A complete issue · 16 pages · 1882
Beadle's Half Dime Library No. 359
A complete, restored issue of Pulp Fiction from 1882 — 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 · 1882
This serialized whaling adventure by Roger Starbuck follows the whale-ship Montpelier of New London anchored off Kamschatka. Captain Howard disregards First Mate Briggs's warnings about drifting ice floes in these dangerous northern waters. When whales are spotted on the ice field, the captain orders four boats lowered. His seventeen-year-old niece Alice, aboard the vessel, watches crew member Harry Marline depart with romantic interest. The narrative establishes a conspiracy plot: the eccentric sailor Jack Stump—physically distinctive with a long greased pigtail and mismatched proportions—warns Alice that four New Zealanders and the Portuguese steward are plotting harm. He reveals they may attempt to free Tom Lark, a mutineer imprisoned in the brig for refusing duty. With most officers and crew absent in the whale boats and ice conditions preventing immediate action, Stump pledges to investigate while Alice secures herself below deck.
Each page has its own page — the cartoon, who’s in it, and what the satire means.