Johnny Zito (born John-Paul Zito 1982) is a writer, film maker and artist best known for as a co-creator of Philadelphia studio South Fellini.

Early life

Johnny Zito is a native of

Philadelphia Philadelphia ( ), colloquially referred to as Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania, most populous city in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania and the List of United States cities by population, sixth-most populous city in the Unit ...

and graduated from

Saint Joseph's Preparatory School St. Joseph's Preparatory School, known as "St. Joe's Prep" or simply "The Prep", is an urban, private, Catholic, college preparatory school run by the Society of Jesus in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. The school was founded in 1851 ...

in 2000. Afterwards, he attended

Temple University Temple University (Temple or TU) is a public university, public Commonwealth System of Higher Education, state-related research university in Philadelphia, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. It was founded in 1884 by the Baptist ministe ...

obtaining degrees in Film, New Media and Theology.

Career

Zito's early career began in print with political cartoons. Most notably for Review Publishing. In 2008, along with co-writer

Tony Trov Tony Trov (born Anthony Trovarello 1983) is an American film maker, comic book creator and musician best known for as a co-creator of Philadelphia studio South Fellini. Early life Tony Trov is a native of Philadelphia PA and graduated from Girar ...

, he won the March

Zuda Comics Zuda Comics was DC Comics' webcomics imprint from 2007 until 2010. Some of the imprints series won awards and nominations from comic industry's Glyph Comics Awards and Harvey Awards. ''Bayou, Volume 1'' was also named one of the 2010 Great Graph ...

competition with '' The Black Cherry Bombshells''. The duo's sophomore effort, ''La Morté Sisters'', was also purchased by Zuda Comics in 2009. Both comics were nominated for

Harvey Awards The Harvey Awards are given for achievement in comic books. Named for writer-artist Harvey Kurtzman, the Harvey Awards were founded by Gary Groth in 1988, president of the publisher Fantagraphics, to be a successor to the Kirby Awards, which wer ...

in the Best Online Comic Category; 2009 and 2011 respectively. When Zuda Comics dissolved in 2010, ''The Black Cherry Bombshells'' and '' La Morté Sisters'' were migrated to the DC Online imprint along with several other popular titles. In 2009, Zito and Trov teamed with

Comixology Iconology Inc., d/b/a ComiXology (styled comiXology), was a cloud-based digital distribution platform for comics owned by Amazon, with over 200 million comic downloads . At its height it offered a selection of more than 100,000 comic books, g ...

to digitally distribute a mini-series based on their self-published comic ''Carnivale De Robotique''. Zito and Trov's webcomic based on the public domain character Moon Girl was digitally distributed through Comixology before being printed by Red 5 Comics in Spring of 2011. In 2010 they began digitally distributing a space-horror webcomic '' D.O.G.S. of Mars'' through Comixology. This webcomic was adapted in graphic novel form by

Image Comics Image Comics is an independent American American comic book, comic book publisher and is the third largest direct market comic book and graphic novel publisher in the industry by market share. Its best-known publications include ''Spawn (comics) ...

in 2011, and has been optioned as a film by High Treason Pictures. Zito and Trov's production company, South Fellini, released their first feature film, ''

Alpha Girls ''Alpha Girls'' is a 2013 comedy horror film directed by Tony Trov and Johnny Zito and starring Falon Joslyn, Nikki Bell and featuring Ron Jeremy and Schoolly D. Premise Hoping to make a fresh start, Morgan (Falon Joslyn) comes to a new school a ...

'', in 2013 through

Gravitas Ventures Gravitas Ventures is an American film distribution company owned by Shout! Studios. The company was founded by Nolan Gallagher in Los Angeles in 2006, and moved its headquarters from Los Angeles to Cleveland in 2019. It focuses on the distribu ...

. In 2015, production began on a second feature film, '' American Exorcist''. Zito has also designed T-shirts for Shirt.Woot, CBS, and Philadelphia's CheeseSteak Tees.

Comics

DC Entertainment DC Entertainment is an American entertainment company that was founded in September 2009 and is based in Burbank, California. The company is a subsidiary of Warner Bros. Discovery which manages DC Comics characters by working with other units ...

: *'' The Black Cherry Bombshells'' (2008- 2011) *'' La Morté Sisters'' (2009- 2011)

*'' Carnivale De Robotique'' (2010) Red 5 Comics *'' Moon Girl'' (2011- 2013)

*'' D.O.G.S. of Mars'' (2012)

Films

* ''

'' – 2013 * '' American Exorcist'' – 2018

Awards

* 2009: **

Harvey Award The Harvey Awards are given for achievement in comic books. Named for writer-artist Harvey Kurtzman, the Harvey Awards were founded by Gary Groth in 1988, president of the publisher Fantagraphics, to be a successor to the Kirby Awards, which were ...

Nominee - Best Online Comics Work for '' The Black Cherry Bombshells'' ** 48 Hour Film Project - Best Editing, Best Special Effects for '' The Kingpin of Pain'' ** Finalist Set In Philadelphia Screenplay Film.org for '' La Morté Sisters'' ** CBS Star Trek T-Shirt Design Competition - First place design;

References

External links

* American comics writers American comics artists American writers of Italian descent Living people 1982 births American webcomic creators {{webcomic-author-stub