PUCK
Real Name: Eugene Milton Judd
Group Affiliation: Alpha Flight, former member of Beta Flight
First Appearance: Alpha Flight #1
Creator: John Byrne

      Eugene Milton Judd was born about the turn of the century (i.e. early twentieth century.) As a soldier of fortune, he did many things... until the day he was commisioned to steal the Black Blade of Baghdad. The Blade was a prison for an ancient sorcerer called Raazer, and Judd accidentally freed him. Judd managed to trap the sorcerer once again, using the light from his life force and a few tricks learned from eastern mystics. By the time he was done the Black Blade's magic had shrunk him down to about 3' in height.
      Raazer's presence in his body rendered Puck immortal, although in near-constant pain. Through the years he free-lanced for a number of intelligence agencies, encountering the likes of Wolverine and Natasha Romanova, the Black Widow. At one point Judd was working for Hull House , an orphanage in Orloo, Ontario. He also moonlighted as a construction worker on a Ministry of Defence project. That project eventually went sour and Judd ended up helping James Hudson deal with the results. At the time, Judd showed a reluctance to be brought to the attention of the Ministry of Defence for an official "thank-you." It can be speculated that Judd was attempting to maintain a low profile. [It can be easily inferred from the scenes in AF #-1 that Judd was working construction "off the books." -C]
      Shortly after that event Judd was thrown into jail for some kind of crime. [I believe that what he was arrested for was connected to the reason Judd was "hiding out" at Hull House. -C] This is where James Hudson found him once again. Hudson arranged for Judd's parole into Beta Flight in exchange for Judd's promise to never kill again. [A vow Judd has broken only once, to kill Deadly Ernest. -C] Once in Beta Judd adopted the code name Puck. [The name is taken from both hockey and Shakespeare. -C]
      [Compiler's notes: Time for some more speculation. Odds are that James Hudson got access to Judd's dossier after Judd was found in prison. It is also likely that Hudson was sufficiently impressed by Judd's heroics in Orloo to induct him into the super-powers program. This despite the fact that Judd had no super-powers at that point. None of the above has been stated as fact in the comics though... it's just my opinion.]
      At the time of Department H's first shutdown, Judd was about to be promoted to Alpha Flight along with his team-mate, Marrina. Hence, Puck was among those called by Heather Hudson to help her husband battle Tundra. Although Puck received the call beacon, he missed the fight. [This was due to a military base guard who didn't recognize him as part of Alpha Flight. -C] After the fight he made his way to the Hudsons' Ottawa apartment, where he was instrumental in having the team keep the "Alpha Flight" name.
      Judd served Alpha Flight with distinction during the early days of the team's free agency. He demonstrated a keen deductive mind, and tremendous skill. It was Judd, along with the man called Logan, who convinced Heather Hudson to reform Alpha Flight after the seeming death of her husband. Judd also fell in love with Heather during this period, and continues to have deep feelings for her to this day.
      Eventually Raazer was released from Puck's body permanently when Judd came in contact with the Firefountain of Svartalfheim. Reverting to old age, Judd was transported to Tibet by Loki, who was trying to win the favour of They Who Sit Above in Shadow. Once in Tibet, Judd decided to try and find adventure on other planes of existence. To do so he sought out the High Lama of a particular Buddhist temple, a reknowned mystic. However, he did so as the Chinese military was attacking the temple. In the confusion the Lama offered Judd a choice: go to other dimensions, or save his friends, who were trapped in the dimension of the Dreamqueen. Judd chose his friends, and was instrumental in the Dreamqueen's defeat.
      However, Judd was captured by the 'Queen. She used her abilities to make him young once again and tortured him extensively. Then she abandoned him and attacked the Earth once more. She did not return. Judd remained stranded until Alpha passed through on their way home; the being known as Llan the Sorcerer had trapped them in another dimension. Puck accompanied his friends back to Earth.
      Once there, however, Judd began experiencing the effects of the Dreamqueen's torture. [Puck had made himself well by mentally influencing the other dimension. That cure wore off on Earth. -C] While in the hospital, he was kidnapped by agents of the Master and used as a guinea pig for the Master's genetic experiments. Using the Master's equipment Walter Langkowski was able to reverse most of the damage, but the result was that Puck was once again 3' tall. However he was young, and super-humanly strong and tough. (The experiment made him short again, but with extremely dense flesh.) From that time until the team's disbanding, Eugene Milton Judd served Alpha Flight very capably. On occasion he served as the team's trouble-shooter and espionage expert. After Alpha disbanded Judd apparently returned to the intelligence community for a while.
      Judd returned to Department H under circumstances that were less than ideal. After receiving a mysterious phone message concerning James Hudson, Judd decided to discuss the matter with Heather. While talking at a local coffee shop the two were attacked by Epsilon Flight troopers, knocked unconscious and kidnapped.
      Awakening at Department H, Judd was convinced to rejoin Alpha Flight. Although he attempted to quit the team after its first adventure, the Department changed his mind using brainwashing techniques.
      After serving a couple of missions with the new Alpha Flight, Judd took on a solo mission to find the escaped Sasquatch. During the mission he discovered that the creature was NOT, as originally thought, Walter Langkowski. Following the mission Judd's memory was scrubbed for the second time.
      It was Judd who first became aware of the dark agendas within Department H, with help from an insider who slipped him classified information. Why the insider chose Judd is unknown, but it was likely due to Judd's past in the intelligence community. Despite his knowledge of what H had done to further its agendas, Judd decided to stay with the team in order to see if the problems could be fixed.
      Eugene Judd remains with Alpha Flight at the current time. At the end of Alpha Flight v2 it was revealed that Heather Hudson had agreed to go on a date with him. However, in Wolverine #142 Heather mentioned that things did not work out relationship-wise and the two are still friends.
      Puck's flesh has the density of rubber, rendering him super-humanly strong and tough. On top of that, he is an expert in espionage and languages and has experience with some minor mystic rituals. He is also one of the best hand-to-hand combattants in Alpha Flight.
      [Compiler's notes: The status of Puck's superhuman powers is currently in doubt. Both Simon Furman & Steve Seagle (the last two writers of AF) were quite vague on Puck's capabilities. However, there have been a number of times that Judd has been hurt when an invulnerable person should not have been. If any comics professionals wish to address this, I've come up with an explanation that I'll sign away free of charge.]