A complete issue · 16 pages · 1893
Beadle's Half Dime Library, No. 814
A complete, restored issue of Pulp Fiction from 1893 — 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 · 1893
The Girl Sport's Double Game, by C. E. Tripp (Beadle and Adams, No. 814, February 28, 1898), combines stagecoach robbery and gambling-game melodrama. An outlaw band led by Lieutenant Redbird halts an Overland stage to abduct a mysterious veiled woman. Driver Chain-trace Tom attempts resistance and is shot; an arriving horseman called "Ace High, the Gambler Detective," intercepts Redbird with drawn revolvers. Redbird proposes resolving the matter through draw-poker; the young woman reveals herself an expert gunwoman, covering the outlaws. Ace High wins the game decisively after detecting Redbird's card manipulation. During the ensuing chase down a mountain grade, the woman demonstrates superior driving and marksmanship, killing multiple pursuers. Her mantilla falls away, revealing extraordinary beauty. She recruits Ace High to San Francisco, promising payment for services against unnamed enemies. A parallel plot introduces Banker Banderson, whose dissolute son Barry blackmails him for gambling losses. The serial continues into additional chapters.
Each page has its own page — the cartoon, who’s in it, and what the satire means.