RICHARD EASTON

Real Name: Richard Lawrence Easton

Identity/Class: Human

Occupation: Archeologist

Group Membership: None

Affiliations: Professor Camperton, Doctor Ruth Efford (employers); Carmichael (first name unrevealed)

Enemies: Great Beasts; (as Tundra) Alpha Flight (Aurora/Jeanne-Marie Beaubier, Marrina/Marrina Smallwood, Northstar/Jean-Paul Beaubier, Sasquatch/Walter Langkowski, Shaman/Michael Twoyoungmen, Snowbird/Narya, Vindicator/James MacDonald Hudson)

Known Relatives: Narya (Snowbird, daughter)

Aliases: Dickie

Base of Operations: Unrevealed;
   formerly Kugaaruk in Nunavut, Canada;
   formerly a tent somewhere in the Northwest Territories;
   formerly Quidlivun;
   formerly an archeological dig site in the Arctic Circle

First Appearance: Alpha Flight I#7/2 (February, 1984) (chronological); Alpha Flight I#1 (August, 1983) (actual) (see comments)

Powers/Abilities: Although skilled in archeology, Easton was an ordinary man with no paranormal powers. He was driven insane following an encounter with three of the Inua.

While wearing a mystical headband created by the Great Beasts, Easton acted as the human host for Tundra; however, his life-force was eventually consumed in the process.

Following his death, Easton's maddened spirit remained on the earthly plane and was further corrupted, presumably by the power of the headband; but after the headband was removed, his spirit was sent to its final rest.

 

Height: Unrevealed (5' 10" by approximation)
Weight: Unrevealed. (150 lbs. by approximation)
Eyes: Unrevealed (obscured by eyeglasses)
Hair: Gray (originally blond)

History:
(Alpha Flight I#7/2 (fb) - BTS) - For the purpose of one day raising Tundra on the earthly plane, the Great Beasts created a metal headband and sent it to Earth.

(Alpha Flight I#7/2 (fb)) - The past of Richard Easton is largely unrevealed, but years ago, while working at a Canadian archeological dig in the tundra north of the Arctic Circle, he found a metal headband. Easton showed it to his supervisors, Professor Camperton and Doctor Efford, but neither recognized the culture that created the unusual artifact; they had Easton take the headband to log in and file away in the storage tent.

That night, as he slept in his tent, Easton awoke and felt compelled to go to the storage tent to retrieve the headband. As he placed it upon his head, Easton was visited by a trio of the native gods: Hodiak, Turoq, and Nelvanna. The gods warned Easton of a great evil that threatened the world -- the very headband he now wore was a symbol of that terrible power.

   As the gods were trapped in their own realm and unable to stop the threat directly, Nelvanna wanted to have a child with Easton -- a demi-god champion with ties to both Earth and the godly realm. Nelvanna's appearance was altered by Turoq to appear more pleasing to Easton, and the two conceived a child together -- a child who would one day be known as Narya, alias Snowbird of Alpha Flight.

   Later, Easton returned to the dig and found the site covered over. He next encountered his former associate Carmichael, who was shocked to see Easton still alive -- it had been years since Easton was last seen (at least over nine, because Professor Camperton had already been dead that long). Easton was greatly confused -- from his perspective, he had only been in the realm of the gods for one night! Thinking Carmichael to be an agent of the Great Beasts, Easton ran off like a raving lunatic and was never heard from again.

(Alpha Flight I#1) - Driven to insanity by his unearthly encounter, Easton was left a disheveled, emaciated hermit living in a small tent in Canada's Northwest Territories. Easton left his campsite and, using his foot, he scraped a furrow in the snowy topsoil. When he finished, the furrow formed the outline of a huge man-like shape. Returning to his camp, he found the headband and placed it on his head, then began a mystical ritual to bring the Great Beast Tundra to Earth; Easton's life-force was consumed in the process. Alpha Flight battled this incarnation of Tundra and destroyed it by erosion. Easton's remains (and the headband) settled at the bottom of the small salt lake that formed where Tundra once stood.










(Alpha Flight: True North#1/1) - Easton's mad spirit remained on Earth and was further corrupted (presumably by the Great Beasts' headband) -- as a group of monstrous beings, he attacked the village of Kugaaruk, a community in Canada's Nunavut territory in the Arctic Circle. Snowbird and Talisman (Elizabeth Twoyoungman) were drawn to the area, where they investigated the situation. They found fearful residents hiding in their houses, and they were soon attacked by a horde of monsters, who sought to devour them. When the monsters had completely engulfed them, Snowbird used "the light of the divine" to banish the darkness and reveal the confused spirit of Richard Easton. Recognizing the spirit as that of her father, Snowbird hugged him, then had Talisman send Easton's spirit to rest after taking the Great Beasts' headband from him.

Comments: Created by John Byrne.

As stated in the flashback story in Alpha Flight I#7/2, the events of Easton's meeting with the Inua gods took place about 15 years prior to his summoning of Tundra.

I don't believe that it's ever been confirmed that Easton was the hermit who summoned Tundra -- that's something that I inferred from reading the stories -- but they do resemble each other. However, it could some day be revealed that Easton and the hermit are not the same person.

The Great Beasts Entry in OHotMU Update 89#3 does indeed confirm that Richard Easton was the hermit who raised the Great Beast in question.
--John McDonagh

Profile by John Kaminski. Update by Markus Raymond (Alpha Flight: True North)

CLARIFICATIONS:
Richard Easton has no known connections to:

images: (without ads)
Alpha Flight I#7/2, p1, pan3 (Main Image - younger Richard Easton, holding headband)
Alpha Flight I#7/2, p5, pan3 (Headshot - younger Richard Easton, wearing headband)
Alpha Flight I#1, p5, pan3 (older Richard Easton as crazy hermit)
Alpha Flight: True North#1, p3, pan1 (monstrous form; Talisman (Elizabeth Twoyoungmen) (foreground))
Alpha Flight: True North#1, p8, pan1 (spirit)

Appearances:
Alpha Flight I#1 (August, 1983) - John Byrne (writer/pencils/inks), Andy Yanchus (colors), Joe Rosen (letters), Denny O'Neil (editor)
Alpha Flight I#7/2 (February, 1984) - John Byrne (writer/pencils/inks), Andy Yancus (colors), Michael Higgins (letters), Linda Grant & Denny O'Neil (editor)
Alpha Flight: True North#1/1 (November, 2019) - Jim Zub (writer), Max Dunbar (pencils/inks),Jim Charalampidis (colors), Ed Brisson (letters), Chris Robinson & Jordan D. White (editors)

First Posted: 07/26/2006
Last updated: 10/22/2021

Any Additions/Corrections? please let me know.

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