A complete, restored issue of Penny Dreadfuls from 1876 — all 21 pages of cheap serialized Victorian sensation fiction — crime, horror, and lurid melodrama, free to page through at ComicBooks.com.

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A complete issue · 21 pages · 1876

Beadle's Dime Library

1876 · Free to read

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About this issue

Volume II, Number 18 (October 5, 1876) presents Pacific Pete, the Prince of the Revolver, by Jos. E. Badger Jr., a Western adventure serial published by Beadle and Adams. The narrative opens in a barroom where stage-driver Ginger Dick recounts a recent encounter. At a stagecoach stop, a refined stranger insults the burly, temperamental proprietor Dutch Frank by spitting out his drink, prompting Frank to attack. The stranger subdues Frank through unarmed combat, then faces him in a formalized pistol duel. The stranger demonstrates extraordinary marksmanship and composure, ultimately fatally shooting the fleeing Frank at distance. The story establishes this mysterious gunman protagonist while introducing the setting of Windy Gap and characters like Big Tom, establishing a frontier action narrative centered on gunfighting prowess and confrontations.

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Each page has its own page — the cartoon, who’s in it, and what the satire means.