A complete issue · 32 pages · 1887
Beadle's Pocket Library No. 165
A complete, restored issue of Pulp Fiction from 1887 — all 32 pages of painted-cover fiction magazines that launched science fiction, horror, and hardboiled crime, free to page through at ComicBooks.com.
A complete issue · 32 pages · 1887
Buffalo Bill's Bet; or, The Gambler Guide This 1887 serial story by Col. Prentiss Ingraham follows Kent King, "the Gambler Guide," a bound prisoner of the Revolver Riders—Texas cattle herders transporting him to execution in Texas for past crimes. Facing death when they reach Santa Fe, King uses cunning to secure his freedom. He tempts his guard, Poker Dick, into betrayal by offering a thousand pesos and diamonds in exchange for release. King gnaws through his bonds, strikes Dick unconscious, and escapes on his horse Mephisto across moonlit prairie. Captain Dash pursues but cannot catch him. Poker Dick, wracked with guilt over his treachery, confesses to his leader that Kent King bought his betrayal. The story explores themes of survival, temptation, and the conflict between sordid gain and conscience among frontier characters.
Each page has its own page — the cartoon, who’s in it, and what the satire means.