Puck (person)

The world of super heroes is full of people whose powers help them overcome physical handicaps. Daredevil swings above the Manhattan skyline despite being blind. Professor X or the Chief from the Doom Patrol fight evil despite being confined to wheelchairs. Sillouette from the New Warriors battled crime despite needing leg braces and crutches. Jericho of the Teen Titans was mute. And the list goes on. So in 1987, John Byrne provided comicdom with its first hero with dwarfism: Puck. Though comics had been filled for years with people of short stature (the golden age Atom or who could shrink themselves (the silver age Atom, Ant-Man or the Wasp), there had never been a hero who was actually a dwarf.

Born Eugene Milton Judd in Sakatoon, Saskatchewan, Puck traveled the world from an early age, seeing exotic locals and having exciting adventures. The young Judd was not born a dwarf it was revealed years later, but was actually a normal sized man. He traveled through India and fought bulls in Spain. He met and had an adventure with a man named Logan who would later become the mutant hero Wolverine, while he was still relatively young.

While on one of his adventures, Judd encountered a being of great evil, known as the Black Razaar. Black Razaar was a mystic being who possessed strange powers and wielded a black sword that caused its victims to lose six inches in height when they were struck with it. Judd realizing that he could not allow Razaar to roam free, sacrificed himself to create a prison for the magical villain. In the process, Judd lost enough height that to the world he appeared to be a dwarf.

For years, Judd adjusted to his new height and learned to use it to his advantage. Judd learded to perform acrobatic moves and to become a fierce opponent despite his diminutive stature. During a fight in a bar, Judd killed a man and was sent to prison for the crime. It was while in prison that Judd met James Hudson, a scientist who was organizing a superhuman team for the Canadian government. Hudson recognized Judd's abilities and got him paroled with the agreement that Judd would never kill again.

Judd trained with the second level team that Hudson had organized called Beta Flight, but during an attack by one of the Great Beasts of the North, Judd (who had adopted the name Puck) was called upon to help defend his homeland with Canada's premiere heroes Alpha Flight. Puck became an active member of the group and was part of a number of their adventures, despite not having any real super powers.

After the apparent death of James Hudson, Judd became romantically involved with Hudson's wife Heather who was the defacto leader of Alpha Flight. During this time, Black Razaar was set free and Judd regained his normal height, but also aged rapidly because his age had been retarded due to acting as Razaar's prison. After defeating Razaar, Judd retired for a time from Alpha Flight and returned to a normal life.

But Alpha Flight and its enemies did not allow Judd to retire for long. Mystic villains like the Dreamqueen and Llan the Sorcerer used Judd as a pawn against his former teammates. Judd was taken to other dimensions and tortured, eventually losing his sanity. He regained it for a time, was rescued by Alpha Flight and returned to Earth. Later, he lost his mind again and was captured by the Master, one of Alpha Flight's enemies and transformed into a mis-shapen giant.

Alpha Flight rescued Puck and was able to restore him, but at the cost of his natural height. Judd did gain incredible strength and the ability to have his skin act like rubber, making him more like his namesake, a hockey puck. Puck continues to this day as a member of Alpha Flight.