I wanted to write a little bit about each character in this comic strip. This is Nate “Z”.
Nate Z is the main protagonist in this story as he joins the band suddenly. (Storyline currently unfolding). He’s young, eager, fairly awkward, and really naive. He’s a raw musical talent that JVJ has seen something in to take him under his wing. I wanted a character to see these stories through his eyes and be the point of view of these stories onto the page. Nate’s a level-headed person, thrown into a super strange tale of joining the traveling circus, but with a lot more vices.
He’s the Disco of Black Metal Disco. Maybe not disco, literally, but more hip-hop, for sure.
I wanted to add a hip-hop flair to the band, and now that I am experimenting with drum machines and electronic music, I thought this would be fun to explore. Meld some heavy metal to some electronic beats. Hopefully, it won’t sound like Limp Bizkit. (Geezus, I hope not!)
I realize that this is a comic strip and not an audio file, so y’all can’t hear the music in my head as I write this. But that’s the fun of it. When I actually add music to this “property,” no one knows what this band would sound like. It’ll be a fun challenge to write a story about a band with no music to go with it. Hopefully, it’ll keep the reader to make their own assumptions about what Black Metal Disco sounds like. It’ll be weird, for sure.
Anyways, back to Nate. He’s fun to draw, and I wanted some diversity in this story, but I didn’t want to make another Miles Morales character. And honestly, a middle-aged white guy creating a character about a young African-American kid is awkward. But I do know young, awkward, struggling musicians, and that is something to write about, regardless of race.
I always thought Kendrick Lamar was super interesting, actually a genius. (Even before the epic diss tracks). Some early photos of Kendrick influenced my idea of this character a bit. When I first wrote this, I thought the idea of Nate Z’s character would be a girl, but that version eventually became Käy-Kay. And that’s another story altogether. So, with Nate being a master at creating rhythm, electronic loops, and scary synth noises (mad beats, as the kids say), this is a good starting point in our story.
I want to write stupid stories about rock & roll, drugs, fame, and how a washed-out band meets the new blood, the new generation, and how Nate Z gets mentored into the biz. Sensei to the student. Jedi to the Padawan. Lead Guitarist to the Guitar Tech kind of situation.
We’ll see how it goes.
Here are some of the early sketches of Nate Z Below.
