Daredevil (1964 series) #234

The zany Madcap comes upon a heist in progress at the Garment District. He bounces around, talking a mile a minute, taking out the thugs in his own wacky style. Two of the thieves pin Madcap down and try to shoot him. Madcap’s hypnotizing stare causes the men to go crazy, making them think they’re monkeys and other such oddities. Though he does end up getting shot, twice, Madcap remains completely unfazed. As Madcap strolls off, leaving the thieves prancing around spouting nonsense, he’s approached by an independent cable newscaster named Dollar Bill, who offers to make him a star! At that same time, having heard the gunshots, Daredevil makes his way to the crime scene to find the thieves still prancing about nonsensically. His questions going unheeded, Daredevil senses the police nearing. Once they arrive, he overhears them commenting how this seems awfully familiar to Madcap’s last outing, and he decides to check out the mental hospital Madcap was said to have been taken to.

Elsewhere, news of the bungled heist reaches the men’s boss, The Rose. He’s told of a yellow-suited man who foiled his plan and puts out a $5,000 bounty on Madcap! Meanwhile, Daredevil heads to the mental hospital that Madcap was supposed to be at, but they pretend not to know what he’s talking about. As Daredevil leaves, he overhears them talking about how Madcap escaped the previous night. At his loft, Dollar Bill rolls the cameras in order to interview Madcap on his show. Madcap demonstrates his inability to be hurt by stabbing himself, the wound instantly healing when he removes the knife. He then hypnotizes Dollar Bill while telling his viewers that they should embrace the absurdity of life! As the Rose’s men start to look for Madcap, Daredevil interrogates a guy named Dennis who accidentally let’s slip that the mob is after him, giving Daredevil a clue.

The next day, Dollar Bill films Madcap on the street, soaking up his odd, zany philosophy. An informant for the Rose sees all of this and calls to let them know where Madcap is. They quickly arrive in a car and run Madcap over, though he pops up again without a scratch a second later. Nearby, Daredevil overhears all of this and makes his way there, just in time to intercept some of the mobsters attacking Madcap. Madcap makes them go crazy as well, and Daredevil leaps onto a car and lets it pull him away to get out of range of the effect. While Daredevil is gone, Madcap gets loaded into a car and they drive off. As soon as Daredevil circles back to the scene, he interrogates one of the guys for the information on where they’re heading.

The mobsters take Madcap to a warehouse and tie him to a beam. They leave one of their men, Max the Axe, to hack at him with an axe, as his name would suggest. Daredevil arrives not long after and tears into the group of mobsters. Once they’re all taken care of, he makes his way into the warehouse to rescue Madcap. He quickly takes out Max the Axe, but some of the guys outside regain consciousness, and throw Molotov cocktails into the warehouse, setting the whole place ablaze! Daredevil is shocked to discover that Madcap isn’t hurt, and Madcap wonders if Max the Axe is as fireproof as he is! Daredevil makes the decision to rescue Max first but as he deposits him outside, the way in becomes blocked, trapping Madcap inside! Daredevil can hear Madcap slowly burning to death, singing all the while! Hours later, the blaze is finally extinguished and Madcap is recovered, with Daredevil mourning his death. However, later that night, Madcap shows back up at Dollar Bill’s place! Having healed completely during his time in the morgue, Madcap wonders if perhaps he should be the cohost of Dollar Bill’s show!