Monday Media Madness: The Eisner… err… Oscar Goes to…
Every Monday, Matt. Murray reviews, revisits and rambles about comics, cartoons and their interactions in and with related media.
by Matt. Murray
At this year’s Academy Awards, Heath Ledger made a certain kind of cinematic history by becoming the first actor to win an Oscar for a role originated in the pages of a comic book. As a nominee, he followed in the footsteps of acting greats Al Pacino and Paul Newman, who were likewise recognized in the Best Supporting Actor category for their respective turns as funny book villains in Dick Tracy and Road to Perdition. (Note: William Hurt was the only other actor ever nominated for a comic book movie, again for Best Supporting Actor as a villain, in 2005’s A History of Violence. However, his character was completely a construct of the film’s creative team, and didn’t actually appear in the graphic novel.)
to DVD. Running from 1983 to 1988, Darkside was the pinnacle of syndicated horror entertainment in the 1980s, a time when no less than five other genre shows were choking up the UHF dial after midnight on weekends. Featuring adaptations of stories by the likes of Stephen King, Clive Barker and Harlan Ellison, occasionally iconic performances by actors such as Jerry Stiller and directorial experiments from special FX guru Tom Savini, Darkside entertainingly filled a void in televised horror anthologies that was left by the canceling of 
and 
two decades prior. It also opened the door for a new crop of programming that included the 1980’s Zone re-launch, Monsters, Freddy’s Nightmares and eventually HBO’s Tales from the Crypt.
