Rabbit and Bear Paws

When Chad Solomon was a kid, his mom showed him how to draw a little caricature that involved a figure eight and “a little happy face, two little arms and two little legs.”

January 24, 2008: Volume 35 #02

Chad was hooked. He knew then that he wanted to be an artist.

“Once she showed me how to draw that, I got very, very fascinated (about) learning how to draw things more,” says Solomon, now 31.

“And then of course when I discovered comic books and graphic novels, I found the medium that I wanted to work in.”

Solomon is the creator of the comic Rabbit and Bear Paws, which is the chronicle of two mischievous Ojibwa brothers in 18th century North America.

Rabbit is a 12-year-old boy who is, as Solomon describes, always trying to find ways to make work easier.

His plans and pranks often backfire, leaving him and his younger brother to find their way out of trouble.

Bear Paws is a 10–year-old, six-foot giant whose heart is just as big.

His loyalty to Rabbit leads him to get entangled in their adventures.

“They usually end up getting caught up in the same comical adventures … time and time again because of them being boys and being young they want to experience everything they can get their hands onto,” says Solomon.

Adventure continues

“So they go from one place to another trying to have some fun and trying to get out of trouble, of course.”

Solomon started Rabbit and Bear Paws about 10 years ago but didn’t see the comic’s first publication until 2005.

A member of Henvey Inlet First Nation, near Sudbury, he spent a long time making sure each character was true to the traditional teachings his storylines are now based on.

He still consults with Elders on all of his work prior to publication to ensure it is true to the stories.

“Literally everything gets passed by the Elders before it gets sent out to anybody because I want to make sure that it’s something that … is a positive message. So basically my Elders are my editors on this project.”

Solomon says his family is also integral to his comic.

While his mother got him started at drawing, his grandfather, traditional healer and justice activist Art Solomon (see below), and grandmother inspired him.

“I wanted to do something that would honour both my grandfather and grandmother. And so this is what that contribution is right now. They touched so many people’s lives that I wanted to carry on their memory somehow and I figured that this would be a great way to do it.”

Solomon also has support from family and friends who help him sell at book shows and comic book shops.
He admits he has used them for inspiration when developing storylines and characters.

“A lot of the jokes … are stuff that me and my brothers did when we were kids,” he says.

“I can’t exclude my sisters, either. Actually, my third storyline that I’m creating right now for the website, we have two new major female roles that are coming in.

“One is going to be a young girl with the age of Rabbit and Bear Paws.

“And one is an older female lead character and this character is basically a combination of both my sisters.”

As for the original characters, Solomon explains Rabbit is based on ideas from the Seven Fire Prophecies, while Bear Paws is based on Nanaboozhoo and the adventures created around him.

“Once I found the topics I wanted to do for these books, I knew right away this was something I wanted to pursue and create my own business for,” Solomon adds.

“That’s what I did in 2004 – I put together my business plan. In 2005, we launched the first comic strips.”

Solomon enlists the help of Christopher Meyer, who assists in writing and collaborating with the creation of storylines.

Rabbit and Bear Paws can be seen regularly in updated adventures on their website (www.rabbitandbearpaws.com), as well as on websites such as Native Youth Magazine and in publications such as Say Magazine.

Solomon has also had a graphic novel published, called Adventures of Rabbit and Bear Paws: The Sugar Bush. Now his Toronto-based company, Little Spirit Bear Productions, is set to release a teaching guide based on that novel.

It provides instruction on First Nations studies and graphic novels.

“It’s not just social studies,” Solomon says of the guide. “There’s also history, art, geography and other subjects as well. It will be available via our website (and) the guide is a PDF because it’s easier for a teacher to print out pages of a PDF than break a spine on a book.”

A second graphic novel by Solomon should reach bookshelves by the end of February, he says.

“It’s called Adventures of Rabbit and Bear Paws: The Voyageurs.

“This time they’re enlisted as voyageurs to take the furs from Lake of the Woods down to Montreal, and there’s all the trials and tribulations that would happen a long the way, of course.”

Solomon is also talking to several companies about animating Rabbit and Bear Paws.

“That was the grand plan since the beginning: to go from comic strip, graphic novels, then on to an animated level, either for TV or film, so that’s what we’re currently pursuing right now.”