Review of “Robert E. Howard’s Sailor Steve Costigan: The Complete Collection of Published Stories”

Robert E. Howard is most well known for his Conan stories and to a lesser extent his other fantasy and horror stories, even his contribution to the Cthulhu-Mythos. His comedic boxing tales are much less known and less appreciated. Indeed, Howard had such an impressive catalog of stories that it probably takes most people quite a while to reach the boxing stories. I personally started with Conan and the Cthulhu-Mythos, worked my way through Solomon Kane and Kull, Bran Mak Morn and Cormac Mac Art, and much more. Until finally I got to Sailor Steve Costigan.

So, what are the Steve Costigan stories? They are an interesting mixture combining boxing and comedy. You don’t have to understand boxing at all, the stories describe it in a gripping, entertaining and even somewhat realistic way. The unrealistic part is how gruesome it is, and how much punishment the characters can take. The boxing and fighting are relevant for the plot, and also offer some excitement, but then there’s also the comedy. Steve is a rather dimwitted character and often gets in trouble. He is consistently being fooled and taken advantage of. He also has a quick temper and often acts without thinking. He is still a sympathetic good-hearted person, and you generally root for him. Another important component is Steve’s loyal bull dog, Mike, who is just as much of a fighter as Steve. This is pointed out on many occasions.

Steve Costigan, like many REH characters, is partially an autobiographical character. He is not brooding or serious like Kane or Conan, but like them he is a wanderer. Notably he is an Irish American from Texas. REH was a Texan who considered himself to be of Irish descent, I’m not sure if it has ever been confirmed if he actually was. REH was also an amateur boxer and body-builder, and these stories allowed him to put his knowledge into good use.

Before we get to the stories themselves I have to point out one thing. The book that I’m reviewning is called “Robert E. Howard’s Sailor Steve Costigan: The Complete Collection of Published Stories”. However this does not mean that it is a complete collection of Costigan stories, or Howard’s boxing stories, which is quite unfortunate. Its clear that the book doesn’t include all of the Costigan stories, and I think this is because some of them were published posthumously in fanzines and other places. Howard also wrote some stories where Costigan’s name was changed to Dorgan. This book only contains one of them. Now, I will give a brief synopsis and comments on each story, and then some concluding remarks. See if the stories sound interesting to you:



THE STORIES

The Pit of the Serpent

Steve Costigan gets into a fight over a girl with another ferocious sailor. The fight is set to take place in a narrow concrete pit where in the past prize fights between snakes were organized.

The Bull Dog Breed

Touching tale of Steve and his dog Mike. The first mate of Steve’s ship orders Mike off the ship. This causes Steve to resign. Soon he ends up being challenged to a fight for defending Mike against a mysterious french boxer.

Sailor’s Grudge

Costigan meets a pretty girl and falls for her. However he learns that the girl is ordered to not speak to sailors, by a man who Steve deemes to be a bully who deserves a beating. The bully (named Burt) has a role as a stunt double in a boxing movie so Costigan gets himself into the same movie to fight him.

Fist and Fang

Steve and his friend go on a jungle island to meet a friendly native chief. However a new chief has taken over and has a grudge against Costigan from their past fighting in the ring.

Winner Take All

Steve and his buddy Bill are badly short of cash. They run into a lady in trouble who tells them she is pursued by a chinese trading guild or a “Tong” because of the information she has learned. She says the stock of a certain copper company is going to explode in value very soon. To raise money for the stocks, Steve enters into a prize fight with a particularly dirty opponent named “Panther-Cortez”.

Waterfront Fists

Steve is challenged to fight the champion of another ship, “the Ruffian”. The challenger proves to be a tricky opponent due to being left handed. Steve also gets entangled in helping a girl get enough money to return to her home. This is a heart-warming anf hilarious story with a Conan-esque fight scene at the end. This probably has the best boxing out of all Costigan stories.

Champ of the Forecastle

Steve helps his shipmate Sven practice so he can beat an old rival. Sven is determined to win so he can be in the good graces of his girlfriend. But what if Sven were to challenge Steve as champ of the Seagirl like he has so many times before? Steve isn’t worried. But maybe he should be!

Alleys of Peril

Costigan loses a fight due to a false decision by a referee. He goes looking for the referee to beat him up, but ends up having to save him from a crime syndicate first. Great action packed tale with absolutely epic fights.

The TNT Punch

In South Africa Costigan meets a promoter he knows named “Shifty”. Shifty asks his help to bail out a certain American fighter. Costigan despises both of them but agrees to get the money out of patriotism and fairness. He enters a prize fight with an Australian first mate who used to boss him around. The man has a deep grudge against Steve and fights dirty. This is another really hilarious tale, everyone keeps taking advantage of poor Costigan and his angry remarks are great. I also liked his eloquent speech about helping his fellow countrymen.

Texas Fists

Costigan gets drugged and kidnapped by cowboys who are organizing a prize fight against miners. To his surprise his opponent is a childhood rival Biff. It is incredibly entertaining to observe the cowboys helplessly try to contain Costigan.

The Sign of the Snake

Tale of yellow peril: Costigan rescues a chinese man from an assassing and becomes the target of a murderous organization. He also gets into a fight with a humongous bouncer to defend his reputation.

The House of Peril

Costigan gets into a fight with another sailor over a woman. Nothing unusual there. Afterwards he goes looking for the woman, only to get involved in an international criminal gang that has stolen a royal chinese gem. Pretty funny story highlighting the stupidity and naivete of Steve and his rival sailor Bill. Many of the typical elements are here, women, chinese crime organizations etc.

Breed of Battle

Fantastic story where Steve’s bulldog Mike gets stolen to be used in a dog fight. Steve looks for him frantically and flattens all obstacles in his way. He even puts up a reward. This story has exitement and shows a touching relationship between Steve and his dog, outdone only by “The bulldog breed”, but the story is also a hilarious comedy. When rumors of Steve’s reward start spreading and half of Singapore is bringing dogs to him, it gets completely ridiculous.

Circus Fists

Steve gets fired from the Sea-girl and joins a circus. He is essentially hired to beat up challengers for a living and has an easy time, until they arrive to a mining town whose local hero is an absolute boxing legend. This is another hilarious story, especially the part describing just how many people of varying descriptions and occupations Steve flattens.

Dark Shanghai

Steve and Bill are hired to rescue a kidnapped woman. However everything is not as it seems and the bumbling heroes are once again duped into doing somerhing they regret. But the duo tries to make things right afterwards. Another spectacularly funny story. It is completely outlandish from beginning to end.

Vikings of the Gloves

Steve wants to fight because he is completely broke and needs money. His friends are in the same situation, and would like to bet in Steve’s favor to earn some cash. Unfortunately there is a “scandinavians only” tournament. They see an opportunity and manage to get Steve into a match against a Danish man, while Steve pretends to be a Swede. As one might expect, hilarity ensues. This is one of the most original Costigan tales.

Alleys of Darkness

Costigan gets treated unfairly by a crooked referee. He pursues the man and the referee claims he did it because he is being blackmailed. Costigan offers to help, and captures the assumed blackmailer. However all is not how it seems. A fine story, but a little forgettable among the rest. The unique part about this story is that the names of all the characters were changed and Costigan himself is called “Dorgan” in this story. The reason was apparently that Farnsworth Wright, the editor of Weird Tales and Magic Carpet requested it because he was already publishing another Howard story in the same issue.

The Slugger’s Game

Another story where Mike the bulldog gets stolen! Steve desperately hurries the get the ransom money. The ending of this story is absolutely fantastic and hilarious, but I can’t say anything about it or I’ll spoil it.

General Ironfist

Steve is looking for his friend to deliver a letter from a lawfirm when he is kidnapped by a chinese warlord. He must defeat the general of another army or be killed. There are some crazy funny moments in this, my favorite being when the contents of the letter are discovered! The motif of Steve being essentially kidnapped for fighting purposes is repeated, but its interesting to see him act in different kinds of settings.

Sluggers on the Beach

Costigan gets sold a map supposedly showing the location of a hidden treasure which belonged to a chinese warlord. A rival of his also gets a similar map and the two sluggers are forced to collaborate. But what does the map actually point to, if anything? Naturally they decide that whoever can beat the other in a boxing match gets to keep the treasure. Another very funny story.



Conclusion:

I found all the stories to be enjoyable, but obviously some are better then others. Most people seem to recognize “The bull dog breed” as a classic. “Vikings of the glove” is particularly interesting in my opinion. The comedy is spread pretty evenly in the stories, so its harder to pick the funniest story. It would be easier to pick funniest moments. For example “The breed of battle” and “Dark Shanghai” have very funny moments – alongside e.g. “Sluggers on the beach” but I wouldn’t necessarily call them the funnies stories. “Texas Fists” might be the most consistently funny story.

“Water front fists” probably has the best fighting and boxing over all, but there are many stories which depict different aspects of boxing particularly well. The stories also point out the difference between boxing and simply street fighting. The fights are depicted in an almost Burroughsian style similar to later Conan stories. The boxing stories are depicted in a different way entirely – more similar to a sport commentary. “The Pit of the Serpent” describes fighting in a cramped pit, “Water front fists” has a left-handed opponent, some stories describe bare-knuckle boxing, some of them depict fighting on sand versus in proper ring. Its all very well done. You also get a sence of Steve’s style of boxing. He is not the most skilled, and not even the strongest or smartest, he is simply the toughest, most resilient and has the most stamina. He can take the most abuse and outlast his opponent, and that’s how he wins. The best example of this is the master piece “The bull dog breed”.

After reading these stories once, I think they are definitely worth a re-read, maybe after a year or two. I feel like I’ve just gotten to know the characters and would enjoy reading more.