A complete, restored issue of Pulp Fiction from 1890 — 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 · 1890

Beadle's Half Dime Library No. 675

1890 · Free to read

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About this issue

This issue of the Beadle and Adams weekly (No. 675, July 1, 1890) features the first installment of "Broadway Billy's Best; or, Beating San Francisco's Finest" by J.C. Cowdrick, author of the Broadway Billy novels. The serial follows the street urchin detective Broadway Billy, who awakens in a San Francisco hotel to discover his thin companion Skinny has vanished from a locked room. After fruitless searching, Billy finds a note in Skinny's distinctive handwriting claiming he fell from the window and is waiting on Dupont Street. However, Billy and a mysterious gentleman observer—who identifies himself as Detective Dalworth of the police—suspect inconsistencies in the letter's writing and capitalization. Suspicion deepens when they learn that Dan Bingham ("Sharkey Dan"), a criminal Billy previously helped capture, has escaped custody. Detective Dalworth joins Billy's investigation as the mystery deepens.

Browse this issue page by page

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