| Steve Costigan | |
|---|---|
| First appearance | The Pit of the Serpent (July 1929) |
| Created by | Robert E. Howard |
| In-universe information | |
| Gender | Male |
| Occupation | Able Seaman, Boxer |
| Family | "Iron" Mike Costigan (Brother) |
| Nationality | American |
Sailor Steve Costigan is a fictional character created by American writer Robert E. Howard. He is a merchant sailor on the Sea Girl and is also its champion boxer. His only true companion is a bulldog named Mike (after his brother and fellow boxer, "Iron" Mike Costigan).
Costigan, one of Howard's humorous boxing pulp heroes, roamed the Asiatic seas with fists of steel, a will of iron, and a head of wood. A striking contrast between Howard's barbarians and swordsmen, Costigan was a modern-day character, written in a humorous, Texas tall tale style. The Sailor Steve Costigan stories were very popular in the pages of Fight Stories, Action Stories, and the short-lived Jack Dempsey’s Fight Magazine. In a career that was made up largely from writing short stories about recurring characters, Howard wrote more completed stories about Costigan and his pugilistic ilk than about any of his fantasy heroes except Conan the Barbarian.