Daredevil: Dark Nights-Comic Book Review and Summary
Daredevil: Dark Nights Spoiler Free Review
Daredevil: Dark Nights is an 8 issue run that includes three separate stories. The first one is about DD waking up with amnesia. The story kind of forgets that the amnesia is a plot point and focuses more on DD running across New England to get a young girl her heart transplant.
The second is about a man the size of a gun, seriously weirdly small, that DD is chasing because of the plot reasons. And the third is a Miami set action rom com between DD and Misty Knight. Each is worse than the last.
The first story is just kind of lame and includes too much of the religious nonsense Daredevil is attached to but it’s just random bible quotes so it doesn’t even tie to a commentary about anything. He doesn’t fight some bad guy, he just runs around on this mission he’s given himself the second he wakes up in the hospital for a reason we never get.
The second story is just dumb. It’s so dumb. It’s one of the dumbest things I’ve ever read. A tiny little man, described as being 10 inches tall, which would make him the smallest person ever in the history of the world, steals evidence and can run really fast and jump up buildings to outpace Daredevil. With his 4 inch legs. Some other stuff also happens but it’s all just groan out loud dumb.
The third story is also dumb but has the bonus of being offensive! Matt Murdock is in Miami for a law case, he runs into Misty Knight on the beach in her bikini and they immediately start flirting.
Then they do some action stuff that involves DD forcefully kissing a naked woman and Misty almost getting raped. (Sorry that’s kind of a spoiler but this issue sucks so I don’t care that much). Basically, everything that’s wrong with female representation in comics all in three short issues.
I do not, cannot, and will not recommend this Daredevil run to anyone. It is a hard pass.
Daredevil: Dark Nights Summary and Spoilers
Daredevil: Dark Nights is an 8 issue run separated into 3 different stories. I’ll break it down by the story but each is worse than the last so strap in.
Angels Unaware (Issues 1-3)
Writer and Artist, Lee Weeks
Murdock wakes up in a hospital and we’re told he has amnesia but that doesn’t matter because he appears to remember everything right away anyway. He at least remembers he’s Daredevil and has super hearing because he can hear that a little girl across the state needs her heart transplant and he must be the one to find and deliver it.
This is a pretty lame premise for DD. The best part about DD as a character is that he can fight the bad guys as Daredevil and use his lawyer skills as Matt Murdock to put them away in jail. Running good samaritan errands for sick kids is not what I typically look for in these comics.
We also get the added bonus of the author shoving in the religious crap that DD is attached to. However, instead of making a comment on his struggle with his faith or morality they just add in some bible verses throughout the story.
So DD runs through a blizzard to find the heart that was in a helicopter that crashed in the storm and dives into the freezing river to rescue the pilot and the heart and then run some more to get to the hospital to give this random girl in a city of probably hundreds of people who need transplants her new heart.
Surprise surprise, DD makes it in time and everybody lives. Yay.
This story was boring and pointless and easily could have been done in one issue instead of stretched across three.
A Man Named Buggit (Issues 4-5)
Story and Art, David Lapham
Story 2 of Daredevil: Dark Nights begins with a recycled origin page from a past run of Daredevil. Guess they were too lazy to write their own so they just attached this easily recognizable one. But don’t worry, if you really love it, it appears again in this book at issue 6!
After that the plot opens with Matt Murdock waiting for his new client at the prosecutor’s office. Apparently, Murdock and the prosecutor going against his client have a date later in a major breach of ethics that I cannot support in any way.
As they are discussing their date night plans a very tiny man shows up and steals the murder weapon from the evidence box. Because murder weapons are just kept hanging out at the prosecutors office well before trial and not being used as part of the investigation. (Sarcasm! They’re really not!) And when I say this man was tiny, I mean he’s the size of the gun. And oily apparently?
So DD goes to chase this tiny man all around the city while making breaks to flirt shamelessly with every woman he passes like he wasn’t just setting up a date or chasing a criminal.
Shockingly, DD doesn’t catch the little man and we follow him all the way to his place where his client was murdered. Now, how his client got home and murdered faster than DD got there is a total mystery to me. They left the same place at the same time (presumably) but his client beat him by long enough to get murdered and have his wife start crying over his body. How?
And now the little man has a bomb. The size of his whole body of course. Because he just had that waiting around in the client’s apartment, who also is apparently the tiny man’s cousin.
So DD goes on the chase again while also the Avengers are fighting a big monster. DD makes choices not to kill whoever it is the actual bad guy is that shows up for the plot reasons and is about to send him away to jail when the big monster falls over and crushes him, the end.
This story in Daredevil: Dark Nights was so dumb it gave me a nosebleed.
In the Name of the King (Issues 6-8)
Story, Jimmy Pamiotti Pencils, Thony Silas Inks, Nelson Decastro
This brings us (finally) to the last story. Starts again with that recycled origin page in case you really needed a reminder that Daredevil had a prize fighter father and is blind.
Matt Murdock is in Miami for a law case because New York City lawyers often practice out of their jurisdiction. At the pool he runs into Misty Knight and they immediately start flirting as if that is totally normal for their characters to do together. A lot of sarcasm here if you weren’t picking up on it.
Some bad guys kidnap Murdock’s client so he switches to DD and him and Knight chase after them, her in her bikini the whole time. Along the way DD rescues a female civilian who’s towel has come loose so she’s just naked and screaming.
So DD forces a kiss on her to get her to stop screaming and she just brushes it off like having someone in a mask force themselves on you is cool under any circumstances. But it’s cool because he didn’t slap her instead?
DD and Knight are now just doing some generic action things while exchanging a bunch of gross double entendres. Knight has her tits out the whole time because we all know how practical that is.
So it turns out that the big bad drug dealer man we’re afraid of for this story is Knight’s ex. He of course has her kidnapped and brought to him.
So when Knight obviously rejects his shotgun proposal to get back together he drugs her and puts her in the torture dungeon he already has available so she can be raped a bunch before he kills her.
DD comes to the rescue and I will give this book this very small little point. Knight breaks free of her own chains and kicks some butt and probably would’ve gotten free on her own but this small little victory for her does not forgive the rest of this garbage fire.
So Misty Knight didn’t get full damseled but the book then abruptly ends with the bad guys away, in jail I guess?, and Knight and Murdock on the beach kissing. Weird.
I don’t like these characters together. It doesn’t work for me. It made me feel uncomfortable. Like watching two coworkers get drunk and sloppily make out at the office xmas party and then act like nothing happened the next Monday. It was weird and I wish I hadn’t seen it.
Basically, Daredevil: Dark Nights was a total failure. It checked all the boxes for what could be bad about a run of Daredevil. It started boring, gave me that same damn origin story twice, had some ridiculous nonsense as the conflict, and was super sexist. None of the plots were well written and seemed just slapped together using a flawed formula. Avoid this one.
I in no way recommend this run of Daredevil. I hate it when a character I love gets destroyed. I’ve had to give “hated it” reviews to more that one run of Daredevil and that makes it very hard to declare myself a fan. The 5 star runs are out of this park great but this drivel makes the whole comic book genre look bad.
1/5 devils 👿
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Daredevil by Bendis and Maleev Ultimate Collection Vol. 1 (Daredevil (1998-2011))