Number 2055: Steel Fisticuffs

Steel Fist was another short-lived superhero, with five appearances in Blue Circle Comics. This is the origin story from issue #1 (1944). Blue Circle was one of those comic books that (at least to me) looked cobbled together with left-over material from somewhere. Those were the days of paper rationing, and anyone with a ration could get into the publishing business. Comic books were great sellers during World War II, often selling out their press runs.

Characters didn’t even have to be original. Steel Fist (Timothy Slade, steelworker) got his hand dipped in molten steel by Nazi saboteurs. That must have been the same magic that a few years earlier allowed Steel Sterling to get his whole body immersed in molten steel and come out invincible. Unlike Steel, Timothy didn’t get any other super powers, but  oh, baby! could he throw a wicked punch!

Henry Carl Kiefer is credited with creating Steel Fist. Kiefer was one of those older artists (born in 1890), who came into the comic book field in the thirties after working as an artist doing illustrations in pulp magazines for several years. H. C. Kiefer was familiar to me from issues of Classics Illustrated. He was also a journeyman who did artwork for many different comic book publishers. He died in 1957.

And speaking of Steel Sterling, here is his origin from Zip Comics #1. Just click on the thumbnail.

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