pencils), Juan Vlasco (inks), Axel Alonso (editor)
New Warriors IV#5 (December, 2007) - Kevin Grevioux (writer), Paco Medina (pencils), Juan Vlasco (inks), Axel Alonso (editor)
First Posted: 06/20/2019
Last Updated: 06/20/2019
Any Additions/Corrections? please let me know.
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