BOB's BEACH TATTOOS

Membership: Unidentified tattoo artist (presumably Bob), unidentified monstrous creature

Purpose: Tattooing people with "ink" made from the blood of a monster-demon, allowing a demon to possess the tattoo-ee.

Aliases: None

Affiliations: Ajak-Kar, "big fella" (demon/monster), unidentified female customer (likely soon to be a former affiliation and a latter enemy);
    formerly Scott Klein

Enemies: Undirectly (they all suffered for the tattooing of Scott Klein and the actions of Ajak-Karr), Principal Dever, Scott Klein, Mantra (Lauren Sherwood), Rush (Johnny Rome), nurse Robin Williams, JoAnn

Base of Operations: Mobile in a camper (an RV with a living compartment on the bed of a truck), Reality-93060 ("Ultraverse");
    while based out of Canoga Park, Bob(?) would set up shop on the boardwalk, while keeping his camper parked in a local campground;
    formerly the Godwheel

First Appearance: Mantra II#5 (February, 1996)

History:
(Mantra II#7 (fb) - BTS) - The owner of Bob's Beach tattoos (presumably Bob? I'm calling him "Bob") apparently came to Earth with an "old friend" from the Godwheel. 

    Living out of large camper in which he kept his monstrous (demonic?) associate caged, Bob drew the creature's blood in exchange for raw meat, and he used the blood as tattoo ink. 

    "Bob" apparently traveled around at regular intervals to avoid discovery.

(

) - Either Saturday or early Sunday on the beach, the "creepy guy" of Bob's Beach Tattoos (see comments) tattooed an image of Ajak-Kar on the arm of Canoga Park High School student Scott Klein.

(

Comments: Created by...well...
    Ajak-Kar was created by Tom Mason and Dave Roberts (Mantra II#6 specifically notes the creators as these two; Jim Amash was inker in both #5 and #6, and Jerard DeVictoria was writer on #5, so they deserve some level of credit).
    I would presume that the creators of Ajak-Kar were the creators of Bob's Beach Tattoos, as the  latter appeared only in the last two panels of #5, which was a prelude/teaser to #6's "Tattoo You!" (which the title of Rolling Stones album).

    The bald guy who gave Scott his tattoo in Mantra II#5 appeared to be different than the guy I'm presuming to be "Bob," as."Bob" had some hair and glasses and seemed to have a smaller frame...but maybe "Bob" is a shapechanger...or it could have been an art error; although the penciler and inker were the same for Mantra II#5-7, the writer was different, as mentioned above.

    There's some back-story with the tattoo artist and his captive, and they presumably intended to follow-up on it as another student was getting a tattoo from "Bob" at the end of #7, but that's when the series ended...and that's all I have to say about that...

    Yes, the nurse was Robin Williams...no relation to the actor, but perhaps an homage.

    I inititally started a profile on "Bob," but hoped to avoid a full profile on only a first-named character (though I certainly do that someimes)...and then I planned to but didn't do a sub-profile on Bob because he is not actually named as Bob. All of the information about him is covered in the main profile, as are all relevant images.
    That's why the image and profile filenames are more different, but they all still start with "bob"...close enough!

    This profile was completed 8/05/2022, but its publication was delayed as it was intended for the Appendix 25^th anniversary 's celebratory event.

Profile by Snood.

CLARIFICATIONS:
Bob's Beach Tattoos should be distinguished from:

• other "Bob" characters, part of the Ultraverse or otherwise... 

creature      Referred to by "Bob" as "old friend" and "big fella" The creature apparently came to Earth alongside his long-time associate "Bob" from the Godwheel.      Living out of large camper, bob kept his monstrous (demonic?) associate cage, drew the creature's blood in exchange for raw meat, and used the blood as tattoo ink in his business, Bob's Beach Tattoos.     "Bob" apparently traveled around at regular intervals to avoid discovery. (Mantra II#7) - From his camper, Bob got a piece of raw beef for his caged associate.     As his associate groaned/grunted, Bob told his "old friend" to hold on a minute.      Bob further instructed the creature to be patient as their work there was done and it was time for them to move on.     Approaching the cage, Bob held up the beef and told his associate, "You know the drill by now -- a deal's a deal. We're not on the Godwheel anymore. You need me."     Giving his associate the meat, he asked for his meat in return, and the creature extended his arm between the bars, allowing Bob to feel for and find a vein and then draw some of his blood. As the creature growled, Bob told him not to be such a baby.     Eyeing the blood after injecting it into (presumably) a vaccutainer tube, Bob told the creature, "I don't know how you do it, but you make the best tattoo ink around. My own private factory! You just keep pumpin' boy."     Meanwhile, the creature devoured the raw beef. --Mantra II#7 Note: We know that the creature's blood used in tattoo ink allowed Ajak-Karr to possess and transform the body of Scott Klein into his own. It's anyone's guess whether similar tattoos led to Ajak-Karr or another demon possessing the host...or something completely different.      Similarly, it is unrevealed whether the creature had any specific connection to Ajak-Karr.

female customer     She sought out a cool tattoo to impress her friends, and she came to Bob's Tattoos (see note) to fulfill this goal (Mantra II#7) - Bob listened to a young female customer asking for something special, a monstrous tattoo to impress her friends, and Bob told her he knew exactly what she needed, but that she had to want to take possession... --Mantra II#7 Note: In reading and re-reading, I never appreciated this until now (as I type this information), in making the decision to add this sub-profile and then re-examining it...I assumed that this was still Bob's Beach Tattoos, and a the picture was taken from the beach, so you could see the city instead...but now, given Bob's comment about it being time to move on, I think it is pretty obvious that Bob had moved on, and that this was another location in which he set up.      This young woman was presumably affected by the tattoo, perhaps hosting Ajak-Karr or another monster, demon, etc., or perhaps something else...the world may never know...

Appearances:
Mantra II#5 (February, 1996) - Jerard DeVictoria (writer), Dave Roberts (penciler), Jim Amash (inker), Roland Mann (editor)
Mantra II#6-7 (March-April, 1996) - Tom Mason (writer), Dave Roberts (penciler), Jim Amash (inker), Jerard DeVictoria (assistant editor), Roland Mann (editor)

First posted: 09/14/2026
Last updated: 08/05/2022

Any Additions/Corrections? please let me know.

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