Time now for another creating Kalwa page, today we’re focusing on Kalwa’s little brother/field partner, Zack. We already mentioned on a previous entry that Zack was originally named Risto and was meant to be named Risto and was meant to be kinda a sleuth along with Risto’s original counterpart Juro.

Zack’s name was original changed from Risto on the idea that both sidekicks should NOT end with “o.” The name Zack was chosen as I wanted a name that started with “Z,” feeling that it was the least used letter of the alphabet.

Despite the face that Zack was always meant to be Kalwa’s traveling partner, there were no set plans at the very start of the series to define his exact character. The only requirement was that he was on good terms with his sister. One idea was that Zack was a spy fan and jumped on the idea to live out his own fantasy’s similar to his sister. Evidence of this can be seen in his room in the pages of Chapter 1.

Another idea was to have Zack be a fan of Kung Fu movies, seen in the illustration to the left. Once again Zack would’ve been living out his own fantasy similar to his sister.

It wasn’t until we officially reached chapter 14 that Zack’s character was fully fleshed out. The decision was made to make him quite cowardly and weak, always needing help from his sister. After Kalwa’s horrible experience with Jack the Ripper, Zack would travel with her to provide help and be there when she needed him. Just as she was for him when they were little. In many ways I see this a real unique take on siblings in fiction rather than being your run of the mill sibling rivals.

Since introducing this story arch, Zack has become a consistently enjoyable character to write. His development from a cowardly and dependent character to a brave adventurer has been one of my favorite parts to write about this story. Further more Zack plays the more rational part of duo, where as Kalwa has a tendency to rush in, Zack holds back and thinks things through. Furthermore his deep bond with his sister is a heartwarming part of the story that wasn’t in the original plan of the story. He is most certainly one of my favorite characters to date to write about and can’t wait to do more with the character.