Robert E. Howard
and the Ring
by Dennis McHaney
   Howard’s humorous fight stories have brought reactions for both the old Howard fans and the new ones,
who are largely familiar with only one type of Howard story.
   Unfortunately, the first real look at the new wave of square circle adventures came to the public’s
attention with the hardback collection of The Incredible Adventures of Dennis Dorgan.  As the premiere
volume of a new series of Howard books to be brought out by Fax Collectors Editions, it was strictly a case
of poor judgment.  The book had everything going against it.  It was drastically overpriced and had the
poorest, sloppiest illustration yet to appear in a professionally produced Howard book.  The rushed
appearance of the illustrations is not entirely the fault of the artist, though it is still one outstanding feature
of the book’s basic failure.
   It is interesting to note that the 2,400 copy print run is still in print after two years.  It is the worst sales
record for a REH hardback in this decade, another sign of the increasing importance of good illustration as
part of a book package.  It is also interesting to note that the Zebra paperback edition – sans illustrations –
of the same book is now in its third printing.
   After Sailor Dorgan, much of the public balked for a time at Howard’s humorous fight stories in general,
though many condemning critics depicted a lack of actually reading some of the ones that have appeared
more recently.  Not enough intestine ripping for them, I suppose.  Fortunately, most REH purists have been
able to take them for what they are – light attempts at humor, more than usually successful in the small
laugh they were out to get.
   Actually, the ten Dorgan stories were spin-offs from an identical fight series which had been popular in
two other pulps.  Howard took a Costigan story, changed a few names, and had himself a new series to
market (to a different publisher, of course!).
   Costigan was actually around a few years earlier than Dorgan.  A total of twenty Costigan stories
appeared in Howard’s lifetime, while only one Dorgan yarn appeared before the writer’s suicide.
Many years later, Glenn Lord chose two Dorgan stories for inclusion in his extremely rare magazine The
Howard Collector.  One of these, “Sailor Dorgan and the Jade Monkey”, was to appear in the magazine Magic
Carpet as a follow-up to “Alleys of Darkness”.  Howard had also sold another story, “Alleys of Treachery,” to
the magazine, which folded after publishing only one of the trio of stories (this was the other Dorgan tale
that appeared in The Howard Collector).  The remaining Dorgan stories were in limbo until rediscovered by
Glenn Lord in recent years.
   The Costigan tales had much better fortune.  The stories began appearing in Fight Stories during 1929
(five years before the first Dorgan story appeared), where they appeared on a regular basis until 1931 when
they were featured in Action Stories as well.  The last three pulp appearances of Costigan during Howard’s
lifetime were in Jack Dempsey’s Fight Magazine during 1934.
   The publisher of Fight Stories must have considered the series an asset of some merit.  In the late 1930's
and early 1940’s many of the stories were reprinted, all under the by-line of “Sam Walser”—a house name
used for many reprints by various writers.  Though only two thirds of the entire Costigan series has
appeared in print, the remainder of the completed stories will appear in the coming months in the
designated fan publications, making the entire series available to the public, though as any pulp researcher
can tell you, the early pulp printings are about as hard to find as any know pulp titles.
   The Dorgan and Costigan stories are so similar in every way that it seams ludicrous to even form
comparisons between the two.  Costigan has a pet bulldog named Mike, while Dorgan’s bulldog Spike must
surely be his twin from the same litter.  Their respective ships are the Python and the Sea Girl.  In many
cases, Howard himself got the two battling sailors confused.
   Though Dorgan and Costigan accounted for most of Howard’s boxing ring energies, he also found time
for a few other fight yarns.
   His other fight stories, like Dorgan, were not as successful as the Costigan adventures.  The other
humorous fight stories Howard attempted were not as strong, and the serious ones were not the best
examples of Howard’s writing abilities.
   The other humorous boxing series Howard attempted were the Kid Allison stories.  These were written
about the same time as some of the earlier Costigan stories, but suffered for several reasons.  Firstly, they
were a bit long for that type of story.  Secondly, Costigan appeared in different locales in most of his tales,
and the geography added to the adventurous possibilities, even though Costigan stayed in the seamier
wharf areas as a rule.  In these distant ports, Costigan had the opportunity to encounter a larger range of
dubious characters of varying nationalities, which gave the story-action a better chance to develop the
villain roles.  Both the early Allison and early Costigan stories are weak by the standards of the later tales—
Howard’s grasp of the humorous situation developed, even as his writing abilities did.
   Only three Kid Allison stories saw print during Howard’s lifetime, and those were published in Short Story
Magazine during 1931.  These tales have recently been reprinted in Fantasy Crossroads, and editor Jonathan
Bacon promises the remaining unpublished Allison stories will appear there as well.
One of the early Costigan stories appeared in Cross Plains, and several of them have been reprinted in The
Howard Review, where many of the unpublished tales are slated to appear.  Also, Donald Grant has
expressed the intention to do hardcover editions of all the various fight series.
   Readers who refuse to pay attention to these admittedly minor Howard tales are missing many hours of
pleasant, light reading.  As pure fun, they are a joy to read.  Granted, they don’t have the enthralling
mysticism and adventurous appeal of the average, faster paced Howard story, but forget about all that
heavy warfare for a while.  Just sit back and have a laugh with one of Howard’s idiot sailors, while visions of
cheering crowds, pug noses, cauliflower ears, outrageous villains and punch drunk fools splint your sides
with laughter.

Copyright 1976 Damon C. Sasser
REH: Two-Gun Raconteur
The Definitive Howard Journal