The Informed Nonsense of Johnny Zito

Steve Y.B. of The Swimmers wore my South Fellini t-shirt design in this music video he made for the song Fighting Trees.

Although I appreciate the gesture; Saint Cecilia is my favorite Swimmers tune

-Johnny Zito

OK, last Superman for my ‘Happy Birthday’ celebration in The Man of Steel’s honor. This one’s based off of an old Fleischer’s cartoon. It was a lil rushed because I was trying to get it in under the June deadline.

I only managed 7 homages so I guess that leaves me a few to try out in a similar meme around Superman’s 75th, which is right around the corner.

I can’t wait to get to Electro Superman, Tim Sale’s Superman, DC One Million Superman, Red Son Superman and Chris Reeves Superman…

I don’t know if I can wait that long

-Johnny Zito

If you’re just joining us and you want to know what the deal with the Black Cherry Bombshells’ then you’ve come to the right place.

You can always read the whole strip from scratch at BlackCherryBombshells.com but if you’re the kind of kid who skips to the end of the book first; this is the perfect primer.

In the near future ultra violent girl gangs fight for survival in a world where every man has been mutated into a flesh eating zombies.

The Black Cherry Bombshells - wild, tattooed bootleggers - are gaining a powerful reputation amog the Las Vegas gangs. That doesn’t sit well with the local crime boss; the woman they call ‘The King.’

The King, a killer kung fu Elvis impersonator, has a shady history with the BCB leader; Regina. People say the King killed Regina’s mother in a contest to determine who would rule the Vegas gangs. Regardless, Regina is fueled by her quest for revenge against The King and will stop at nothing to kill her and take the evil pig’s place as true ruler of Vegas.

In order to take Regina out and not lose face The King secretly plants a mole within the Black Cherry Bombshells ranks and orchestrates for Regina to die in battle. Being the superior tactition Regina kills her proxy foe and solidifies her grip on the booze trade.

The King is enraged and fed up. She manipulates the mole, Megan, into becoming a reluctant assassin now that she’s gained the gang’s trust. Megan volunteers to return and wait for an oppertune time to kill Regina herself.

Megan is a former magician and escape artists. She’s a spy, not a murderer. After a failed attempt to coerce another BCB member into killing Regina for her, Megan becomes resigned to her fate as double agent.

That should bring you COMPLETELY up to speed for this week’s strip. Check us out on Wednesday and every Wednesday after that at BlackCherryBombshells.com

Thanks,
-Johnny Zito

I was in eighth grade when Kingdom Come came out. The last issue dropped the day I graduated and i could not wait to get my lame lil diploma so I could rush down to the comic shop and find out how it all ended.

This was also my first exposure to Alex Ross’ Superman. As a lil kid I was hooked on the style and even tried my hand at water colors once or twice. Unfortunately I could never give my characters the same breath of life Ross does.

This drawing is based on a splash page from the first issue just after Superman has come out of retirement to help the world deal with it’s super-human over population problems. It gave me goose bumps the first time I saw it.

-Johnny Zito

I have to kick it into high gear here… Just a few days left and it doesn’t look like I’m going to crack double digits.There are so many Superman styles and designs I want to take a crack at still, it’s hard to decide.

Today I borrowed a frame from the opening sequence of Superman: The Animated Series which was a huge influence on me growing up. I learned to draw action watching Timm and Dini’s Superman. I love the economical use of lines and for a long time I drew that way my ‘default’ style.

-Johnny Zito

We kicked it up on Black Cherry Bombshells’ production. We are WAY, WAY, WAY ahead of what’s coming out.

Being saturated in a world where everyone is a sexy, bad ass really makes you appreciate women in general.

-Johnny Zito

This Superman is a fresh design I did for Project Rooftop who are currently doing a Superman Homage of their own.

I’m of the opinion that Superman’s costume can’t be improved on. However, I recognize it might not translate well to every medium. That’s why my submission is specifically designed to work as a costume for the Clark Kent of television’s Smallville.

I tried to keep the uniform in the same tone and style as the other Justice League characters who have guest starred. But I borrowed the ‘S’ shield from Superman Returns and the textures from the Spider-Man movies.

Another strong influence was Thor’s suit in the Ultimates. I scrapped the Superman yellow in exchange for reflective/glowing patches of fabric like the Norse god’s chest plate. Even the suit itself absorbs and concentrates solar energy to feed Clark’s alien physiology. When he really pours it on the whole suit shines.

-Johnny Zito

It appears there was a little glitch with the servers at our host, Zuda Comics, yesterday.

So while there should have been a new strip live at noon, it wasn’t there until today. Our apologies.

Check out the latest at BlackCherryBombshells.com

-Johnny Zito

Believe it or not I’ve never drawn Superman with the long hair. Which is weird because it’s totally the era of Superman in which I came of age.

This black and white (sorry, no time for color today) is based on an Action Comics cover from the Battle of Metropolis arc, which I think had something to do with Lex Luthor dying.

I don’t remember having a problem with the doo. I’m pretty sure it was gone before The Wedding Special in ‘96. Since then people have come to reflect on it poorly, lots of people think it looks like he has a mullet. But it looks like Rolling Stone’s hair with bangs if you ask me.

I do recall Clark looking particularly creepy with a pony tail though…

-Johnny Zito

The conclusion to ‘The Secret Treasure of the Robot Sepaku’ comes out tomorrow.

BlackCherryBombshells.com

If you have a minute to kill please check it out or stop by to play catch up with all the new issues that have dropped since we went live last month.

New chapter begins next week so make sure you’re up to date

-Johnny Zito