Daredevil (1964 series) #219

Daredevil, dressed in plain clothes as a drifter, strolls into the small, dirty New Jersy town of Broken Cross. He stops in at a diner where a young man named Beaver is holding up the register at gunpoint. The nonchalant workers and Beaver both freeze when Matt enters, known only to them as the Stranger. Beaver then points his gun at Matt who easily disarms him and kicks him out of the window. A cop outside who had been checking on Beaver questions Matt and once his I.D. checks out enough, tells him to just move on. Matt walks off and ends up getting stopped by Katie, a worker at the diner whom he saved. Katie gives him a lift to the local motel while filling him in on some of the town’s history. Turns out, Beaver holds up the place once or twice a week, and his mother, Ma Stillwell, always makes him return the money and makes sure he isn’t legally punished. Ma Stillwell has quite the influence around there and it seems her other son Billy had recently skipped bail after starting a fire across the river. Katie wonders if Matt is perhaps here for Billy, but he doesn’t say a word.

Meanwhile, even if she keeps him legally protected, Ma Stillwell still makes sure her son is punished by slapping him around. She vents about her boys always sinning when the cop from earlier, Lt. Costello, tells her about Matt. Costello is worried what misdeeds of theirs Matt may find by poking around. Hours later, Matt enters Cosie’s Motel and finds the eponymous owner rather drunk. Just as Katie had, she tells Matt he reminds her of someone they knew before, someone she knew as John Fagan. Cosie is clearly distraught over John’s somewhat recent passing and tells Matt to just pick any room he wants, before she passes out. Matt coincidentally picks the room John always used, and has strange dreams of what may have happened to him that compel him to get up and go out once more. Matt heads to a saloon where Beaver happens to be making fun of a lonely biker, clearly with some history. The Biker tries to prevent Beaver from attacking Matt causing Beaver to retaliate and an entire bar brawl to break out! The bar fight is soon broken up by Lt. Costello, who lets Beaver go but arrests both Matt and the Biker.

A couple hours later, Costello tells Ma Stillwell what happened and that Matt seemed interested when Fagan was brought up. She decides that all the loose ends need to be tied up: Matt, the Biker, and Cosie. She sends Beaver to take care of Cosie, as he enters her motel and draws a knife. Back at the jail, the Biker finally tells Matt everything to do with the town’s dirty secrets. He tells how Beaver had wanted to join their biker gang but they refused. In order to prove himself tough, Beaver killed a homeless man and his mother covered it up. John Fagan was the one honest cop looking into it and was going to bust Beaver for murder. Ma Stillwell then had Costello and another cop kill Fagan while framing the gang for it. All of the Biker’s friends allegedly took their own lives due to it, though it was likely another cover up.

Costello then arrives to tie up his loose end by shooting the Biker! He attempts to shoot Matt as well but Matt surprises him with lightning-quick reflexes and knocks him out. The Biker, bleeding out without much time, tells Matt that they’re likely going after Cosie too. Matt hurries out and Costello awakens not long after to follow him. The Biker then manages to muster enough energy to steal a police motorcycle to take pursuit as well. Matt arrives at the motel to find Cosie already dead. Ma Stillwell and her two boys set the place ablaze with Matt inside, when Costello pulls up claiming that Matt can’t be human! Matt kicks the door down, the blaze raging around him, causing Costello and the rest to pile into the car and drive off in fear. As Costello drives away, the Biker comes riding up the opposite direction. With a determined look, the Biker drives right into the car, causing both vehicles and everyone involved to go up in a huge explosion! Matt observes the wreckage, having done what he could to bring some semblance of justice to this small town, before silently leaving Broken Cross forever.