Uncanny Tales #4
In "The Vampire Maker!" from Uncanny Tales #4 (1974), a grim maritime tale unfolds aboard a ship driven by desperation, where a wooden-legged captain demands relentless labor from his stokers. As fuel runs out and the crew faces starvation, a chilling choice forces them to confront the cost of survival. Written by Paul S. Newman and illustrated by Al Eadeh, with a striking cover by Sol Brodsky and Mike Esposito, this eerie story blends gothic dread with the claustrophobia of a dying voyage.
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A wooden-legged ship's captain works his furnace stokers until they drop and there is only the most powerful one left. When the last of the coal is gone, they use wood until that is gone and they are still just short of port. The stoker tosses the captain into the furnace so that his wooden leg provides the last bit of wood they need.
Plot details indexed by the Grand Comics Database (CC BY-SA).