Daredevil: Dark Nights is a nice, tidy little series. No universe changing events here. Just a short little stand-alone adventure that’s focused on character more than spectacle. While some of the more unique elements, such as Daredevil forgetting who he really is and having to rediscover it, were pretty much dropped after the first issue, the rest of it, though fairly standard, had a lot of heart and substance and made for one great read.
Best of all, there’s lots to unearth and think about from these few issues. My favorite line from issue #3; “Today’s good never outruns past sins. Can’t earn what’s already been paid for; so don’t try.” Wow. There’s so much wisdom in there, so much profound and Biblical insight, that I was truly blown away. Daredevil is a character that’s always been driven by a sense of guilt, obligation, and not being good enough. Those have often been the characteristics of him being a “religious” persona, which is accurate because that’s exactly what religion will make you feel like. However, those few words spoken by a character that perhaps helped Daredevil as much as he helped him eloquently demonstrate the difference between Christianity and religion. We can never be good enough to meet God’s standard of Good. However, he knows that and he loves us, that’s why he met the standard for us in Jesus Christ. We can also never be good enough to make up for our sinful nature. Some may feel it’s not fair, but God doesn’t grade on a curve; we mess up in one area, it’s all counted as a fail. However, Jesus Christ again stepped in and took care of that by paying the price for our sins with his death and resurrection. He was good enough, He did pay enough, and He did it all for us so we wouldn’t have to. That’s God’s grace (Ephesians 4:29). As this issue says, “It’s his gift.” Some just can’t accept that gift, which like Daredevil, just leaves them blind, trying hard to do their best to earn that which has already been given. To be honest, I didn’t think I’d see that depth of understanding of what the Bible tries to share in a comic book; but it’s here in this one, expressed in just a few lines that aren’t all that far off from John 3:16.
I’ve never been much of a Daredevil fan, but I sure am glad the guys down at Astro-Zombies recommended Daredevil: Dark Nights. It’s a little mini-series that I’ll revisit and even use as an illustration every now and then. It’s a perfect example of just how good a nice, self-contained, character-centered story can be. You don’t have to be up on Daredevil to enjoy this one; you can just pick it up, read it, enjoy it, and move on. More characters could use little side stories like that.
A BIG thanks to Astro-Zombies for providing the material for this review. Learn more about them at astrozombies.com.
Buy it here: Amazon.com
