INTERVIEW: All Rise for Joseph P. Illidge, Shawn Martinbrough, and Judge Kim

A young Black girl dressed in a black judge's gown and holding a gavel smiles widely with her arms spread wide

What happens when Joseph P. Illidge, the Executive Editor of the very adult comics of Heavy Metal, gets together with Shawn Martinbrough, the author of How to Draw Noir Comics? Why, they make a kids’ comic, of course! Introducing Judge Kim and The Case of the Missing Bicycles, the first in the Judge Kim and the Kids’ Court Level 3 Ready-to-Read Graphics series out this week from Simon and Schuster.

As their first foray into kids’ comics, Illidge and Martinbrough are beyond excited to help young readers explore neighborhood mysteries, opening up conversations around real-world topics like the law and the judicial system, while teaching about diversity, fairness, and friendship. When bicycles at school are stolen and the new boy is accused of the theft, Akima “Kim” Webster — inspired after shadowing her mother who is a local judge — takes on the challenge of trying the case, while also confronting a personal challenge in her fear of heights.

The Judge Kim idea sparked from Martinbrough’s love of legal entertainment media and his actual lawyer friend who has to constantly correct him on the many misconceptions he’s picked up in watching shows and movies like L.A. Law. These interactions got Martinbrough and his friend talking about the fact that the average person really doesn’t know much about the laws of the land. “And if you really think about it,” says Martinbrough, “lawyers run this world. You know, if you look at our presidents — most of our presidents have been lawyers. You look at Congress, you look at the House of Representatives — most of these are lawyers.”  Which makes the idea of a children’s book that teaches about legal concepts so valuable. “If you don’t understand the law,” Martinbrough points out, “it’s easy to fall victim to it.” The idea led to a conversation with Illidge and their partner, filmmaker and videogame and toy designer, Milo Stone, who provides the scripts for the Judge Kim series, fleshing out the story and characters.

As a children’s graphic novel, Judge Kim is a far cry from Martinbrough and Illidge‘s usual work, which typically focuses on more adult fare. But the pair are very excited to be on this adventure, with the second Judge Kim book, The Doggie Defendant, available in January. Despite being an artist himself, Martinbrough’s work is a bit mature for a kids’ book — though I’m absolutely certain he promised a sketch of future Judge Kim in a dark alleyway with a lot of Sin City-type rain. This is why Illidge and Martinbrough reached out to their college friend, Christopher Jordan, to join the Judge Kim team as illustrator. With such strong talent working alongside them, Illidge and Martinbrough are certain that this is only the beginning of their children’s comics adventures.

Veterans of the comics industry who first met in the ’90s at Milestone Media, Illidge and Martinbrough’s portfolios are filled with titles like Batman, Punisher, and Luke Cage. One of the adjustments they had to make for this new audience was realizing that not everyone is familiar with the comic format, including parents, educators, or caregivers who might be reading the book to or along with their children. “We take for granted that the comic book — sequential art — storytelling form is not automatic for people to read, even kids,” noted Illidge, “and especially now that graphic novels have really expanded to kids and to middle grade.” That’s where Simon and Schuster’s Ready-to-Read program comes in with an opening spread explaining how to read comics as a requirement of the book.

“It’s really important to just bring [readers] into the language before you throw them into the story,” explains Illidge. “Simon and Schuster set that up as part of their program. We really had no say, but why would we protest? It’s pretty awesome that a kid can just learn that and say, ‘Okay, now I’m ready for my adventure.'” Martinbrough added that he was surprised by the requirement but immediately took to it. “It was just very complete in terms of storytelling and walking a novice through the process of reading comics.”

As for Kim herself, Illidge explains that sometimes for writers, once you find a name for a character, that’s when you really start getting to know them. In this case, he thought back to grade 11 volleyball and an argument he got into with a girl named Kim. “I thought I was being unsophisticated. I said, ‘Well, blah, blah, blah, Kimberly.’ And she said, ‘My name is not Kimberly. My name is Akima.’ And she like, laid me out, man.” This was obviously a moment that stuck with Illidge, solidifying the importance of a name. “So when we were thinking about this strong-willed Black girl who wants to just see some justice, I thought about Akima.” Illidge and the original Akima never spoke again after that 11th-grade fiasco, but he imagines that, if she found out that she was the inspiration for Judge Kim, she’d simply say, “Good job,” and then just walk away.

After Akima, all the other characters and their roles started to fall into place, with particular focus on diversity and inclusivity in terms of ethnicity, class, and more. “Shawn and I are both from New York,” says Illidge. “You’re going to see a bunch of people from different ethnic groups, different backgrounds, different cultures [in our neighborhoods]. And so it was really important for our town of Fairville to really create this diverse group of kids. And what that does is it gives us an opportunity to just see other experiences.” 

The cast is rounded out by Kim’s dog, Digger, who acts as her bailiff and is the focus of the second book. Digger is based on an old dog of Illidge’s who was a Rhodesian Ridgeback. (I had to look that breed up because it sounds more like a dragon than a dog. Perhaps we should upgrade that sketch to a future Judge Kim on dragonback…🤔). 

There is much about Kim — from her dark skin tone to her role as judge in this story — that makes it seem like no coincidence that this book comes just months after the appointment of Ketanji Brown Jackson to the U.S. Supreme Court. “That’s not how book publishing works,” Martinbrough laughs. Anyone in the publishing industry and writing world knows that it takes quite some time for an idea to take shape, find a publisher, and make it to the shelves. This idea has been with the co-authors since 2010, with their agent, Regina Brooks of Serendipity Literary Agency finding a home for Judge Kim with Simon and Schuster almost two years ago. 

We likely will see more books like this now that young girls — young Black girls specifically — have the first Black female Supreme Court Justice to look up to, but Judge Kim is very likely the first out of the gate. “The fact that we have Ketanji Brown Jackson [appointed to the Supreme Court] is fortuitous,” says Illidge, “but I think it also speaks to the fact that we always have to create aspirational stories because we’ll get to the reality. You know, we’ll get there in time. But we’ve got to start with the stories.” 

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Wendy Browne

Wendy Browne

Publisher, mother, geek, executive assistant sith, gamer, writer, lazy succubus, blogger, bibliophile. Not necessarily in that order.

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