A complete, restored issue of Pulp Fiction from 1888 — 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 · 1888

Beadle's Half Dime Library, No. 552

1888 · Free to read

Beadle's Half Dime Library, No. 552 — page 2 of 16 — 2 / 16

Beadle's Half Dime Library, No. 552 — page 3 of 16 — 3 / 16

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Beadle's Half Dime Library, No. 552 — page 16 of 16 — 16 / 16

About this issue

This issue features "The Ring Detective's Transformation: A Tale of Wild Life Under the Canvas in the Far West" by David Druid. The narrative opens with the arrival of the consolidated circus of Wilkins and West in the mining town of Sunrise City, Colorado. Hard Fist Bill, a burly local miner, enthusiastically announces the show's arrival. Circus manager Ross Wilkins hires a mysterious athlete named Ariel, who performs extraordinary contortionist and trapeze feats. Wilkins then encounters Sam Sanborn, a private detective known as "Shadow Sam," who warns him that assassins are pursuing both him and his child star performer, Petite Julie, a rider orphaned young and raised within the circus. Shadow Sam refuses to divulge the assassins' identities but demands Petite Julie be smuggled away immediately. The story explores mysteries surrounding the girl's origins while establishing a menacing plot against her life.

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