Adventure Magazine Cover, December 10, 1922

A figure in a red shirt and blue trousers hefts a spear, one boot planted on a blue animal—possibly a wolf or dog—against white space. The costume and weaponry suggest a northern or frontier setting. Signed by Collier Harding, the cover exemplifies the visual language of pulp adventure magazines: action-packed illustration with vivid color and dynamic posture. Adventure magazine, founded in 1910, pioneered the format of selling stories by genre—exploration, warfare, survival—through painted covers and serialized fiction. These magazines, printed on cheap wood pulp and priced at twenty-five cents, established conventions that comic books would later absorb: heroic protagonists, exotic locales, and the promise of danger and discovery on every page.