A complete issue · 16 pages · 1900
Poor-House Pete, the Postal-Clerk Detective
A complete, restored issue of Pulp Fiction from 1900 — all 16 pages of painted-cover fiction magazines that launched science fiction, horror, and hardboiled crime, free to page through at ComicBooks.com.
A complete issue · 16 pages · 1900
Poor-House Pete, the Postal-Clerk Detective; or, The Precious Patrimony by Edward Lytton. This serial begins with seventeen-year-old Peter Perkins being selected from the B—— County Poor-house by farmer Joshua Fisher and his sharp-tongued wife Samantha for adoption as a bound boy. Despite his objections and requests to complete his painting apprenticeship, Pete is legally bound to the Fishers under indenture. Though troubled by Mrs. Fisher's harsh temperament and sensing hard labor ahead, Pete accepts because his deceased mother had wished it and because he harbors a mysterious connection to the town of W——, where his mother had been traveling when she fell ill. As Pete and the Fishers depart for their farm, his determination to maintain his dignity and independence despite his impoverished circumstances is evident.
Each page has its own page — the cartoon, who’s in it, and what the satire means.