Kid superhero Zack Commonda may have got his moniker “Kaboom” by accident, but a loud kaboom is the exact impact creator and writer Jay Odjick is aiming for with his new graphic novel.
“If I’m going to do a book with a company as big as Scholastic, that’s why it’s called Kaboom! (because) we’re going to make some noise,” said Odjick, a member of the Kitigan Zibi Anishinabeg First Nation in Quebec.
“We need our own people to do things that are big and splashy, that we think about, we care about, that we love… But we still need the platforms and the stages that these bigger non-Native companies can give us.”
Odjick is no stranger to the big stage. In 2023, his cousin Gino Odjick, who played eight seasons with the Vancouver Canucks, passed away. The Canucks approached Jay, who is also an artist, to design a warm-up jersey in honour of Gino. Jay included a Thunderbird in the jersey’s crest, as well as a Medicine Wheel on the shoulders. The Canucks’ merchandise bearing Jay’s artwork was sold for one week and raised $1.6 million, which was distributed among three B.C. First Nations with which Gino had worked.
“We are capable…but we need these existing platforms. We need these big corporations because…we’ve been prevented from creating these mechanisms for ourselves. So we don’t have a platform the size of an NHL team…the size of a Scholastic,” said Odjick.
“What I have tried to achieve and to demonstrate is that if we’re put on those platforms, we can be a force. We are a sales force, we are an economic force, but we need those platforms.”
Scholastic Canada is the largest publisher and distributor of children’s books in the country. Odjick connected with Scholastic in 2017 when he illustrated Robert Munsch’s Blackflies. Two years later he illustrated Bear for Breakfast and convinced Scholastic to publish the book in Anishinaabemowin. Scholastic, in turn, asked Odjick to write some graphic novels for them. While working on his first graphic novel, which he describes as an “art house coming of age story,” he pitched Scholastic on another work.
“I had been kicking around the idea of Kaboom! for a while,” said Odjick. “Scholastic doesn’t really do superhero books, and this is a pretty straight-up superhero book… I didn’t think they’d go for it. But they actually responded with a three-book deal.”
The next two books are to follow in 2027 and 2028. The sequel has already been written, says Odjick, and is in the process of being edited.
Kaboom! and the series is aimed at children nine to 12 years of age, but Odjick said, “I just wrote it essentially to be entertaining for people as a whole.” He likens the tone of the book to Sonic the Hedgehog movies.
Kaboom! Volume One: Blast Off! sets the stage for the organization FUSION (First Universal Secret Indigenous Operatives Network) comprised of Indigenous superheroes from around the world.
At the heart of the book is Zack and his family. Zack doesn’t learn until his Aunty’s home is invaded by bad guy King Viper and flying robots that his parents are Greywolf and Shadowbird, members of FUSION. Then he discovers his own superhero suit and takes off to find King Viper, who has kidnapped his parents.
But also on the line is the climate as uber bad guy tech tycoon Konstantin Pierce has launched millions of satellites that can control the weather and is blackmailing country leaders.
“Even though it’s a kid’s book and it’s designed to be entertaining, there’s some things in there that I think are very relevant to Indigenous peoples… As Indigenous peoples, we have a certain responsibility to act as protectors and stewards of the earth. It was a way to acknowledge our history and traditions as people who have to step up and stand up for the environment and our planet,” said Odjick.
Kaboom! also includes some Anishinaabemowin scattered throughout. It was important for Odjick, who isn’t fluent in his language, to “normalize” Anishinaabemowin and use the graphic novel as an “out of the box” opportunity for learning.
Odjick learned to read from comic books at the age of five. As he got older, he realized that comic books never included Indigenous superheroes but always included Indigenous stereotypes. Kaboom! grew from his need “for representation of different Indigenous people in positive ways in the media.”
Odjick also came to realize that positive representation wouldn’t happen on the entertainment scene until Indigenous people were directing and writing movies and television shows or writing and drawing graphic novels and comic books.
For Kaboom!, Odjick is joined by illustrator KC Oster, Ojibwe-Anishinaabe from Rainy River First Nation in Ontario.
While Odjick is confident that Indigenous kids will see themselves in the fun and crazy shenanigans of Zack and be entertained, he says it’s even more important that Indigenous kids understand that Kaboom! is the work of an Indigenous creative team.
“I really hope that…I can reach the kids who maybe have never seen themselves in a job like mine, that they can say, ‘Look, if this meathead can do it, I can do it too.’ Because I really am. I’m just a regular dude, you know? I’m just a guy who can’t handle a nine-to-five-day job, so I found a way to exist that makes me fulfilled. And that to me is true success,” said Odjick.
“During that time with the Canucks, when I worked on that (jersey), I heard from, I think, almost every Indigenous NHL player, who was telling me, ‘I do this because of Gino. Gino was the one who showed me this was possible’.”
As for non-Indigenous kids, Odjick said, “Hopefully (Kaboom!) helps kids who are not as familiar with Indigenous issues and Indigenous culture and Indigenous peoples to have an open mind.”
Kaboom! Volume One: Blast Off! is available in the bookstores as of Feb. 3. Kaboom! can be purchased through https://www.scholastic.ca/our-books/book/kaboom-volume-1-blast-off-9781443198363
