ajak-kar-93060-mantra7-fullishAJAK-KAR
(Reality-93060 / Ultraverse)

ajak-kar-93060-mantra6-fullish-fieldReal Name: Ajak-Kar

Identity/Class: Alternate Reality (Reality-93060) demon magic-user

Occupation: Predator

Group Membership: None known

Affiliations: Scott Klein (former human host), unidentified tattoo artist (presumably "Bob"), unidentified monstrous creature whose blood apparently allowed Ajak-Kar to be bonded to a host via tattoo

Enemies: Principal Dever, Mantra (Lauren Sherwood), Rush (Johnny Rome), nurse Robin Williams, JoAnn

Known Relatives: He referenced his first three wives, which would seem to indicate that he had more than those three; possibly he was currently married to the fourth, 

Aliases: Spell-Caster (more of a description that he used);
    Hairball," "Ugly" (from Mantra)

Base of Operations: Unrevealed;
    formerly Canoga Park, California;
    perhaps some association with the Godwheel

First Appearance: (Unidentified, face as tattoo) Mantra II#5 (February, 1996);
    (full, identified) Mantra II#6 (March, 1996)

ajak-kar-93060-mantra7-rearviewPowers/Abilities: Ajak-Kar was superhumanly strong (lifting perhaps 10 tons as he was strong enough to throw a car through the air) and durable, although he was certainly vulnerable to Mantra's Sword of Fangs, which sliced off his right arm. 

    He could shatter Mantra's mystic shields with his bare hands and project energy blasts of powerful force. 

    Ajak-Kar had a pair of long, sharp horns on his head; sharp, fanged-teeth, and pointed ears. He was carnivorous, and he enjoyed killing and devouring human prey, particularly women.

    He could be bonded to a host via that host receiving a tattoo in his image from "Bob" using blood from an unidentified being as "ink." Ajak-Kar could then take over that being's form, and his host seemed to only retain memories of losing control and blacking out. While Ajak-Kar's form was dominant, he had a tattoo image of his host on his arm, and cutting off the tattooed skin caused him to lose his connection with his host. 

    Following the loss of his right hand, he swiftly gained a golden hook, which he reconfigure into a pincer claw at will.

    Ajak-Kar seemed to be a somewhat ancient being and claimed to deserve respect (and he was the type to speak of himself in the third person), but he was apparently influenced by his host's personality as well, as he joked and spoke in slang and made topical references.

Height: Unrevealed (perhaps 8-9' tall)
Weight: Unrevealed (he was very muscular, so perhaps 625 lbs. at 8' or 895 lbs. at 9' tall)
Eyes: Apparently yellow irides with no visible sclera and slit-like pupils like a cat or snake.
Hair: Black mohawk, ponytail and focal beard (bilateral projections on side of chin)
Skin: Green

History:ajak-kar-93060-mantra5-tattoo

(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 truck/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 meat as tattoo ink. 

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

(Mantra II#5 - BTS / Mantra II#6 (fb) - BTS) - Either Saturday or early Sunday, 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.ajak-kar-93060-mantra5-tattooing

(Mantra II#6) - As Ajak-Kar assaulted a young woman in Canoga Park, California, on that weekend's Sunday night, Mantra (Lauren Sherwood) heard the woman scream and flew to her rescue. Ajak-Kar was pleased to encounter a sorceress, and when Mantra blasted him off his feet, he noted this to be an interesting opening move. 

    When she encased him in an a mystic field, he shattered it while mocking her that she would have to try harder to stop him. When Rush, seeking to help, collided with Mantra, Ajak-Kar departed, noting he would be back later and that he liked girls who were hard to get. 

(Mantra II#6 - BTS) - The following Monday morning, a number of students were impressed with Scott's tattoo; when it proved sensitive to the touch, Scott concluded it might be infected, and he decided to have nurse Robin take a look at it.ajak-kar-93060-mantra6-over-victim.

(Mantra II#6) - As nurse Robin attempted to apply some antiseptic to his tattoo, that arm punched Robin in the face, and then Scott unwillingly transformed into Ajak-Kar, who told Robin it was lunchtime.

(Mantra II#6 (fb) - BTS) - Ajak-Kar devoured Robin, leaving behind bloody bones, a destroyed room, and "thanks" written on the wall in blood. 

(Mantra II#6 - BTS) - Scott arrived at the cafeteria, not remembering what had happened but knowing he was full, and his burp's smell disgusted those around him. He headed outside for a cigarette.

(Mantra II#6 - BTS) - When a fellow school nurse showed up to go to lunch with Robin, she found Robin's remains.

(Mantra II#6 - BTS) - The other nurse reported her findings to principal LQ Jones, he contacted "chief," to clean up the site, and he ordered the nurse's station closed as the school board was meeting that day.

(Mantra II#6) - Tuesday night, as Scott pressured his date, JoAnn, for romance, she punched him in the face and told him to back off, after which Scott was frustrated as he lost control again and turned into Ajak-Kar, who mockingly confronted the date, telling her "I don't usually do this sort of thing on a first date!"

    Hearing the date's scream, Lauren Sherwood abandoned her own date to confront Ajak-Kar as Mantra, arriving at that same time as Rush.

(Mantra II#7) - Ajak-Kar warned Mantra she had interfered with him for the last time, and then he hurled Scott's car at her, forcing her to use her sword to slice it in half. Praising her as having a nice swing, for a girl, Ajak-Kar challenged her to try his curve ball as he projected an energy blast at her. She deflected the first blast and a series of either subsequent blasts or the same blast returning, but he eventually fired another blast that caught her in the abdomen, dropping her. ajak-kar-93060-mantra7-unhanded

    Picking up Mantra while noting his pleasure that he should be home in time for the TV show Frasier, Ajak-Kar pinned her against a tree and prepared to deliver a fatal punch, but he was ambushed and apparently knocked off his feet from behind by Rush.

    Noting he deserved more respect after Rush's flippant taunting, Ajak-Kar lifted him into the air and began choking him. The recovering Mantra sliced off his right arm mid-forearm that was holding Rush, causing Ajak-Kar to cry out in pain and flee, although he noted he would be back for both of them.

(Mantra II#7 (fb) - BTS) - Ajak-Kar reverted to Scott Klein, who rejoined JoAnn.

(Mantra II#7) - After Mantra had magically restored Scott's car, Scott and JoAnn arrived, and a confused Scott, unable to remember what had happened, noted that he must have passed out or something. Scott tried to take JoAnn home in his car, but it wouldn't start, at least initially.

(Mantra II#7 - BTS) - Rumors on Ajak-Kar spread thoughout Canoga Park, and he developed a cult following, with t-shirts bearing an image of his face or noting, "I'm with Demon." One high school girl speculated that he was going to be their new mascot, while another had heard he was a "gorgeous, a satanic hunk," and a third wondered if he needed a date for the prom. Lauren Sherwood worried that the demon-killer becoming a celebrity was going to get out of hand.ajak-kar-93060-mantra7-tux-hook

(Mantra II#7) - Later, during a test in Mrs. Hoffman's class, Scott felt ill and excused himself to go to the bathroom. When Lauren went to investigate, Mrs. Hoffman intercepted her, but Lauren put her in a stasis spell and followed Scott anyway.

    Scott futilely tried to resist the transformation but eventually succumbed, and Ajak-Kar (now with a hook replacing his right hand) enjoyed a martini while a faculty member passed out upon rushing in to confront what he thought was a student smoking in the bathroom and encountering the demon instead.

    When Lauren arrived, Ajak-Kar fired a blast that she narrowly dodged, but after transforming into Mantra and trading a few punches and getting knocked to the ground, Mantra appreciated that she needed her sash and bracelet, which she needed to access her sword and her full power. As she tried to escape to get to her locker, Ajak-Kar hurled her into the lockers with great force, although she briefly stunned him by jabbing his eyes with her fingers, he recovered and delivered a pair of powerful punches to her face and abdomen. She formed a force field that protected her from his next punch, but Ajak-Kar continued to pound the force field, shattering it, and then punching Mantra down.

    Rush then arrived and he used his momentum to punch Ajak-Kar up into the ceiling. Taking advantage of the distraction, Mantra retrieved her items and formed her sword. Ajak-Kar blasted her to the ground, but she used the sajak-kar-93060-mantra7-handword to reflect his next blast back into him, and Rush knelt on the ground behind Ajak-Kar's feet, tripping him.

    As Rush leapt atop Ajak-Kar and grabbed his horns, urging Mantra to cut his head off, Mantra saw the tattoo of Scott on Ajak-Kar's arm (in the same place Scott had his demon tattoo), and she realized that Scott was Ajak-Kar's host. 

    Mantra then sliced off the chunk of Ajak-Kar's flesh containing the Scott tattoo, and -- cursing Mantra as a witch -- Ajak-Kar faded away, leaving behind Scott, who had no memory of any of his actions under Ajak-Kar's influence. 

    Rush kept Ajak-Kar's right hand as a trophy.

(Mantra II#7 (fb) - BTS) - Considering that Scott had not been responsible for the actions, Lauren kept his association with Ajak-Kar secret.

(Mantra II#7 - BTS) - "Bob" prepared to fill a request for 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...

Comments: 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).

    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.  I'll get to a profile on "Bob" with a sub-profile on his friend/captive at some point. 
    I'm not sure the bald guy who gave Scott his tattoo was "Bob"..."Bob" had some hair and glasses and seemed to have a smaller frame...or maybe "Bob" is a shapechanger...or it could have been an art error.

    I would also think that the hand of Ajak-Kar would come back to haunt Rush at some point, but since the whole line of Ultraverse comics was canceled and mired in legal issues for like 25 years, it seems unlikely that we'll ever get that story.

    This profile was completed 6/26/2021, but its publication was delayed as it was intended for the Appendix 20th anniversary 's celebratory event.

Profile by Snood.

CLARIFICATIONS:
Ajak-Kar should be distinguished from:

images: (without ads)

Mantra II#5, last page, panel 5 (Scott getting tattoo);
            panel 6 (tattoo);
    #6, pg. 5?, panel 4 (over victim);
        pg. 6?, panel 3 (most full, discolored in force field);
    #7, pg. 2, panel 1 (mostly full);
        pg. 6, panel 1 (rear view);
            panel 3 (arm severed);
        pg. 13, panel 5 (upper, tuxedo);

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: 09/05/2021
Last updated: 09/04/2021

Any Additions/Corrections? please let me know.

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