From the exhibition
Deadwood Dick Library No. 31
· 1929
A cowboy astride a rearing horse swings a lasso across a desert landscape, flanked by mounted companions in red jackets. The cover announces "The Vengeance of the Branded Brows" in bold sans-serif type. This British pulp magazine inherited the dime-novel tradition of Deadwood Dick, the outlaw protagonist who originated in 19th-century story papers. By 1929, such periodicals competed with emerging comic books by selling serialized adventure—westerns, crime, and fantasy—through lurid painted covers at threepence. The dynamic composition and vivid color palette typify pulp magazine design, where action and spectacle promised escape and excitement to working-class readers.
Public domain (copyright not renewed), restored and presented by comicbooks.com public-domain