A complete, restored issue of Pulp Fiction from 1888 — all 32 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 · 32 pages · 1888

The Messenger Boy Detective

1888 · Free to read

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About this issue

This is the opening installment of Charles Morris's serial "The Messenger Boy Detective: The Tables Turned." The story follows Sam Slocum (nicknamed "Shadow Sam" or "Slippery Sam"), a night-shift messenger boy for the American District Telegraph Company in Philadelphia. Dispatched to investigate a burglar alarm at the home of two nervous elderly sisters, Miss Marta and Miss Sophia Bounce, Sam descends into the cellar expecting a false alarm—the ladies have a reputation for reporting imaginary threats. However, he discovers a genuine intruder hidden in the woodpile. Back upstairs, Sam convinces the frightened women that he possesses a revolver left by their nephew, planning to establish a defensive position while they contemplate their next move. The narrative emphasizes Sam's fearless swagger and quick thinking against the elderly women's anxious temperament.

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