A complete, restored issue of Pulp Fiction from 1881 — 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 · 1881

Beadle's Half Dime Library No. 191

1881 · Free to read

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About this issue

This serial by Capt. Alfred B. Taylor, U.S.A., published March 22, 1881, follows fifteen-year-old Billy Cody (Buffalo Bill) as he joins a supply train operated by Russell, Majors and Waddell on the frontier. The opening chapter depicts young Cody escaping pursuing Sioux warriors by leaping onto a charging buffalo bull and riding it toward camp while returning fire. At the supply train's South Platte encampment, Wild Bill Hickok (wagon-master) recruits the boy to guide thirteen miners eastward to Leavenworth with two wagons—one containing silver ore worth significant profit. Cody accepts the $1,300 wage to support his Kansas family, despite reluctance to leave Wild Bill's mentorship. The narrative emphasizes frontier adventure, marksmanship, and horsemanship amid Native American conflict.

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