Men on the Wall (Early 20th century anti-alien force)

The MEN on the WALL

Membership: Eben Stafford (leader on at least some mission); man apparently transported to Mars;
at least six unidentified (all apparently deceased);
with the exception of Stafford, the members shown in the 1917 adventure don't appear to match up with any of the members shown in 1913, so either they changed appearances somewhat, had a succession of members, and/or Stafford just led a group of operatives who were not formal members of the Men on the Wall's leading group

Purpose: Protecting Earth and humanity from alien threats, generally doing so in secrecy so that none ever learned of the presence of such aliens

Aliases: None

Affiliations: Freedom's Five (Crimson Cavalier/Jean-Luc Batroc, Phantom Eagle/Karl Kaufmann, Sir Steel/Ned Chapel, Union Jack/Montgomery, Falsworth), Orson Randall (aka Iron Fist);
presumably Teddy Roosevelt (see comments)
while these were not directly affiliated with the group, Woodrow McCord succeeded Stafford as the Man on the Wall; McCord was, in turn, succeeded by Nick Fury Sr., who was succeeded by James Barnes (aka Bucky and the Winter Soldier, although he does not seem to have retained this role) men_on_the_wall-1913-tripod

Enemies: Entari (notably Dreel), Martian Masters, aliens in general

Base of Operations: Unrevealed;
active from early 20^th century (and possibly even late 19^th century) to perhaps as late as 1930 (or early 1931)

First Appearance: Original Sin Annual#1 (December, 2014)

Powers/Abilities: The Men on the Wall had access to weaponry that allowed them to combat alien threats, including giant creatures and advanced technological weapons. They also wielded conventional firearms.

History:
(Original Sin Annual#1 (fb) - BTS) - The Men on the Wall "earned their stripes" against the Martians Masters (see comments) in 1913.

(Original Sin Annual#1 (fb) - BTS) <1913> - The Men on the Wall took down some giant monster and then posed for a picture on top of it in Calcutta.

(Original Sin Annual#1 (fb) - BTS) - They apparently impressed Roosevelt enough to convince him "that big stick of his needed a shield to match" (see comments).

The Men on the Wall operated alone with complete autonomy because it was apparently considered that "some things were bigger than the rules."

For decades, they manned an impenetrable wall against alien invasions.

men_on_the_wall-1917-blast-tripod

(All-New Invaders#12 (fb)) <October, 1917> - As Freedom's Five (Crimson Cavalier, Phantom Eagle, Sir Steel, Union Jack; with Orson Randall sitting in for an injured Silver Squire) battled the multiple Martian Masters' tripods assaulting London and considered that they had not the means or men to overcome this threat, Eben Stafford led the Men on the Wall to join the fight.

A blast from the top of a building blasted a chunk out of the saucer section of another of the massive tripods,

...after which several of the Men rushed forward with their energy blasters..

men_on_the_wall-1917-stafford

From a rooftop, Eben Stafford -- with a voice like breaking gravel -- barked out orders.

.
.

men_on_the_wall-1917-blasting_martian masters men_on_the_wall-1917-mars-transported-full Working from the shadows and the rooftops, the Men on the Wall destroyed multiple Martian Masters; as they were active some distance from Freedom's Five, those heroes had no chance to question their mission or standing.

One of the Men on the Wall (whom Union Jack later described as "some maniacal chap who thoroughly enjoyed the whole thing like it was some grand day out") leapt from the top of a church spire he had scaled onto the top of one of the tripods, which he proceeded to blast repeatedly.

Apparently sensing that they had been routed, the Martian Masters then teleported themselves and their tripods away (presumably returning to their Mars base), taking with them the "gleefully violent fellow."

(All-New Invaders#12 (fb) - BTS) - Union Jack subsequently learned -- on another journeyed exploit -- that the leader of the group who had aided them was Eben Stafford, whom he considered to be "a man among men."

(Original Sin Annual#1 (fb) - BTS) <"Decades" after the Men on the Wall's founding> - The Entari arrived and took apart the Wall in piecemeal fashion.

Dreel later claimed responsibility for slaying six of the Men on the Wall.

The sole survivor, Stafford, vowed never to have to sit on his hands again, and he threw down his shield and took up a sword.

On the five year anniversary of his working for Stafford, McCord considered that Stafford had chosen him because he had no place else to go and was as alone as Stafford was. McCord further detailed the rise and fall of the Men on the Wall and how Stafford had stopped being just a defender and became an attacker after his teammates' deaths at the hands of the Entari.

Comments: Created by Jason Latour and Enis Cisic (as a history expansion on a character created by Jason Aaron and Mike Deodato.

As stated most clearly by Howard Stark in Original Sin#5, the "Wall" in the the Men on the Wall and/or the Man on the Wall refers to the wall between humanity and annihilation.

In Original Sin Annual#1, Woodrow McCord (The Man on the Wall)'s journal entry from 1936 relates the history of the Men on the Wall. He notes that they earned their stripes against the Martians back in '13. He further notes that they impressed Roosevelt enough to convince him that his big stick needed a shield.

(1) The Martians reference in McCord's journal shows a tripod and he considers that H.G. Wells left them out of his books, so this pretty much confirms it to be the Martian Masters (who were very active on Earth-691 in the Killraven stories.

As recounted above, the Men on the Wall also battled the Martian Masters in All-New Invaders#12, which contains a flashback in which Orson Randall joins the Freedom's Five against the Masters.

That story takes place in 1917, but Sir Steel recalls a similar attack from about a decade ago.
That story not only shows the tripods but also the Martian Masters themselves, so there is pretty much no question about which Martians the story referenced.

I believe the classic "War of the Worlds" story was supposed to take place in the 1890s, although in Reality-691's Killraven stories the invasion took place in 1901 A.D.
Regardless, it's noteworthy that there may have been multiple such invasions by the Martian Masters in the early 20^th century and perhaps in the late 19^th century as well.
Wells' "War of the Worlds" was published in 1897 in the real world, so that would explain why the Men on the Wall weren't mentioned in his novel.
In the later stories in Operation SIN, McCord notes that he only had one book in his house (something by Twain) growing up, so he may not have understood the date which War of the Worlds was published when he wrote his journal entry.
One of the tripods the Men on the Wall encountered was kept in Stafford's trophy room in his mountain base.

2) Teddy Roosevelt was president from 1901-1909, so I would think that if he was the one that gave the Men on the Wall official/secret sanction, it would have had to have taken place by 1909.

The order of the text seems to indicate that the Men on the Wall's actions against the Martian Masters in 1913 is what impressed Roosevelt, but it doesn't actually specify that. He just notes that they encountered the Martians in 1913, that they weren't in Wells' book, "but I reckon that they impressed Roosevelt..."
The former president Teddy Roosevelt was still very active in 1913. He tried unsuccessfully to get re-elected as POTUS in 1912 and campaigned during the 1914 midterms, and was denounced Germany's actions in World War I and Woodrow Wilson's failure to support the Allies, wanting harsher penalties applied against the Germans. And in 1917 when American entered the war he got permission to raise new divisions similar to the Rough Riders he'd led during the Spanish-American War. So if there was a Martian attack and he knew about it, it would be very much in character for him to support setting up a defensive organization, whether or not he was president at the time.--Loki
Here’s a stretch, but maybe it’s FDR? He was assistant secretary of the Navy at that time.--Kevin Garcia

Possible, because they don't say Teddy, but they also discuss his "big stick," which was Teddy Roosevelt deal..."Walk Softly and Carry a Big Stick"...he even had a "big stick" policy.--Snood

So, what was the period of activity of the Men on the Wall?

We know that Stafford was the last of them as of June, 1931 and possibly some time before.

We don't know how long before Stafford's meeting McCord that the Men on the Wall were picked off.
My initial impression was that Stafford had been on his own for a long time before encountering McCord
However, since both encounters involved the Entari, perhaps it was fairly close.
And, what's a long time to be buy yourself in a mountain base, fighting aliens? 6 months? A year? 2 years?

They were active for "decades," so at least 20 years, if not more, which would mean they got their start no later than 1911, and possibly some years before then.
IF Roosevelt sanctioned them while he was president, they would have been active at least by 1909...even if not, they could have been active for a period of time before Roosevelt supported them.
If they were formed around the time when the Martian Masters were first active on Earth, that could be 1901 (if it paralleled Earth-691's history) or perhaps even 1897.

It makes great sense to me that they formed following the initial conflict with the Martians Masters in 1897 or 1901, especially since Montgomery Falsworth considered their weapons similar to those of the "Martians," but then again, Montgomery had minimal experience with that level of technology..

OR maybe they formed even before that conflict with the Martian Masters.
We need more stories, preferably by continuity-respecting writers like Kurt Busiek, Mark Waid, Dan Abnett, Saladin Ahmed. etc.

    I would love to see further stories about the Men on the Wall with additional encounters the Confederates of the Curious and/or Freedom's Five or other heroes active in the early 20^th century.

    The monster in the Calcutta picture looks like it might be one of the Entari monsters...but not a perfect match. Wait for the Entari profile in the coming days, weeks, months, years, decades, centuries...and the judge for yourself.
    Stafford and McCord will also have profiles in the not-so-distant future...

    Two of the "Men" on the Wall were women...pretty progressive for the time!

Profile by Snood.

CLARIFICATIONS:
The Men on the Wall have no known connections to

MEN from S.H.A.D.O.W. - artificial replicas of General Sam Softly, used as agents of Ezekiel Stane--Order II#1, (identified) #4
MEN in BLACK - robots or Drones under the control of Maur-Konn--Shogun Warriors#9
MEN in BLACK - agents of Seth; human appearance with dark suits and glasses--Journey into Mystery I#503
men in black - creations/agents of the "Alchemist"--Pryde & Wisdom#1

and, I feel obligated by the three entries above to mention the movie Men in Black (and its sequel) featuring Will Smith and Tommy Lee Jones...hmmm...I wonder if that was an inspiration for the Men on the Wall...

MEN in the MOLE (Jan Court, Fred Mace, Art Townes) - discovered Subterranean society created by unidentified sorcerers--Journey into Unknown Worlds I#55/3
MEN of MACHUS - natives of Earth-Machus--Fantastic Four I#151

Mars-lost member

men_on_the_wall-1917-mars-transported-multiple (All-New Invaders#12 (fb)) <October, 1917> - As Freedom's Five (Crimson Cavalier, Phantom Eagle, Sir Steel, Union Jack; with Orson Randall sitting in for an injured Silver Squire) battled the multiple Martian Masters' tripods assaulting London and considered that they had not the means or men to overcome this threat, Eben Stafford led the Men on the Wall to join the fight. A blast from the top of a building blasted a chunk out of the saucer section of another of the massive tripods, after which several of the Men rushed forward with their energy blasters (Union Jack considered their technology akin to that of the Martian Invaders).

Working from the shadows and the rooftops, the Men on the Wall destroyed multiple Martian Masters; as they were active some distance from Freedom's Five, those heroes had no chance to question their mission or standing.

--All-New Invaders#12

Note: I wondered if this character was supposed to be some sort of homage to John Carter, Warlord of Mars, but I see that he was transported to Mars' distant past from America's Civil War in the latter 19th century...

     Or perhaps Gullivar Jones, similarly transported to Mars' distant past (see Gullivar's Appendix profile courtesy of Grendel Prime); however, he was transported from the Vietnam War, long after this story.

     However, I do see that John Carter's serialized adventures from 1912 were eventually collected in the Princess of Mars hardcover in 1917, so maybe it IS an homage to John Carter?

     James Robinson is British, and wrote the screenplay for the movie version of League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, so it could easily be a British literary character of the era. One that springs to mind, though he has zero connections to Mars and is probably not right, is Bulldog Drummond. From what I recall from reading the first of his novels (a few decades back now) Drummond is a thrillseeker who enjoys fighting, so that aspect at least would fit.
--Loki

     John Holstein pointed out that Aloysius Thorndrake, circa Secret Avengers#3 (July, 2010), was a Confederate veteran of America's Civil War who encountered a portal to Mars, and who was a clear homage/counterpart to John Carter.
    Agreed on that notation, but that doesn't mean the character in All-New Invaders#12 was not also intended to be an homage to John Carter, given that the date of the story matched the date of the publication of John Carter's collected serial in hardcover.
    Plus, it's over a decade since I read the Secret Avengers story, but I don't know that that portal to Mars accessed by Thorndrake sent him into the distant past. We also don't know if the Men on the Wall member traveled to the past or just to the relative present of 1917 A.D.

images: (without ads)
Original Sin Annual#1, pg. 9, panel 4 (group picture);
        pg. 10, panel 1 (Martian Masters tripod);
All-New Invaders#12, pg. 13, panel 4 (blast from rooftop dropping a tripod);
          panel 5 (Men on the streets with blasters);
       pg. 14, panel 1 (Man blasting Martian Masters);
          panel 4 (Stafford);
          panel 5-8 (Man leaping from church spire atop tripod and blasting its saucer section);
       pg. 15, panel 3 (tripod with Man vanishing)

Appearances:
Original Sin Annual#1 (December, 2014) - Jason Latour (writer), Enis Cisic (artist), Jake Thomas (assistant editor), Tom Brevoort & Wil Moss (editors)
All-New Invaders#12 (January, 2015) - James Robinson (writer), Barry Kitson & Marc Laming (flashback pencilers), P. Craig Russell (flashback inker), Emily Shaw (assistant editor), Mark Paniccia (editor)

First posted: 04/12/2023
Last updated: 04/23/2023

Any Additions/Corrections? please let me know.

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