Zachary Block knows a thing or two about the virtues of perseverance.

After being rejected by more than two dozen publishers, the 35-year-old 2003 graduate of Flathead High School was determined to see his vision of the world’s first wakeboard-themed comic book come to life. First conceived in 2011, “Shake the Lake” went through numerous revisions, several artists and a number of setbacks before finally making it to the printing press as a 168-page graphic novel in March.

The idea for the story was born nine years ago as Zach and his brother Machi sat in the 110-degree heat of Bullhead City, Arizona’s annual River Regatta to promote the T-shirts the pair had been printing and selling since high school. With their feet dangling in the cool waters of the Colorado River meandering its way along the border between Arizona and Nevada, the brothers took in a collegiate wakeboarding competition as the first tendrils of what would become “Shake the Lake” began forming in their heads.

“Everyone was on the water having fun like it was one of those ’80s action/comedy movies and I thought to myself, ‘how come there is no media like that out there for wakeboarding,’” Zach said. “We sat there and concocted a fun story, went home that weekend and watched a bunch of those old ’80s movies and were inspired to write ‘Shake the Lake.’”

Eager to begin writing the story in screenplay form, the brothers turned their garage into a giant, walk-in storyboard, complete with wake magazine cutouts, character notes, thematic point-to-points, story beats and a collection of phrases, industry lingo and lone ideas that needed to be placed somewhere in the work. Their roommates curiously waited weeks to learn the details of the “secret project,” which was being worked on night and day behind closed doors. Hundreds of note cards were pinned to the walls containing dialogue, wardrobe notes, character details and all matter of brain dump. The unworthy ideas were strewn about the floor in a crumpled up mess, occasionally to be picked up, vetted and mostly discarded again.

Three weeks later, the weary, unshaven brothers emerged from their creative den with the core story that would become “Shake the Lake.”

Zach describes the final concept as a fun-loving coming of age story, with depth aimed at people like him and his brother during high school — interested in art and comic books and movies, but also action sports.

“We were equal parts athlete and nerd, so that is our target audience. A lot of people don’t think that exists, but that’s me and all the friends I had while growing up. It’s my brother. It’s who we are,” he said. “There are a lot of bikinis and it appears on the surface a lot like the ’80s movies that inspired it, but it is really a sincere friendship and coming of age tale. I have been told it is a lot more ‘Stand by Me’ than it is ‘The North Shore.’ It’s fun and it’s funny and it doesn’t take itself too seriously. It’s about fighting the inevitability of growing up and then learning to accept it with the help of your friends — with boats, water, bikinis and wakeboarding.”

While the concept had been solidified, the story was revised a dozen times before Hollywood came calling as “Shake the Lake” was optioned to be developed into an independent feature film. Lev Spiro was tapped to direct, a team of professional wakeboarder stuntmen and women were consulted and it looked like cameras would roll in the summer of 2013, but as summer faded, so did the outlook for production.

Undaunted, Zach was determined to find a way to get his story out to the world.

In the hopes that a book deal would spark renewed interest in a movie deal, Zach began looking for artists to bring the idea to life on the comic book page. With an artistic vision of the artwork used to promote the video game Grand Theft Auto as his guide, Zach hired, and then fired, several artists before coming across one on a comics forum that looked promising. Again, the optimistic turn would not last.

“This latest artist was slowly disappearing into the ether with all of the time and money we had spent on them,” Zach said. “The process was terrifying to me because I was spending a lot of money on art and had more than one illustrator fail to hit their deadlines and disappear with my down payments.”

Just when all hope seemed lost, the Blocks found their artists — ironically in another pair of siblings.

The Mexico-based brother and sister art team of Diego and Andrea Lopez Mata caught Zach’s attention when they answered a request for artists he had posted on an online forum and they soon had the job.

“I had been looking for that realistic kind of art style in a non-superhero comic so I asked some comic shops and came up with very few examples,” Zach said. “The art Diego and Andrea sent us fit right into our vision. It was fun and almost photo-realistic, which is what we were looking for.”

Over the next five years, Zach worked closely with the Mata siblings to put the book together, but kept their interactions electronic, only speaking with the pair on the phone after the book had been completed.

“I was afraid that, having been burned so many times, that if I put any kind of personality into our relationship that it would change the dynamic. They were so professional and courteous and I did not want that to change,” Zach said. “We wrote thousands of emails back and forth for years but never actually spoke until after the book was finished.”

As the work moved along, pages were sent to potential publishers in four volumes. Each time, the book was met with rejection.

Still determined to succeed, Zach made the decision to create North Air Entertainment and publish the book himself. When the first few hundred copies came off the presses in March, the majority were sent out for critique and were met with mostly favorable reviews.

With a finished product in hand to send to potential publishers and production companies, Zach is still holding out hope that “Shake the Lake” will be picked for more widespread distribution as a comic or a movie.

“Having worked in the film world in California, I was very used to submitting things and not hearing anything back. I didn’t really have an expectation to receive a response, but there is always that hope,” he said. “No matter what comes of it, out of all of the projects my brother and I have done together, this was definitely the longest and the most fun.”

“Shake the Lake” is available online at North Air Entertainment’s website at www.shakethelakecomic.com and on Amazon.

Reporter Jeremy Weber may be reached at 758-4446 or [email protected].