History Main / HumanNotepad

* One of the villains in Matt Fraction's ''Casanova'' hid the map to his money in invisible ink on the nubile flesh of a band of pop-singer asssassins.

Generally a subset of PowerTattoo, which sometimes overlaps with MarkOfTheBeast and ScannableMan. The Human Notepad is when a character is covered with writing. Perhaps he was the victim of a prank (expect frat boys to pull this one), or perhaps he is making notes on himself [[NoteToSolf as an aid to memory]] (in which case this is mostly seen on the back of his hand). In SpeculativeFiction, it may indicate possession by some powerful foreign entity. In supernatural cases, the text usually covers the whole body, although sometimes just the face or another prominent part is covered, and it appears only when the possessing entity is actively attempting to control or providing power to the marked character.

Generally a subset of PowerTattoo, which sometimes overlaps with MarkOfTheBeast and ScannableMan. The Human Notepad is when a character is covered with writing. Perhaps he was the victim of a prank (expect frat boys to pull this one), or perhaps he is making notes on himself as an aid to memory (in which case this is mostly seen on the back of his hand). In SpeculativeFiction, it may indicate possession by some powerful foreign entity. In supernatural cases, the text usually covers the whole body, although sometimes just the face or another prominent part is covered, and it appears only when the possessing entity is actively attempting to control or providing power to the marked character.

* ''Main/{{Brimstone}}'' : Zeke Stone has the names of the 113 damned souls he's hunting tattooed on his body, 'penned in [the Devil's] native tongue'. When he sends a damned soul back, their name is removed, painfully.

* Dan, the son of ''{{Yellowbeard}}'', has a treasure-map tattood on his head.

* Toby in ''DoctorWho'' episodes "The Impossible Planet" and "The Satan Pit": Whilst he's controlled by the Beast, Toby's eyes [[GlowingEyesOfDoom glow]] [[RedEyesTakeWarning red]] and his body is covered with inscrutable symbols written in what appears to be sharpie.

->"The [[ProudWarriorRace Bahmi]] cover themselves in very intricate and magical tattoos called "sefir". The application of sefir is all that remains of the Bahmi's elemental heritage, and they [[StoryboardBody recognize great accomplishments in a Bahmi's life]]. The tattoos recount the personal histories of each Bahmi, while also [[PowerTattoo providing a sizable source of imbued elemental power]]."

-->"The [[ProudWarriorRace Bahmi]] cover themselves in very intricate and magical tattoos called "sefir". The application of sefir is all that remains of the Bahmi's elemental heritage, and they [[StoryboardBody recognize great accomplishments in a Bahmi's life]]. The tattoos recount the personal histories of each Bahmi, while also [[PowerTattoo providing a sizable source of imbued elemental power]]."

* In ''{{Rift}}'', the Defiant's resident [[FiveRaces stouts]] canonically have this as a cultural trait:

* In Bolesław Leśmian's book version of ''{{Sindbad the Sailor}}'', the protagonist's poet uncle laments that his poems always get destroyed one way or another, no matter on what media he records them. Eventually, he tattooes all his poems on his body.

* Toby in ''DoctorWho'' episodes "The Impossible Planet" and "The Satan Pit": Whilst he's controlled by the Beast, Toby's eyes [[GlowingEyesOfDoom glow]] [[RedEyesTakeWarning red]] and his body is covered with unscrutable symbols written in what appears to be sharpie.

* KenichiTheMightiestDisciple has music-obsessed Siegfried writing one of his compositions on his unconscious opponent.

* Dan, the son of {{Yellowbeard}}, has a treasure-map tattood on his head.

* In Bolesław Leśmian's book version of ''Sindbad the Sailor'', the protagonist's poet uncle laments that his poems always get destroyed one way or another, no matter on what media he records them. Eventually, he tattooes all his poems on his body.

* In RedDwarf, Rimmer attempts to cheat his way through an exam by covering his entire body (save his hands and face - and buttocks) with written notes. On trying to look at the ones on his forearm, he finds his sweat has smudged them into complete illegibility. This doesn't stop him from wrapping his hand around his forearm and slapping it down on the exam paper, in an insane hope that the words would somehow form themselves. (He then stands up, salutes his examining officer and faints in the middle of the classroom.)

* In ''{{Inkheart}}'', many of the BigBad's conjured creatures end up with lines of text in awkward places on their skin (like diagonally across their faces) due to a MalfunctionMalady of sorts.
** Later shown visually in the film version.

* In season 4 of ''Series/{{Heroes}}'' somebody's superpower appears to be making tattoos move. Still not fully explained, unless I missed something...
** He's terrakinetic--we also see him moving dirt into his brother's grave and making a house collapse into a sinkhole. Apparently he can control the minerals in the ink.

** It wasn't just the sweat. As he pushes up his sleeve, he wipes the sweaty-ink words turning them into a black smudge on his arm and hand. The looks of agony as he sees this are priceless.

* Used for humorous effect in ''FamilyGuy'': When the Griffins go to a prison, they have to write a lengthy contract on a prisoner's buttocks with a blunt rock as he screams in pain. Peter makes a mistake and proceeds to 'erase' it with the rock, causing the man to collapse, presumably dead.

* Miharu suffers this in ''NabariNoOu'', when the Shinrabanshou sealed inside him is used. This "secret art" is described as being more like an immense library of powerful information, though not in a readable form and thus impossible to control. Inside his mental space, it appears as a stormfront of floating Kanji.

* ''ThoseWhoHuntElves''... OrSoIHeard.

[[caption-width-right:350:He [=~Couldn't Find A Pen~=], but luckily the tattoo parlor was right next door.]]

* That guy in ''PrisonBreak'', and its parody in ''{{FoxTrot}}''.
** Also the Michael tattoos a map to the prison where his brother is held all over his body because it's something they can't take away when he incarcerates himself.

* In RedDwarf, Rimmer attempts to cheat his way through an exam by covering his entire body (save his hands and face) with written notes. On trying to look at the ones on his forearm, he finds his sweat has smudged them into complete illegibility. This doesn't stop him from wrapping his hand around his forearm and slapping it down on the exam paper, in an insane hope that the words would somehow form themselves. (He then stands up, salutes his examining officer and faints in the middle of the classroom.)