Frank Santoro, Comic Book Judge

In the wake of this year's just announced nominations, Rich Johnston asked Frank Santoro whether or not the feelings related in a recent blog post suggesting that we blacklist all of the creators involved in Before Watchmen had affected his decisions as an Eisner award judge. Santoro responded this way:

I’m glad this subject has come up. I definitely had strong feelings about Before Watchmen when it was announced. However, once I became an Eisner judge, I took my responsibility seriously, set my feelings aside, and considered the books that were submitted—as did all the other judges. (And I don’t believe any of the other judges had actually seen that particular blog post.) These titles and creators were up against strong competition in all the categories for which they qualified, and ultimately none of them made the final nominations list. I actually went to bat for Steve Rude and Darwyn Cooke specifically. Some of the creators I listed in the posting, like Cooke, are indeed nominated for Eisners for other work they did. So no, it did not affect the judging decisions.

All of which seems perfectly reasonable to me. I don't really have anything to add, I just wanted to recognize that Santoro's opinion on the issue had evolved.