WING-MEN
Classification: Winged humanoid extraterrestrial race
Location/Base of Operations: Mars (circa 1 billion years ago)
Known Members: Chak
(mutant), Gret
Affiliations: Gullivar
Jones
Enemies: Heru,
Lizardmen (Ar-Hap, Jen-In,
others)
First Appearance: Creatures on the Loose I#16/1 (March, 1972)
Powers/Abilities: Wing-Men are powerful flyers
with normal flight speed using feathered wings extending from their
rear shoulders. In flight, they are strong enough to carry a person
aloft, although two are used to help speed the carriage of one captive.
Wing-Men usually fly high enough out of range of basic projectile
weapons from land-based races. Being a militant and collective race,
their usual strategy is to attack in groups, descending quickly with
weapons drawn. Male Wing-Men have peak human strength and have been
well-trained in combat, especially in bladed weapons, notably swords.
They appear to have sharpened eyesight, able to pick out targets from
further away than normal human vision. Wing-Men appear to be
susceptible
to loud high-pitch sounds, which disorients them and causes pain. While
Wing-Women (sometimes referred to as Wingmaidens) have hair, it is
unrevealed if males are naturally bald.
Traits: Wing-Men society is strongly
patriarchal, militant, aggressive and focused on appearance for an
arrogant belief in racial superiority and purity. Wing-Men are taught
battle techniques including the use of various weaponry, such as swords
(favored)
and spears. They are a collective species, living in large groups that
ultimately reinforce their racial ideology, but also supports each
other socially. Separation from a Wing-Man collective undermines an
individual's confidence and they become easily susceptible to
domination, including as slaves.
Type: Winged humanoid
Eyes: Two (on head)
Fingers: Five (including opposing thumb)
Toes: Unrevealed
Skin color: Gray
Average height: 7' (including fin at top of head)
History:
(Creatures on the Loose I#18/1 (fb)) - Over a billion years ago on Mars existed The Golden -- an advanced human-like race with golden-hued skin. But cataclysms struck, devastating civilization over decades amidst a vastly changed landscape. Little scientific knowledge remained and superstition was rife. Migration away from irradiated cities into a hostile world led to eight new tribes that, over thousands of generations, evolved into new humanoid forms, such as the bestial Noltoi, the brutal warrior-like and tailed red-skinned Lizardmen, the beaked and winged gray-skinned Wing-Men, while the Golden became the superstitious and poor Hither People; each population had different laws and customs. Any mutations within a race were scorned. Originating from the Golden, the small Technics Guild rose and guarded scientific knowledge, morphing it into their protected religion.
(Monsters Unleashed I#8/5 (fb) - BTS) - Noting
radiation's effects on the
living and its resulting mutations, the Technics Guild conducted
genetic experiments, manufacturing hybrid
creatures to find the perfect species to survive in
the deteriorating environment and incorporated cybernetics.
(Creatures on the Loose I#18/1 (fb) - BTS) - Mutual
deities were worshiped across several races, including the giant
monster Phra.
(Creatures on the Loose I#16/1 (fb) - BTS) - Corpses of the revered dead were sent down the River of the Dead to be frozen in the polar region.
(Creatures on the
Loose I#19 (fb)
- BTS) - Chak was
born a mutant Martian Wing-Man; while he had the same skin hue and
wings
as his fellows, he had a human face instead of the usual beak and horn.
He was mocked and took to wearing a full helmet to imitate his fellow
Wing-Men
and hide his human features. But his people still made him an outcast.
(Creatures on the Loose I#19/1 (fb) - BTS) - At some point, the Wing-Men and Lizardmen entered into a peace treaty, but each race still disliked the other. The Lizardmen held "Wingmaidens" as hostages to ensure peace.
(Creatures on the Loose I#16/1) - The Lizardman warlord Ar-Hap demanded Hither People princess Heru as his tribute wife, but she was saved by the time-lost heroic Earthman Gullivar Jones. Ar-Hap later sent two Wing-Men minions to retrieve Heru, now in love with Jones, who tried to fight the Wing-Men off, but fell onto a funerary barge.
(Creatures on the Loose I#17/1) - Chak was trussed up as a sacrifice next to the time-lost heroic Earthman Gullivar Jones and taken by Phra to its lair.
(Creatures on the Loose I#18/1) - While Phra slumbered, Chak and Jones found a video database that summarized the ancient Martian history of lost technology and the evolution into new races in a ravaged landscape. Chak and Jones escaped.
(Creatures on the Loose I#19/1) - Chak and Jones clambered amongst ice-bound Martian corpses, which included Wing-Men. Elsewhere, Heru was carried by a group of Wing-Men to Ar-Hap's Lizardmen encampment. A Wing-Woman held hostage was exchanged for Heru and the Wing-Men flew away, dropping insults.
(Creatures on the Loose I#20/1) - A roving group of
five Wing-Men led by Gret came across Chak and Jones. The outnumbered
duo were defeated. Knowing that Ar-Hap sought the pair, the
Wing-Men carried them to the Lizardmen's camp to seek more hostage
releases. The group then left.
(Creatures on the Loose I#21/1)
- Jones and Chak
escaped and rescued Heru, causing much chaos and destruction in the
process. Enraged, Ar-Hap ordered a Wing-Man slave to fly and call in
his people for aid. Many of Ar-Hap's Lizardmen fell against Jones'
enhanced strength, but when Wing-Men arrived, centuries of racial
hatred erupted, and the Wing-Men and Lizardmen fought fiercely,
ignoring
Jones, until the Wing-Men triumphed. The Wing-Men's battle leader
pledged friendship to Jones but still rejected Chak.
(Monsters Unleashed I#4/5) - Jones, Chak and Heru set off to Seth to find information on returning Jones to Earth.
(Monsters Unleashed I#8/5) - Finding Seth occupied by the Technics Guild, the threesome challenged the Guild but the defenses kicked in, first with piercing sound that disoriented Chak, followed by hybrids combining wings and humanoid characteristics from Wing-Men, and the viciousness, armor and eyes of slugs from the River of the Dead. Chak fought hard because of his banishment from his people. Eventually, Chak, Heru and Jones overpowered and left the unhelpful and selfish Technics Guild behind.
Comments: Created by Roy Thomas, Gil Kane, Bill Everett.
Wing-Men were initially drawn with dragon-like wings
in their first appearance (see also the evolutionary tree), but this
very quickly changed to feathered wings. Interestingly, Wing-Men are
shown as having their evolutionary link with an amphibian-like race.
In Creatures on the Loose I#19/1, a Lizardman refers
to
them as "Wingfolk." They were also sometimes spelled later without a
hyphen.
Gullivar Jones first appeared in Edwin L. Arnold's 1905 novel "Lieut. Gullivar Jones: His Vacation", which was adapted and modernized by Marvel when it sought more sci-fi/fantasy properties in the early 1970s. Note that Gullivar Jones predates a similar character, John Carter (created by Edgar Rice Burroughs and published around 1912), also an Earthman stranded on Mars. From what I can tell, Wing-Men are Marvel creations, although their winged nature in a retro scifi setting harks back to the alien Hawkmen of Flash Gordon comic strips (and introduced 1934, albeit with artificial wings and no natural beaks).
Profile by Grendel Prime.
CLARIFICATIONS:
Wing-Men have no known connections to:
Gret was the aggressive leader of a scout group of five Wing-Men that chanced across Gullivar Jones and Chak. The Wing-Men's greater number gave them the advantage and they overpowered the pair. Knowing that the Ar-Hap of the Lizardmen sought Jones and Chak, Gret's group carried Jones and Chak to the Lizardmen's camp for the exchange of Wing-Man hostages. Gret likely took part in the later major battle against Ar-Hap and the Lizardmen (but this is unconfirmed).
Gret is armed with a sword and long knife, and
is an excellent combatant.
--Creatures on the Loose I#20/1
images: (without ads)
Creatures on the Loose I#20/1, p8, pan5 (main image)
Creatures on the Loose I#21/1, p9, pan5 (head, side view)
Creatures on the Loose I#18/1, p6, pan6 (ancient Martian evolutionary
tree, tags added)
Creatures on the Loose I#19/1, p3, pan3 (attacking Wing-Man mutant)
Creatures on the Loose I#19/1, p5, pan6 (Wing-Woman)
Creatures on the Loose I#20/1, p8, pan4 (Wing-Men flying, rear view)
Creatures on the Loose I#20/1, p9, pan2 (Gret)
Appearances:
Creatures on the Loose I#16/1 (March, 1972) - Roy Thomas (writer), Gil
Kane (pencils), Bill Everett (inks), Stan Lee (editor)
Creatures on the Loose I#17/1 (May, 1972) - Roy Thomas (writer), Gil
Kane (pencils),
Sam Grainger (inks), Stan Lee (editor)
Creatures on the Loose I#18/1 (July, 1972) - George Alec Effinger &
Gerry Conway (writers), Ross Andru (pencils), Sam Grainger (inks), Stan
Lee (editor)
Creatures on the Loose I#19/1 (September, 1972) - George Alec Effinger
(writer), Wayne Boring & Gil Kane (pencils), Jim Mooney (inks), Roy
Thomas (editor)
Creatures on the Loose I#20/1 (November, 1972) - George Alec Effinger
(writer), Gray Morrow (pencils/inks), Roy Thomas (editor)
Creatures on the Loose I#21/1 (January, 1973) - George Alec Effinger
(writer), Gray Morrow (pencils/inks), Roy Thomas (editor)
Monsters Unleashed I#4/5 (February, 1974) - Tony Isabella (writer),
Dave Cockrum (pencils/inks), Roy Thomas (editor)
Monsters Unleashed I#8/5 (October 1974) - Tony Isabella & Doug
Moench (writers), George Perez (pencils), Duffy Vohland & Rich
Buckler (inks), Tony Isabella (editor)
First Posted: 03/02/2023
Last updated: 03/02/2023
Any Additions/Corrections? please let me know.
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