Although he is usually represented as a small child, Artie was 11 when his mutancy first manifested. Carl Maddicks' efforts to return his son to normalcy led him to kidnap Beast and subject him to a de-mutanting treatment, which transformed Hank back to his original non-furry state. Unfortunately, Carl died when he used himself as a diversion to allow Artie and Hank to escape the Secret Empire, who were his backers. Artie went to live with X-Factor, and met his best friend Leech in the Morlock tunnels shortly before the Massacre. Some time later, they were part of the X-Terminators, and after Inferno were transferred to a private school. After Leech was rescued from Gene Nation by Generation X, he and Artie came to live at the Massachussetts Academy, where they soon met Franklin Richards, who rounded out the trio of "The Daydreamers." The trio went on some adventures with Man-Thing and Howard the Duck, but when Franklin's family returned from an alternate universe (of his own creation), Artie and Leech returned to the Academy, where they started to take a more active role. They were given image inducers to hide their appearances, and frequently used them to wreak playful havoc.
Shortly before the Academy closed, Artie and Leech, along with Penance, were sent away to live on the St. Croix estate in Monaco, presumably temporarily as anti-mutant sentiment at the school had become dangerously high. In New Avengers #18, he was simply shown as being depowered on M-Day; thus, Artie's current whereabouts are unknown at this time.
