Daredevil (1964 series) #191

Daredevil contemplates the nature of the .38 caliber revolver in his hand, and how it’s only ever used to kill. He puts the gun to his head and pulls the trigger. Click. Turns out, Daredevil has stopped by to play a game of Russian Roulette with the still immobile Bullseye in his hospital room. One gun with one bullet, and two idiots. He points the gun at Bullseye. Click. Daredevil reminisces about what made him come here today. Though never actually saying a single word, Daredevil “tells” Bullseye a story about a boy named Chuckie. Matt Murdock had been convinced by his law partner Foggy Nelson to represent a blue collar worker named Hank Jurgens, who had been accused of embezzlement. Matt stops by Jurgens’ house and meets his son Chuckie, who’s enraptured by a video tape he has of a time Daredevil fought Bullseye. They treat Matt to dinner and Jurgens claims he’s innocent and his coworker Sam Jutter is spreading lies, jealous that Jurgens got the promotion he thought he deserved.

As the meal goes on, Chuckie starts to behave oddly and makes the claim that he’s Daredevil. Matt is concerned but Jurgens tells his son to knock it off. Later, Jurgens shows Matt his revolver to prove that he has his family protected. A few days later, Daredevil pays Chuckie a visit at school, to understand the effect he has on him. He takes Chuckie for a ride bouncing around the nearby rooftops. Chuckie expresses his admiration for Daredevil, especially how he doesn’t let anyone push him around. Daredevil points the gun at himself once more. Click. Then, it’s Bullseye’s turn again. Click. Two shots left. Daredevil realizes in hindsight that Chuckie really needed some psychiatric help, but admits he was too wrapped up in his admiration. He says he should have thought about what he was being admired for, and wonders how much good he’s actually doing. Some time later, Daredevil ends up following Jutter to a meeting he’s having and unbeknownst to him, Chuckie followed as well. Daredevil points the gun at himself for the last time. Click.

Before he gives Bullseye the final round, he figures he should finish his story. Daredevil and Chuckie both find Jutter meeting with Jurgens, discovering that Chuckie’s father really is guilty and Jutter is planning to blackmail him. Jurgens pulls his gun on Jutter and Chuckie makes his presence known. Jurgens gets angry and Daredevil subdues him before making his final dumb move; he knocks Jurgens out in front of his own child. A week later, Matt goes to check on Chuckie at home and finds he’s retreated into his own mind, watching the video over and over and muttering to himself. Matt gets Chuckie some psychotherapy but it turns out not to be enough when Chuckie ends up shooting another child who made a jab about his dad. Daredevil wonders who Chuckie was pretending to be in that moment: his father, Bullseye, or possibly even Daredevil himself. It’s hard to say, as Chuckie has now stopped speaking completely.

Daredevil once again entertains the possibility that he was really teaching violence, rather than fighting it. Daredevil wonders how Chuckie would’ve been if he’d had a dad like his own, the very man who inspired him to become a hero. He then admits he’s been lying to himself all these years; his father was never perfect. He remembers a time when he was a boy, before he’d been blinded. His father wanted him to study and forbade him from fighting, but just once, he’d given in and gotten into a fight. When he got home, his father was drunk and hit him after hearing what he'd done. Matt ran off, and Jack was instantly regretful. Matt spent the night pondering right and wrong and the laws needed to tell the difference sometimes, and decided then and there to become a lawyer. Daredevil points the gun at Bullseye and thinks about how much he hates him, and how justified he would feel in ending his life. Even still, he pulls the trigger…click. His gun has no bullets. He and Bullseye are stuck with each other.