Wallace (Sin City)

SinCityCharacter
character_name =Wallace


caption =
comic_color=background:#000
publisher = Dark Horse Comics
debut = "Hell and Back"
creators = Frank Miller
full_name = Unknown
affiliation = Esther
status = Alive
gender = Male
portrayer = None

Wallace is the protagonist of "Hell and Back", the longest of the "Sin City" yarns written by Frank Miller.

Wallace starts off as an ex-military civilian. He is a more upright, middle class citizen than Marv, Dwight McCarthy, or John Hartigan, none of whom he has any contact with.

A demobilized Navy SEAL who received the Medal of Honor, he lives a life of relative peace and solitude against the backdrop of crime-ridden Basin City. Having left the Navy years prior, he makes a living as an artist (usually for sleazy magazines, to his great disgust) and as a short order cook. His life changes drastically when he saves a suicidal woman named Esther from drowning. She is kidnapped and enslaved by the Colonel, one of Basin City's most powerful crime bosses, sending Wallace on a singleminded journey to rescue her and take down those responsible, no matter who gets in his way.

Appearance and Personality

In his late 30s or early 40s, Wallace appears to be around 5 foot 10 inches, to 6 foot tall. He has a lean, muscular build, long black hair, and stubble. His normal attire consists of a black T-shirt, black jeans, Converse All-Star shoes, and an ankle-length trench coat. His long hair and stubble earn him frequent taunts from the police.

Despite his first impression as a bum, Wallace is mostly good natured, coolheaded and self confident. Except for when he suffers panic attacks, which can lead to enraging him, he seeks to live out his life in peace. For a citizen of Basin City he is shockingly prudish, perfectly captured when he chose to tear up a nude portrait he created rather than allow it to be chosen over a more tasteful painting. He was caught by surprise when the assassin Delia (a.k.a. Blue Eyes) propositioned him in a sexual manner. His reply was "Ma'am, I hardly know you." It is implied that his childhood was spent growing up in New England.

Despite his sensitive and artistic nature, Wallace is a skilled fighter and a pinpoint marksman, opting to use a Beretta 92F pistol and a machete. When the situation calls for it he can become very persuasive, especially when holding a gun. Whenever under intense stress, he meditates. This helps him clear his mind and recall things that might have escaped him in the heat of the moment. Using this method, he is able to recall how he was first drugged by the Colonel's subordinates and what happened to Esther when she was taken by them. It also seemed to lessen the effects of a powerful hallucinogen injected into him when men working for the Colonel try to frame him. He mentions that he has been meditating for much of his life, referring to things having "gotten bad" during his childhood. He also mentions that his meditation saved his life during "the mission," alluding to the mission where he earned the Medal of Honor.

Character history

The main character of Hell and Back, Wallace is the only really virtuous character in Sin City. However as an ex Navy SEAL he does rank among the deadliest.

Hell and Back

All started while he was having a ride in a summer night. Earlier that day he had quit his job. He was working as a cover artist for a men's magazine. A jacket hit on his car's windscreen and took his attention to a black lady standing on the edge of a cliff, near the sea. The mysterious girl jumped and Wallace went after her. He managed to carry her out of the water but she wasn't breathing so he used his CPR knowledge.

He took the girl to Mrs. Mendoza, his landlady, who was a retired nurse, to take care of her. Mrs. Mendoza claimed that the mysterious girl is pretty and that Wallace should ask her number. He went to his apartment to do some work but he couldn't concentrate so he decided to train a little. Out of a sudden the girl walked in to thank him for saving her life and Wallace offered her a lift home. She put on some of his clothes and she suggested buying him a drink in a nearby bar.

There Wallace finds out that her name is Esther and that she is a not-so-successful actress. He also found out that she has been snooping around his stuff and that she found his medal of honor. She asked him to tell her what happened and Wallace gave her the short version. After he is finished, he asked her why she jumped but she didn’t answer. Instead they took a walk. They went outside and she kissed him.

Wallace opened his eyes to see that Esther was gone. A corrupted cop, one of those who worked for Stalin, was hitting him and yelling in his face. Wallace didn’t resist the arrest. He tried to stay focused and remember what had happened. He remembered that Esther was kidnapped. She resisted but this was all he could remember for the time. The cops shoved him, slapped him around and strip-searched him before they put him in a cell. They didn’t charge him with anything but it seems that they didn’t need a reason to keep him in for the night.

After they locked him in, Wallace escaped to his private place. This private place is a heavenly peaceful place in his mind where he is able to isolate all of his problems and find solutions. He used to visit this place every time things were bad, either it was at his young age or during the war. He imagined this private place to be set in New England. Sun, a September breeze, trees this is what he needed to clear his mind of everything else. As soon as he relaxed enough, he ordered himself to remember what happened earlier.

He realized that someone shot him, but not with a bullet, it was something that made him to paralyze. He was able to hear and see but unable to move. Two guys in doctors’ uniforms kidnapped Esther and he couldn’t move a muscle. Since he remembered, he sat still waiting for the tranquilizer, which they shot him with, to find his way out of his body.

In the morning policemen let him out and he dropped by his apartment to take a bath and put on some clean clothes. Then he made a plan how to find were Esther was. First he tried to find some witness. That didn’t work so he went to the police to report a missing. But he didn’t know that much of her, neither her last name nor her address, so he had to draw her picture. Lieutenant promised to do whatever he could and he said to him that he better stay out of the way but Wallace had already decided to find her with or without police help.

On his way home, Wallace was stopped by the same bribed cops who put him in jail in first place. They tried to take him down but Wallace kicked their asses and took their money. He went to Mrs. Mendoza to pay his rent and let her know he would be out of town for a while. It came out that Mrs. Mendoza took Esther business card, where Esther’s real name, phone number and address were mentioned. This card was manna from heaven for Wallace who decided that he had to take a lead. He headed to Esther’s apartment where he found Delia, who is also known as “Blue Eyes”, sleeping. She claimed that she was Esther’s roommate and she hit on him. Out of a sudden Manute came in and tried to kill him. Wallace broke his nose and through him out of the window. Delia got a turn on, took her clothes of and sat near the window. Wallace, who is aware that in a conspiracy the enemy rarely strikes alone, asks her to get away from there. He wasn’t able to finish his sentence when a sniper shot at them. Wallace ordered Delia to stay low, to dress and put on running shoes, shot the sniper and the sniper died. When they left the building a Mercedes was after them. Wallace shot at the car’s tires and the car turned upside down. To speak the hole truth, he felt bad for the car.

Since his car was bullet-riddled cop bait and identified from the enemy, he needed another one. So he went to find his former captain. He also borrowed a pair of handcuffs. Delia was exhausted so they rented a room in a hotel. Wallace asked her to take of her clothes, lie in bed and close her eyes. She did as said and Wallace handcuffed her to bed. Delia was surprised in a good way but he just left her there and started looking into her things. She told her that he knew all along that she was not Esther’s roommate but forgetting his own advice, he got too close to the window and someone shot him.

When he opened his eyes he realized that there were someone called Gordo, who was carrying him, Delia, who was giving the orders, and another girl, Maxine, who is the one who dragged him. They put him in a car, with the corpse of a young girl in the trunk, they gave him one more dose of a tranquilizer cocktail and pushed him over the edge. The tranquilizer started to affect him and Wallace was hallucinating. He was seeing all short of things. Little cupids, dinosaurs, Captain American, Rocky, etc. He managed to get of the car before it exploded and he had to face the bribed policemen that insisted on making his life a living hell. This is where his former captain came to rescue him. He told him that the enemy had established a perimeter of snipers and that was the reason that it took him that long to reach Wallace. He also told him that he left one alive enough to point them in the right direction. After they learned that Delia, Maxine and Gordo were driving a Humvee and were heading to an old factory complex, they both went after them. They stopped for gas so Wallace and captain sized the moment and attacked. Wallace killed Gordo with a head shot but captain had already been hit. Wallace pointed his gun on Maxine, ordered her to fix his mind and so she did. He blew Maxine’s brains out and shot Delia to her guts. He couldn’t see her suffer so she shot her again. By the time he reached captain, he was dead. Wallace took his body to Jerry, captain’s boyfriend. They burned captain’s body and Jerry promised to take care of Wallace. Wallace was still under the effect of the drugs but as soon as his stomach settled down, he had a bath and got ready for war.

Wallace went to the old factory complex were he found out that this is where the babies, women and live organs black market was taking place. He snooped around and saw the nursery with the babies, the cages with the women and the morgue with the corpses, who had their organs surgically removed. He also found out a room were porn movies were filmed. He almost got killed, if it wasn’t for his quick reflexes. He went to Lieutenant’s Liebowitz house to tell him what he came along, found out what Lieutenant knew and how deep he was. While they were talking all this out, the phone rang. It was for Wallace. The enemy now was offering a deal. Esther’s life in exchange of them keeping this operation running. A devil’s bargain. Wallace accepted. The pick up is set at an old farm, a spooky place that a lot of bad things had happened. They had told him that he will find her in the barn. Wallace opened the door and Esther was in there naked. He put on her his coat and they went out. But it was a trap and there was a helicopter which tried to shot them. Wallace wasn’t unprepared as well. Jerry was covering his back and when the helicopter turned to Wallace and Esther, Jerry shot it down with a bazooka.

Wallace and Jerry took Esther to the hospital. The nurse told Wallace that she would be ok in a few days and that whoever did this to her, it was a professional work. Wallace asked Jerry if he could count him in on rescuing all those people in the cages and Jerry accepted. Then, in their surprise, dozen wounded people were found and brought in the hospital after a massive police operation. Wallace realized that this has to do with Liebowitz. After some days, he took Esther and moved to another place, away from corrupted cops and all this. They lived together, happily ever after. So far.

Traits

*Talented artist.
*Suffers from panic attacks which cause him to be violent.
*Skilled in both armed and unarmed combat.
*Usually resorts to fighting only when provoked, usually giving fair warning to the aggressor beforehand to back off (there have been exceptions, like his assault on Wallenquist's fortress).
*Drives a Buick LeSabre convertible.
*(Understandably) dislikes the police, comparing them to the same people that worked for Stalin (the KGB).
*Still in touch with two of his former comrades, 'Captain' and his life partner Jerry.
*Notices the smell of cigarette smoke quite easily.
*Often uses Beretta 92F pistols or, when acting in stealth, a machete.
*Worked as a short-order cook for a while.
*Very warm-hearted, selfless and patient.
*Very respectful toward the opposite sex referring to women as "Ma'am" regardless of age or status. He does not, however share Marv's aversion to hurting women, as shown by his lethal actions toward female opponents in the story "To Hell and back".

Film appearance

Wallace is set to appear in "Sin City 2"fact|date=April 2008 and/or "Sin City 3", to be directed by Robert Rodriguez and Frank Miller. Rodriguez has said he wants Johnny Depp to play the part. Depp was originally supposed to play the part of Benicio del Toro's Jack "Jackie Boy" Rafferty.fact|date=April 2008 However, filming of "Sin City" conflicted with that of Depp's movies. Depp has expressed great interest in being a part of the "Sin City" franchise [http://www.mtv.com/movies/news/articles/1555630/20070326/story.jhtml]