Wallace is the protagonist of Hell and Back, the longest of the Sin City yarns written by Frank Miller.
He is a more upright, middle class citizen than Marv or Dwight McCarthy, but also not an epitome of righteousness like 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.
She is kidnapped and enslaved by the Colonel, one of Basin City's most powerful crime bosses, sending Wallace on a single-minded journey to rescue her and take down those responsible, no matter who gets in his way.
For a citizen of Basin City he is quite prudish, as when he chose to tear up a nude portrait he created rather than allow it to be chosen over a more tasteful painting.
Most of the time Wallace is self-assured, self-confident and cool-headed, remaining so even in mortal peril, implying extensive combat training and experience.
Wallace, a former Navy SEAL, broke artist and occasional short-order cook, loses his job as a pornography painter after ripping apart his sleazy contract work in front of the publisher.
Since his car is bullet-riddled and easily identifiable, Wallace visits his former Navy SEAL captain and his male lover Jerry at a nearby farm.
When Wallace returns to consciousness, he is put in a car by Delia's henchman Gordo and is drugged by the pharmacologist Maxine.
Inside the trunk of the car is the body of a young girl, to insinuate Wallace being a child killer who drove over a cliff while intoxicated.
The heavily hallucinating Wallace and his captain torture one of the surviving perimeter snipers to discern Esther's location, which is at an old factory complex.
The captain is killed, but Wallace manages to force Maxine to administer an antidote for his hallucinations before he accidentally shoots her.
Wallace goes to the old factory complex where he finds a black market operation which trafficks babies, women, and live organs.
While they are talking, the phone rings and Wallace is offered Esther's life in exchange for him letting the black market operation continue.
Wallace is also lethal and dreadful enough to make his opponents give up any idea of vengeance against him at the end of the story, which is very unusual in Basin City.
Depp was originally supposed to play the part of Benicio del Toro's Jack "Jackie Boy" Rafferty.