Amazing Stories of Suspense #115
"Showdown at Sea!" delivers a quietly haunting journey when a commuter train vanishes into a tunnel—only to emerge in a realm of gentle, curious aliens who welcome the stranded humans. Written by Carl Wessler and illustrated by Mort Lawrence, this 1971 Alan Class gem captures a fleeting moment of wonder, where Earth’s ordinary travelers find themselves part of something extraordinary. The story’s quiet power lies in its bittersweet conclusion, revealed through the engineer’s tale and the final, silent image of a world that remembers them—just not the people who stayed. Cover by Gene Colan and Syd Shores.
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A commuter train enters a tunnel and disappears. The crew and passengers find themselves on a world inhabited by strange and friendly creatures. The humans come to admire this new world as the creatures come to admire the different conditions they are told of Earth. Eventually, the train is ready to return to its original destination. The engineer recounts his story to a group of people who are skeptical until the passengers disembark, and we see only alien creatures, as all the people, save for the engineer, stayed behind in the strange new world.
Plot details indexed by the Grand Comics Database (CC BY-SA).