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. 575

1888 · Free to read

Beadle's Half Dime Library No. 575 — page 2 of 16 — 2 / 16

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About this issue

This issue features the opening of "Running Down the King: A Romance of Border Trails" by Col. Prentiss Ingraham. The narrative unfolds in a frontier mining camp called Sunset City at the Good Luck Hall gambling saloon. Donald King, an elegant, refined gambler known as the "Card King," initially loses steadily at cards to Bart Bradley, a reckless young miner. King summons his wife, called the "Queen of Diamonds" and "Lady of Fortune," who has a reputation for never losing. However, she also loses repeatedly, shocking the assembled miners. After losing substantial sums, the Card King accuses Bradley of cheating and challenges him to a deadly duel with life as stakes: the loser must stand unarmed while the winner fires one shot. Bradley agrees to part of the challenge, citing unresolved debts from his past.

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