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Geek Ink: Comics Fans Show Off Tattoos

: Photo: Jim Merithew/Wired.com All comic book fans dig ink. Some of them just take their superhero obsessions a little further than others. Michael Boyce (left) wears his love of comics on his sleeves. A thirtysomething artist who runs On Comic Ground, a comics shop in San Diego, his arms are covered with tattoos of all the superheroines he grew up with: fightin' females like Wonder Woman, Batgirl, Supergirl and Wonder Girl. "Once I started getting one girl, I had to get 'em all," Boyce said. With flesh forever marked with the comics and sci-fi characters they know and love, geeks like Boyce would give a pack of hard-core bikers a run for their money in the tattoo department. Show us your geek tattoos Are you sporting skin art inspired by comics, sci-fi, horror or even really freaky stuff like math and physics? Send us a photo. : Photo: Jim Merithew/Wired.com Wonder Woman struts her stuff on Boyce's right bicep, but his tattoos cover both of his arms. "I want to have arms that look like comic book pages with the girls bursting out," said Boyce, who got the work done over a three-year period by Willie King Clover in Lemon Grove, California. Boyce also wears a wicked Wonder Woman belt buckle. : Photo: Jim Merithew/Wired.com When getting Venom's spider logo added to his left calf, Aaron Hamilton went with stark black ink. "I wanted something big and bold that just said, 'This is who I am. This is what I like,'" said Hamilton, 30, of Birmingham, Alabama. He says he got the tattoo done 10 years ago by Justin Kontzen of Aerochild Tattoos in Birmingham. : Photo: Jim Merithew/Wired.com Tim Burton's animated movie The Nightmare Before Christmas got Coley Suicide into tattoos. Now it's Halloween every day of the year on her arm, where "Pumpkin King" Jack Skellington, his girlfriend Sally and ghost dog Zero have taken up permanent residence. "I've always kinda been obsessed with Tim Burton," said Suicide, 20, of Long Beach, California. "I figured I'd start out with my favorite." The tattoos took 28 hours, she said, and were done by Nathan Menske in Yakima, Washington. : Photo: Jim Merithew/Wired.com Chaos Comics characters Lady Death and Purgatori face-off eternally on the back of Chris "Cybian" Kneeland, 39, of San Diego. "Everything I have (tattoo-wise) is kind of like good and evil," said Kneeland, who works as a website coder and analyst. The back piece, which was done by Bob Vessells at Funny Farm Tattoos in Los Angeles, was started five years ago, with 20 to 25 hours of needling so far, said Kneeland. He's gained some weight in the interim, and swears he'll get the piece finished when he drops the pounds. : Photo: Jim Merithew/Wired.com Images of The Thing (pictured), Image Comics' Maxx and other superheroes decorate Sean Brunle's body. The 31-year-old bartender, who lives in Charlotte, North Carolina, says he chose those characters because he "was physically attracted to them." The tattoos, done by Rodney Raines at Ace Custom Tattoo in Charlotte, took 15 or 20 hours to finish, Brunle said. : Photo: Jim Merithew/Wired.com X-Men badass Wolverine is another of Brunle's favorites. "They're basically hard on the outside and soft on the inside," Brunle said of the characters indelibly inked on his arms. "Strong men with good hearts, I guess." : Photo: Jim Merithew/Wired.com "Does it ever make sense to us?" asks Jeff Walker, 27, of San Diego. The custodian wears a stark image of a dead bird with a philosophical quote from Bill Watterson's Calvin and Hobbes comic strip on his arm. "I've just always loved the artwork," Walker said by way of explanation. The tattoo was inked by Chris Walkin at Avalon Tattoo II in San Diego. : Photo: Jim Merithew/Wired.com Leona the lizard girl from Katherine Dunn's sideshow stunner Geek Love earned a permanent spot on one of Odette Suicide's legs, right next to a living shrine to the Virgin de Guacamole. Suicide, 27, lives in Ventura, California, and calls herself a "baker with brains." She has a bachelor's degree in psychology (and neurons tattooed on her right arm). Leona was inked in nine hours by Tim Kern at Tribulation Tattoo in New York City, she said. Nathan Kostechko did the avocado-faced Virgin. : Photo: Jim Merithew/Wired.com Steve Thompson works as a toy designer for Disney, but Sci Fi Channel's rebooted space opera Battlestar Galactica motivated him to get this skin art. He has Starbuck's tattoo on his arm, courtesy of two hours under the needle at Body Electric Tattoo in Hollywood. "I'm just a huge fan of the show," said Thompson, 34, of Los Angeles. : Photo: Jim Merithew/Wired.com Shaz Nolan wears the Dark Mark of the Death Eaters from the Harry Potter books on her left forearm. That fits nicely with the 32-year-old seamstress' cosplay role -- she dresses as Bellatrix Lestrange. When she saw the image, she couldn't live without it. "And it's fun," said Nolan, who lives in Fullerton, California. She says the tattoo took one hour at Deep Blue Tattoo in Grover Beach, California. : Photo: Jim Merithew/Wired.com "I've been a comic book fan my entire life," said Chad Bacon, 34, of Huntington Beach, California. It shows. On his right forearm, the strip-club manager sports Captain America, done by Vance O'Rourke of 723 Tattoo in Fullerton, California. Bacon's into the "whole patriotic thing," he said. Iron Man, Hulk, Thor, Wasp, Spider-Man and Spawn cover other parts of his body, and for extra geek effect, he's got an image of Albert Einstein on his upper left arm. : Photo: Jim Merithew/Wired.com Steven Miller has a bold panel from a comic on his right forearm. "I just thought it was cool looking," said Miller, 27, of Los Angeles. The director of Automaton Transfusion said he is working on a movie called Ink about -- what else? -- tattoos.

Alice role for Australian actress

Australian actress Mia Wasikowska is in final negotiations to star in director Tim Burton's version of Alice in Wonderland, according to a report.

Gallery: Fire Arts Festival Opens in Blaze of Glory

: Photo: Emily Lang/Wired.com OAKLAND, California -- Talk about a hot night. From a fire-spouting piano to flame cannons that licked the smoky sky, the attractions Wednesday night at the Fire Arts Festival kicked California's heat wave up a few degrees. "Who doesn't like fire?" said Hick Messiah, 47, of Oakland as he took in the event. More than 50 different artists from the San Francisco Bay Area and beyond showcased infernal contraptions and sizzling performances at the fest, which was more three-ring circus than safety demonstration. The Fire Arts Festival, organized by Oakland industrial arts nonprofit The Crucible, runs through Saturday. Left: Modeled after a county fair attraction, this shooting gallery substitutes flamethrowers for pop guns. : Photo: Emily Lang/Wired.com A member of the Unmata urban belly-dance group twirls balls of flame during opening night festivities at the Fire Arts Festival. During Unmata's short routine, which was set to up-tempo techno and ethnic beats, members of the Sacramento, California, collective swiveled their hips and twirled flaming poi balls on a stage festooned with colored lights. The stage was also rigged to shoot bursts of fire synchronized with songs. : Photo: Emily Lang/Wired.com Artist Sean Orlando's Steampunk Tree House could double as a set prop in a Tim Burton film. The 25,000-pound monstrosity is powered by a 1920s steam engine that breathes life into the coppery creation, sounding a cacophony of steam whistles. The towering structure stands tall within the patron pavilion at the Fire Arts Festival. Visitors willing to pony up the additional cash for a VIP ticket are granted the opportunity to climb hand-over-foot to the top of the 40-foot-tall sculpture for a bird's-eye view of the event. The roped-off pavilion also housed a bar, catered snacks and a swanky red-velvet lounge area. : Photo: Emily Lang/Wired.com Unmata's dancers sway and shake their bellies to electronic tunes. The crowd swelled forward as the group's performance opened the Fire Festival. Afterward, a wide array of acts -- including a troupe of fire-swallowing vaudeville bartenders, youth dance troupes, trapeze artists and fiery Flamenco dancers -- occupied the stage until midnight. For the grand finale, San Francisco-based lo-fi funk band Gooferman created a crazed carnival atmosphere with its bouncy beats. : Photo: Emily Lang/Wired.com A Pswarm fire sculpture presented by Department of Spontaneous Combustion bursts into flames. All the Pswarm sculptures were interactive, with the group pulling people from the crowd and letting them fire up the artwork. : Photo: Emily Lang/Wired.com Bay Area-based Omega Recoil inverts a Tesla Coil for a performance dubbed Electricity Theater. "To our knowledge, that's never been done before," said Omega Recoil member Sparky Jewell. The Tesla coil wasn't the only aspect flipped during the campy show: Members dressed as mad scientists coerced an unwilling soul -- Human Test Subject No. 1 -- through the high-voltage maze. : Photo: Emily Lang/Wired.com What keeps the human guinea pig from becoming Fried Human Test Subject No. 1? "It's definitely not prayer," quipped Omega Recoil's Chris Ruedy, who played the test subject, after the show. Ruedy wore a homemade Faraday cage made from steel mesh that kept the electric charge flowing around his body rather than through it. After successfully completing his tasks, he claimed his reward -- a can of beer. : Photo: Emily Lang/Wired.com Smoke and flames pour from a large 3-D skull constructed by Oakland's Department of Spontaneous Combustion. To build the piece, members of the art collective bought a wooden 3-D puzzle of a human skull, scanned each piece and enlarged it several times. After tracing and cutting the shapes from steel, they refit the pieces together. The Department of Spontaneous Combustion also displayed a fire-breathing Venus flytrap and a 20-foot fire cannon, which member Matthew Andreoli affectionately referred to as the "Space Invaders cannon." "If any aliens attacked me, I'd blast 'em with it!" he said. First-time festival attendee Shana Muwwakkil took aim Wednesday and fired the cannon from behind a protective cage. "A friend made me come tonight," said Muwwakkil afterward. "But I really liked that -- it was different." : Photo: Emily Lang/Wired.com At Matisse Enzer's Flamethrower Shooting Gallery, people blast steel targets shaped like the Burning Man effigy known as "The Man." Enzer got the idea for this fiery twist on a traditional county fair game after Paul Addis prematurely torched Burning Man's giant icon at 2007's desert art party. "My nickname for this project is, 'You too can burn the Man,'" said Enzer, who lives in the Bay Area. Flamethrowers are illegal in California, so Enzer's rig got an in-depth assessment from the Oakland fire inspector -- and failed. "She took a step back when all four throwers went off," Enzer said. "And she's been working this event for years." The inspector decided that demonstrations were permissible -- but only technicians and safety personnel were allowed to participate. : Photo: Emily Lang/Wired.com San Francisco electronica outfit Gooferman closes out opening night at the Fire Arts Festival with a high-octane performance. In addition to shooting bursts of fire synchronized to songs, band members wore sparkling costumes and jester's caps, along with harlequin-inspired face paint, creating a crazed carnival atmosphere. Gooferman's gritty beats filled the air as the band's entourage -- including latex-wrapped stilt-walkers, gymnastic floor tumblers and cheerleaders clad in spangled bodysuits -- moved to the music. Earlier acts on the main stage included fire-eating vaudeville bartenders, youth dance troupes and trapeze artists. The Crucible's eighth annual Fire Arts Festival runs every night through Saturday. Tickets range from $5 to $55.