The Cavalier, April 1909

A mounted cavalryman in ornate armor charges across a stone bridge, lance leveled, his horse rearing as figures flee below. The artist renders the scene in brilliant yellows and blues, the landscape beyond the arch glowing with romantic distance. The Cavalier was a pulp magazine that trafficked in historical adventure and swashbuckling tales, competing with rivals like All-Story for readers hungry for action beyond the everyday. Published by the Frank A. Munsey Company, these ten-cent weeklies relied on painted covers to signal their contents at newsstands—vivid, narrative illustrations promising excitement and escape. The pulps of this era established the visual vocabulary and narrative formulas that would directly influence the comic book medium emerging two decades later.