Sarge Steel

A tough private detective and former Special Forces soldier, Sarge Steel lost his left hand to a grenade in combat and replaced it with a steel prosthetic — giving him both his nickname and a formidable weapon. He originally debuted as a Charlton Comics character before later being acquired by DC.

Sarge Steel is one of the Silver Age's most intriguing tough-guy figures, debuting in 1965 courtesy of the legendary team of Joe Gill and Dick Giordano — a pairing that knew how to craft a character with grit and staying power. He's a DC fixture whose presence stretches an impressive five-plus decades, from the go-go sixties all the way to 2017, popping up across titles like Checkmate, his own self-titled series, and Judomaster. Along the way he's shared pages with some genuinely eclectic company — speedster icons like The Flash and martial-arts stalwarts like Judomaster and Rip Jagger — which speaks to his versatility across corners of the DC universe. If you're a collector who loves discovering the hard-boiled, espionage-flavored edge of Silver Age comics, Sarge Steel is absolutely worth tracking down.