A complete, restored issue of Pulp Fiction from 1896 — all 16 pages of painted-cover fiction magazines that launched science fiction, horror, and hardboiled crime, free to page through at ComicBooks.com.

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A complete issue · 16 pages · 1896

Beadle's Half Dime Library, No. 1004

1896 · Free to read

Beadle's Half Dime Library, No. 1004 — page 2 of 16 — 2 / 16

Beadle's Half Dime Library, No. 1004 — page 3 of 16 — 3 / 16

Beadle's Half Dime Library, No. 1004 — page 4 of 16 — 4 / 16

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Beadle's Half Dime Library, No. 1004 — page 6 of 16 — 6 / 16

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Beadle's Half Dime Library, No. 1004 — page 8 of 16 — 8 / 16

Beadle's Half Dime Library, No. 1004 — page 9 of 16 — 9 / 16

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Beadle's Half Dime Library, No. 1004 — page 11 of 16 — 11 / 16

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Beadle's Half Dime Library, No. 1004 — page 15 of 16 — 15 / 16

Beadle's Half Dime Library, No. 1004 — page 16 of 16 — 16 / 16

About this issue

The Boulevard Belle Detective, by J. C. Cowdrick. Chapter I introduces the St. Nicholas Avenue Nightingale—Molly McGee, an Irish girl singing while washing clothes behind a fence in upper Manhattan. Her fine voice attracts passersby. Two bicyclists encounter her; one, Sam Buckley (called "Scorcher Sam"), knows her; the other, Phil Dixon, attempts flirtation but is rebuffed, warned that Molly has a protective boyfriend named Mike. Chapter II shifts to Cactus Bill's Circus tent along Amsterdam Avenue, where a Spanish or Mexican performer juggles glass balls while Bill shoots them with revolvers. During her performance, the girl recognizes a man entering the tent—Louis Murrill—and cries out that he is someone she knows from her past. The man attempts to flee; Cactus Bill fires at him but misses. Scorcher Sam, present in the tent, has apparently interfered with Bill's aim, prompting Bill's angry accusation.

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