Jackie Estrada
There’s no blacklist in the Eisner judging room
A heated Twitter conversation that began Wednesday with Jimmy Palmiotti saying it was “a crime” Amanda Conner didn’t receive an Eisner Award nomination for her work on Silk Spectre took an unexpected turn when Landry Walker pointed to a blog post by Eisner judge Frank Santoro in which he lists all the creators who contributed to Before Watchmen and says, “I refuse to buy or read anything by these folks.”
“HOLY SHIT… how could he be a judge then??” Palmiotti replied.
The easy answer is that if everyone who expressed an opinion was eliminated from consideration, there would be no one left to be an Eisner judge. However, Josh Flanagan of iFanboy went straight to Santoro for a response:
Quote of the day | Throwing rocks for comics awards
Eisner Awards
“Eisner committee: You could throw a rock through artists’ alley at SDCC and hit a full slate of worthy Best New Series nominees. In fact, I’m willing to turn the entire comics awards process over to throwing rocks through artists’ alleys.”
– Phil Hester, responding to a statement by Eisner Awards Administrator Jackie Estrada that this year’s judges decided to omit the Best New Series category “because they didn’t find enough contenders that reached the level of quality they were looking for.”