- Names: Arthur Maddicks and Leech
- Code Names: Artie and Leech
- First Appearance: X-Factor #2 (Mar ’86) and Uncanny X-Men #179 (Mar ’84)
- Powers: Thought projection and Power negation
- Teams Affiliation: Morlocks, X-Factor, X-Terminators, Generation X, Future Foundation
About
There is something pure about a friendship between young kids. The unconditional decision that “we’re friends now” is a joy to see. So much of adult friendship is based on schedules, compromises, planned excursions that it is good to be reminded about how simple it used to be. There are powerful friendships in X-Men, Kurt and Logan, Kitty and Rachel, Bobby and Hank, but more than all of those, is the unadulterated goodness of Artie and Leech.
Portrayed by Connor Stanhope and Cameron Bright
Artie was a regular kid until his eleventh birthday. His mutant ability kicked in, turning his skin pink and lumpy and removing his ability to speak. He could psionically project manifestations of his thoughts but his communication skills were limited. His father, a scientist, tried experiments to cure his son and captured Beast to that end. X-Factor soon came to their friend’s rescue and a battle broke out. Knowing that Artie would be in the crossfire, Dr. Maddicks pleaded for X-Factor to take his boy to safety, sacrificing himself for his son.
Artie enjoyed his time with X-Factor and started looking up to Rusty, one of the older students. When they went to the Morlock Tunnels to assist in during the Mutant Massacre, Artie got lost and ran into Caliban and his new best friend Leech. Leech was a Morlock with green skin, a big head, and a grasp on sentence structure that could only come from growing up in the literal sewers. The trio was cornered by Sabretooth and Caliban was injured. Artie decided to be a hero and searched for X-Factor, only to find the god of Thunder instead. Thor helped the group make their way to X-Factor’s base and Leech didn’t forget Artie’s courage.
Art by Walter Simonson, Bob Wiacek, and Petra Scotese
Artie and Leech became fast friends. All the other kids in X-Factor were older, they were worried about girls, and boys, and the future, and all sorts of things. Artie and Leech? They were just worried about playing. Sure they got caught up in adventures, but they were happier delivering Christmas presents to misfortunate children and messing around with the rest of the cast. X-Factor finally realized that eleven-year-old boys should probably be in a real school and sent them to St. Simons boarding school. The school quickly realized how close the boys were and declared that Artie and Leech were never to be separated.
Art by Jon Bogdanove, Al Williamson, and John Wellington
At the school, they met a young boy named Taki. He was wheelchair bound and had a learning disability, combining that with the death of his parents turned Taki into a bitter boy. Artie and Leech, being the best kids, tried to reach out to him but Leech’s power negation field interfered with Taki’s electronics and Taki was not polite about it. Artie would not tolerate his best friend being treated like that and made Taki apologize. He came around to the power of friendship and became a buddy to the boys.
Art by Jon Bogdanove, Al Williamson, and John Wellington
That night, demons under the command of N’Astirh captured the boys by mistake and brought them to their master. N’Astirh had little time for their incompetence but his goblins decided that it would be a shame to let good meat go to waste. N’Astirh told them that they could eat sweet Artie and Leech only after they captured the babies he would need to open a portal to Limbo. Artie used is powers to get a message out to the X-Factor kids and resigned himself to his fate. As the demons brought more and more babies, Artie and Leech did their best to keep the kids safe, even giving up the clothes on their back. Taki and the X-Terminators (Rusty, Boom Boom, Skids, and Rictor) freed the boys and saved the day, and Artie, Leech, and Taki returned to St. Simons to continue their studies.
Art by Jon Bogdanove, Al Williamson, and John Wellington
The two moppets were eventually captured by Marrow and her Gene Nation and subsequently rescued by Generation X. Skin and Chamber helped the boys build a treehouse in the school’s biodome to call home. After Onslaught and the apparent death of the Fantastic Four, Franklin Richards joined them and became fast friends with the boys. They quickly assembled a motley crew including Howard the Duck, Man-Thing, and a Rigellian Recorder and jumped through dimensions to save the multiverse. Franklin eventually found his way home and the boys stayed at the school until it disbanded.
Art by Martin Egeland
After M-Day they boys were split. Artie lost his projection powers but kept his physical deformity. Leech kept his powers and joined the 198 outside of the Xavier Institute. He found his way back to the Morlock tunnels where Masque imprisoned him for his own uses. They boys found their way back together thanks to their old buddy Franklin. At his birthday, Franklin wanted to give each of his guests a present. For Artie, he had his sister Valeria make a helmet to mimic his old powers. For both boys there was a key to their new home, the Baxter Building.
Art by Neil Edwards, Andrew Currie, and Paul Mounts
Reed Richards decided that the key to the future rested with young children and enlisted Artie and Leech, as well as other young geniuses, in his new program the Future Foundation. Their goal? Solve Everything. The boys loved spending time with their friend Franklin, even if Leech was being used to covertly dampen Franklin’s reality warping powers. After the end of the universe, Artie and Leech joined their best friend Franklin and the rest of the Future Foundation at the edge of reality. Franklin had become akin to a god, recreating worlds and Franklin had Artie and Leech to be there with him.
Art by Esad Ribic and Ive Svorcina
Must Read
Artie and Leech are consistently delightful and none more so than in a backup story for New Mutants Annual #7. Written by Judy Bogdanove and drawn by husband Jon, Close Encounters of the Mutant Kind is a delightful tale of Artie, Leech, and Taki getting confused for aliens and getting a new grandma. It is short, sweet, and adorable. Exactly like our two moppets. It is on Marvel Unlimited so go check it out.
Art by Mike Mignola
Ranking
So, I love Artie and Leech. I want them to live in my spare room and go on adorable adventures and never grow up. I am not under the impression that they are particularly deep characters but they fill their role perfectly. They are better X-Factor kids than Skids, but nowhere near as good as Boom Boom. I like them more than Caliban but less than Wolfsbane. They are like Omega Red in that, they aren’t deep but they are fun. I straight up like them more than Omega Red so that places them as the new number 40 in the Xavier Files.
Artie and Leech were requested by /u/iaro and /u/fredlong4257 on Reddit, Scott Barrie from this site, and Kevin Newburn from twitter. Kevin procured me a sweet shirt from Emrald City Comic Con so he got to pick this week. If you have a request just submit it at the bottom of this article and I will add it to the list that currently stretches into December 2018! If you want to cut to the front of the line, we have a Patreon you can support for just $1 to get a line cutting reward.
Make sure you check out Legion Quest a new podcast where me and Newsarama reviewer Matt Sibley talk about the FX show Legion. You can follow the show at any of these sources (iTunes | Google Play | Sticher | RSS).
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Saturday I have a special entry for all of you! See you then!
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Zachary Jenkins co-hosts the podcast Battle of the Atom and is the former editor-in-chief of ComicsXF. Shocking everyone, he has a full and vibrant life outside all this.
