A complete issue · 32 pages · 1890
Beadle's Pocket Library No. 333
A complete, restored issue of Pulp Fiction from 1890 — 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 · 1890
This issue's featured serial, "Bootblack Ben, the Detective" by Anthony P. Morris, begins with a street rescue: Ben Brush, a young boot-black working in Baltimore, saves a girl named Garnet Fawnworth from being trampled by horses at Calvert and Baltimore streets. The orphaned Garnet has traveled alone from Richmond to meet her supposed guardian, Thomas Rugby. When a man claiming to be Rugby appears, Ben recognizes him as "Pooler Jim," a disreputable poolroom loafer, and warns the girl. Fighting erupts; Ben's assailants escape in a cab. Both are taken to the police station, where the captain releases them. A detective named Jack Grip investigates, suspecting Pooler Jim's involvement in a scheme targeting the girl, particularly given that the real Thomas Rugby is reportedly wealthy. Ben takes Garnet to his mother's home while the detective works the case.
Each page has its own page — the cartoon, who’s in it, and what the satire means.