Rose Tattoo (Wildstorm)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Rose Tattoo | ||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
|
||||||||||
|
||||||||||
|
||||||||||
Rose Tattoo is the name of a comic book character from DC Comics/Wildstorm. Rose Tattoo is a name given to two characters in the Wildstorm universe.
[edit] Character history
Rose Tattoo was the spirit of murder; an ageless representation of a pure idea, who had presumably existed as long as the idea itself before she was killed.
In the 1960s, Rose was a member of the superhuman conspiracy founded by "The High" to create a new world order. While on a mission, Rose was discovered by a young Henry Bendix (a field agent doing favors for Richard Nixon at the time) and he immediately fell in love with her. While the time between their first meeting and Bendix's restructuring of Stormwatch is largely unaccounted for, Rose kept very quiet and remained obedient to Bendix until he called on her. When she initially appeared, she was in a small building in Sicily, Italy, having created a candle-lit 'altar' of dead, bleeding victims.
Rose was a member of Stormwatch for some time, killing those Bendix wished, some of whom were criminals, many of whom were innocent bystanders. Rose kept to herself and Bendix had ordered the others not to talk to her.
Rose also drove a Stormwatch guard mad, by seducing him and simply talking to him.
Rose was meant to be a key player in Bendix's plan to establish his own new world order, but unfortunately The High's 50-year-old dream of a finer world got in the way. While raiding The Changers compound, Rose killed one of the Changers whilst he was in negotiations with Stormwatch Black. Jack Hawksmoor (of Stormwatch Black) then snapped her neck, killing her.
Rose Tattoo would eventually find a new host. Working for Henry Bendix yet again as his personal assassin, she was responsible for the death of the Doctor, Jeroen Thornedike. Rose Tattoo was able to murder Thornedike by secreting an overdose of heroin passed into him through her bodily fluids during sex. After fighting a newly regrouped version of The Authority, the new Doctor, Habib Ben Hassan, changed her from the Spirit of Murder into the Spirit of Life. She is currently a member of The Authority.
[edit] Powers/Skills
Rose had superhuman aim. She was very skilled at creating weaponry and made her own arsenal of super-powerful handguns and knives. It is uncertain what powers, if any, this incarnation of the spirit of murder possessed due of her connection to the act of murder, or if her facility for violence was supernaturally derived. It is known that a Stormwatch security guard assigned to keep her in her quarters was driven insane when Rose Tattoo spoke to and had sex with him, but again it is unknown whether this was supernatural or merely a side-effect of her nature. It was, however, recorded that Rose had somehow destroyed The Eidolon, another member of The Changers, who was considered unkillable due to its unique nature as a dead spirit. It was commented upon by the first Engineer that "Rose Tattoo could kill anything."
The full extent of Rose Tattoo's new powers as the Spirit of Life have yet to be shown, but Jenny Quantum said Rose is able to cure people.
[edit] Trivia
- For some time, it was speculated[citation needed] that the Spirit of Murder had transferred from Rose to Jack Hawksmoor when he killed her first body. This would explain a number of new traits apparent in Hawksmoor from this point forward, such as his ready willingness to murder (he had previously been defined as hating killing and only doing so as an absolute final resort) and a glowing left eye while using his powers (the same eye which is usually covered by Rose's hair and is revealed to be made of silver or steel.) This theory, however, has been debunked by her successor's appearance in The Authority: Revolution.
