A complete, restored issue of Pulp Fiction from 1897 — 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 · 1897

You Bet Bob from Cross Crick

1897 · Free to read

You Bet Bob from Cross Crick — page 2 of 16 — 2 / 16

You Bet Bob from Cross Crick — page 3 of 16 — 3 / 16

You Bet Bob from Cross Crick — page 4 of 16 — 4 / 16

You Bet Bob from Cross Crick — page 5 of 16 — 5 / 16

You Bet Bob from Cross Crick — page 6 of 16 — 6 / 16

You Bet Bob from Cross Crick — page 7 of 16 — 7 / 16

You Bet Bob from Cross Crick — page 8 of 16 — 8 / 16

You Bet Bob from Cross Crick — page 9 of 16 — 9 / 16

You Bet Bob from Cross Crick — page 10 of 16 — 10 / 16

You Bet Bob from Cross Crick — page 11 of 16 — 11 / 16

You Bet Bob from Cross Crick — page 12 of 16 — 12 / 16

You Bet Bob from Cross Crick — page 13 of 16 — 13 / 16

You Bet Bob from Cross Crick — page 14 of 16 — 14 / 16

You Bet Bob from Cross Crick — page 15 of 16 — 15 / 16

You Bet Bob from Cross Crick — page 16 of 16 — 16 / 16

About this issue

This issue of Beadle and Adams' publication features the opening installment of "You Bet Bob from Cross Crick; or, The Calamity at Sawbuck City" by Arizona Cy. The frontier dialect narrative follows narrators Cy Johnson and Bob as they learn that Gunsight John, mayor of neighboring Sawbuck City, has died of pneumonia—notably with his boots on, fulfilling his lifelong vow. Appointed as a committee of two to represent Cross Crick at the funeral, Cy and Bob fashion elaborate mourning attire from a deceased woman's black gown, creating oversized hats, ribbons, and decorative bows. Departing for Sawbuck City in their ornate funeral garb, they encounter ridicule from their own townspeople, whom they rebuke for lacking proper respect for the dead. The narrative emphasizes frontier codes of honor and community obligation through humorous domestic detail and colloquial frontier speech patterns.

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