A complete, restored issue of Pulp Fiction from 1899 — 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 · 1899

Beadle's Half Dime Library No. 1089

1899 · Free to read

Beadle's Half Dime Library No. 1089 — page 2 of 16 — 2 / 16

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About this issue

Mustang Merle's Fight for Life This dime novel installment by Major Sam S. Scott (styling himself "The Old Major") presents a western action serial. The protagonist is Mustang Merle, a boy rancher whose operation faces threat from Captain Silver Belt, a notorious brigand who has sworn to mark Merle's cattle with his "dagger brand" within twenty-four hours. The story opens with an encounter on the Rio Tagus plains between an Indian tracker named Red Hawk and Captain Silver Belt, where the outlaw makes his threat. Red Hawk reports this to Merle and his associate "Fighting Joe" Bundy at Mesquite Ranch. When young female visitors are expected to arrive via coach from Tagus City, Bundy rides to intercept them. The coach arrives empty and overturned; Bundy pursues into the hills following the trail. The narrative emphasizes pursuit, confrontation, and imminent conflict between the ranchers and the organized bandit gang.

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