The Golden Globes and the Dark Knight

Wow - Heath Ledger won a Golden Globe for Best Actor for his maniacally brilliant performance as the Joker in the summer smash Dark Knight.

Finally, it seems that the moviemakers are doing something right and the 'experts' are taking comic book movies seriously. Took long enough. Superman and Superman II were hits in 1978 and 1980. Batman was a hit in 1989. Spider-Man was a mega-hit. Two more Spidey movies, The X-Men Trilogy, Sin City, 300, Iron Man...all made oodles of money and received critical acclaim. But none of these were nominated for any of the more prestigious awards - Best Actor, Best Screenplay...Best Movie.

Heath Ledger was getting a lot of attention and praise even before his untimely death. After he died, the buzz was, amazingly, upped a notch. I am glad he won, and after finally having seen the movie just this past weekend, it doesn't seem to me as though it was given only because of the tragedy of his passing. He was excellent. The performance was as good as it was billed.

I think that as long they keep making movies like Dark Knight, Spider-Man, Iron Man, Superman and Sin City - the Globes and Oscars won't be able to ignore them anymore - this can only be a good thing.

It will make the folks who are charged with making movies work even harder to gain that attention. It will make them more focused on the comic fans who go to the movies in droves.

After all, who was responsible for Watchmen finally getting made? Not Hollywood. Not really. They had no idea there was even a real demand for these comic book movies. Even after Superman. And Batman. And The Crow. Men In Black. Not until Spider-Man reminded them.

They kinda knew after Tim Burton's Batman. But then Joel Schumacher and his Hollywood types were seduced by the Dark Side. They couldn't get past the campy 60s Batman. They reverted to disrespecting form and nearly killed what was a promising genre of movies.

Now they're back. And they're getting better.

But for every Dark Knight and Sin City, there's a Catwoman, Elektra, Daredevil and Punisher lying in wait. Just like with any genre of movies, there will be some underwhelming options.

Comics themselves are no different. There are good ones and bad ones, and sales usually balances the scales. Comic books are at their worst when they get cocky. Sales are good, buzz is good, so they create new titles and overload the market. Eventually, things settle down and the core titles become the standard again.

As long as the moviemakers keep trying - and remembering the core, comic book-based audience - we should really be seeing more good movies than bad ones.

I can't wait to see what comes next. Right now, the newest offering is Will Eisner's Spirit, directed by Frank Miller. After Sin City and 300, people seem to have taken notice.

And to my way of thinking, as long as the Globes and Oscars start to really take notice of the comic book/action movie, it's all good.