Enemies: Entari (notably Dreel and various unidentified commandos), Entari monsters, Martian Masters, Teraphin Mox; unidentified tentacled (presumptive) alien; aliens in general

Known Relatives: None

Aliases: The Man on the Wall

Base of Operations: Unrevealed;
    formerly a mountain base (presumably the Rocky Mountains (see comments))

First Appearance: Original Sin Annual#1 (December, 2014);
    (first name revealed) All-New Invaders#12 (January, 2015)

Powers/Abilities: Eben Stafford was an experienced warrior, able to physically brawl with large, powerful, and armored aliens.

    His large size grants him substantial strength, and he is willing and able to strike to kill, including fatally stomping on an aliens' skull.

    He will continue to fight despite lacerations to his torso and even having a whole blown through his abdomen. He may have had some alien regenerative serum or technology to allow him to recover from such trauma.

    He carried a number of blaster weapons, including a large rifle-type and a smaller pistol-type. The former was apparently powerful enough to slay an immense Entari monster. He was also experienced with bladed weapons.

    He flew a spaceship, presumably with some sort of warp-drive capacity, able to fly to various interstellar spaceports, etc.

    Apparently not fearing death, Stafford had a pathological hatred for aliens.

History:

(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) - The Men on the Wall 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.

(All-New Invaders#12 (fb)) <October, 1917> - As Freedom's Five (Crimson Cavalier, Phantom Eagle, Sir Steel, and 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 neither the means nor 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.

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

    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, meaning he stopped being a reactive defender and started being a proactive attacker.

(Original Sin Annual#1 (fb) - BTS) - Stafford made a name for himself as a mysterious presence protecting Earth and killing those who would threaten it. Apparently none who saw his face lived to tell others.

    At some point, Stafford established a base within some mountains (see comments).

.

(Original Sin Annual#1 (fb)) <June 7, 1936> - 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 in his journal 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. (Original Sin Annual#1 (fb) - BTS) - Stafford apparently battled and slew some tentacled creature (presumably an alien). (Original Sin Annual#1 (fb)) - Stafford returned to his base with a -- presumably severed -- tentacle wrapped around his right arm.      Stafford allowed the tentacle to drop to the ground and kept on walking.

.

.

Pleased that the Entari had found him, just as he had intended, Stafford subsequently had Woody -- for his first mission -- accompany him in his rocket ship to travel to some space station, apparently a den of hustlers, thieves, and killers.      Stafford spent much of the flight in the captain's chair with his shirt off and bandages around his abdomen (where the Entari had slashed him).      As McCord apparently used shadow-cloaking technology taken from the Entari and hung out by the door, Stafford entered some tavern in the space station and confronted Teraphin Mox, grabbing him by the neck and telling him he had broken the rules by running his filthy mouth.      Flanked by a pair of commandos, Dreel then confronted Stafford, mocking his seeming surprise at having been betrayed by a(n) habitual betrayer like Mox. Dreel further taunted Stafford, noting her pleasure in catching up to the only one of his group to evade her, as well as noting rumors she had never believed about his having died and haunted the spaceways. Having casually laid her weapon on a table as she took a shot of liquor (or whatever), Dreel then blasted a hole with that weapon, blasting a hole through his abdomen.     Dreel mocked her fallen foe, noting that his "pathetic human need for a witness has seen him undone" and that his "lust for vengeance has led you to stumble right into my arms."      Replying "I suppose I did," Stafford tilted his head as McCord emerged from the shadows, blasting and slaying the two Entari Commandos.     As McCord dodged Dreel's blasts, Stafford lunged forward and impaled her with his blade.

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'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.

• 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.
  

    The monster in the Calcutta picture from 1913 (the top image in the Men on the Wall profile) looks like it might be one of the Entari monsters...but not a perfect match.

    The positioning of the instruments in the image of the Entari in some phase of dissection really makes it look like Stafford cut off his genitalia. Maybe just a little bit higher, about the level of the top of the pelvis.

    Thanks to Donald Campbell for pointing out that McCord was apparently using the Entari shadow-cloaking technology before confronting Dreel. I thought he was just hiding outside the door, but he references "cloaked in shadow" when referrring to the Entari ambush as well as when he confronted Dreel.

    I detailed the events/actions of the issues, but here's some clarification on a few points that were strongly implied but not outright stated (at least this was my understanding):

• Stafford sought a confrontation with Dreel, which is why he pumped Mox for information, knowing Mox would tell Dreel, and then when he knew the Entari were nearby, he met with Mox, knowing Dreel would be there to ambush him…the confrontation he sought.
• Stafford also didn’t cover up his activities, letting civilians see his rocket taking off, and he didn’t stop McCord from going into town and blabbing about things while drunk, which is what led the Entari to Stafford’s base, which gave Stafford a reason to seek out Mox.

Profile by Snood.

CLARIFICATIONS:
Eben Stafford should be distinguished from:

• other "Eben" or "Stafford" characters, groups, items, events, races, or places...
  

McCord did a lot of cleaning of Stafford's base, including his library, which had pictures of the exploits of the Men on the Wall, and a laboratory in which aliens and/or pieces of aliens were stored in preservative fluid tanks. --Original Sin Annual#1 Note: For some reason, presumably because Stafford first showed up in Boones Creek, which presumably matches the real world neighborhood in Tennessee, I got it into my head that Stafford's base was in the Smokey Mountains, rather than the Rocky Mountains, where McCord's base was shown to be 1958 in Original Sin#5.      While it may make some sense for McCord to have relocated his base as the Entari located Stafford's base in 1943...in re-reviewing the story for various profiles, I find nothing to indicate the location of Stafford's base. So, I think it is most logical to ASSume the bases are the same until/unless something else says differently.      The base really deserves its own profile at some point, but I just wanted to picture a few significant locations here for now.

Stafford flew a spaceship (approximately 40-50' from engine/stands to its top/front tip.     It was apparently a VTOL (Vertical Take Off and Landing ) craft.      It appeared to have three rocket engines, which also what the rocket stood/rested upon when docked.inactive.      It's fuel source is unrevealed, but Stafford seemed to have no problem acquiring fuel for regular flights into deep space.      Stafford's base appeared to have some sort of iris-type opening section above where the ship was docked, allowing entry and subsequent closure (which could almost certainly be activated remotely to allow closure after flying out and opening before returning to base).      The ship presumably had some sort of warp-drive capacity, able to fly to various interstellar spaceports, etc.      It also presumably had a means of docking on various spaceports where there may or may not have been room for a vertical landing. (Original Sin Annual#1 (fb)) <June 7, 1936> - The ship was docked in Stafford's base while McCord cleaned. (Original Sin Annual#1 (fb) - BTS) - By October, 1943, McCord was making regular spaceflights with little to no effort to prevent locals from seeing his ship. (Original Sin Annual#1 (fb)) - Having taken off only hours before, Stafford returned to his base in time to help McCord finish off a pair of Entari who had come to kill Stafford.      Stafford flew McCord and himself to some spaceport to confront Mox (and Dreel and the Entari) (Original Sin Annual#1 (fb) - BTS) - With Stafford having passed his mission of being the Man on the Wall on to him, McCord flew the ship back to what was now his base.      McCord almost certainly used the ship on numerous occasions until his death in 1958. (Original Sin#5 (fb) / Original Sin Annual#1 (fb)) - The ship was within the Rocky Mountain base when Howard Stark brought Nick Fury there following McCord's death, ultimately convincing Fury to succeed McCord as the Man on the Wall. --Original Sin Annual#1 Note: The specifications for the ship are not detailed, but if the ship did not have some sort of faster-than-light capacity, he would not have been able to interact with anyone outside of Earth's solar system, as the nearest star to Earth's solar system, Proxima Centauri, is over 4 light years away.      As McCord is talking to his would-be girlfriend Hana in Sam's Diner's parking lot, a ship is seen flying behind his head. That ship is presumably either the Entari flying to Stafford's base or Stafford's ship returning. The rocket-exhaust pattern and shape of the tiny ship is a little different, so one might think it was the Entari ship, but I think exhaust and everything would look different while delerating close to a landing.      On that same topic, while McCord had been drinking from a bottle of whiskey and was engrossed with Hana, he could easily have missed something flying outside of his field of view. I would think that the sonic booms occuring as the ships entered the atmosphere and decelerated would have been much harder to miss, but perhaps they had the means to silence those booms...      The ship really deserves its own profile at some point, but I was just covering it for Stafford as part of this profile, at least for now.

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: 04/23/2023
Last updated: 04/30/2023

Any Additions/Corrections? please let me know.

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