Black Panther, Fisher-Price Vets Team Up For ‘Judge Kim’ Book Series

New children’s graphic novel series “Judge Kim” is the brainchild of veteran comic book, video game and toy industry experts who pooled their Black Panther, Fisher-Price and film industry knowledge to weave a story series featuring a little black girl who settles disputes in the town of Fairville. Kim, a diverse stand-out with her textured hair, chocolate skin and little dog, is a multi dimensional character whose mom is a judge, which inspires her to take up that job amongst the kid set.

The ten-years-in-the-making story of this series and its art is the subject of a current exhibit in New York City, at the Society of Illustrators Museum of Illustration. It’s also a book that has caught the eye of the School Library Journal’s 2022 Librarian of the Year, KC Boyd.

“This genre is just exploding,” explains Boyd, a former Newbery Award committee judge and librarian in a Washington DC-area school. ”And, here’s the thing. It sends a very silent, yet strong message to the child that says ‘I count” and that “my stories are just as important as my peers.” When I was a kid I didn’t see much of this on the bookshelves or in the libraries. Here we have a story that a young child of color could really latch on to.”

Kim’s school friends encompass the mix of skin tones you might find in your average big city in America. Some kids are identifiably black – like Kim. Others are white. Some are Latino and Asian. Some might be biracial. There are also income differentials that are touched upon lightly in the text, and through Judge Kim’s investigations, offer opportunities for parents to talk to their children about issues as simple as being able to afford a new, fancy bike.

Martin, the son of a New York city public school teacher, came up with the idea after blending two ideas: the success of graphic novels when it comes to increasing reading scores, and his love of old TV judge shows that his mom used to watch decades ago.

“If you think about our country, our country is run by lawyers,” explains Martinbrough, an Image Comics veteran who has been nominated for an Eisner Award and whose comic books projects include The Black Panther, Hellboy and Batman: Detective Comics. “Our congressmen are lawyers. And I feel like your average person has a fear of the law because they don’t understand the law. And I was thinking, what would be really cool is to come up with a concept that could entertain kids, but also teach kids and their families about the law from a young age.”

Judge Kim was born. The four co-creators are also friends, all of whom are independently known in the entertainment industry. They pooled their resources to create her story and pitch the idea. Initially she was a TV show, but over the years she has morphed into what and who she is now, as part of the Simon & Schuster publishing family. The book also comes with a glossary at the back, with easy-to-understand definitions of key legal terms that kids ages six to 12 might need to get to know as part of the basics of being an American citizen. One of those words is Judge.

Boyd, the librarian, says the inclusion of a glossary makes the book extremely accessible for teachers and for larger populations of students.

“I’m already thinking six steps ahead,” she explains. “If I were to do a book talk about these series, the teacher could include the words in the glossary as part of the spelling to be used across the curriculum. That was brilliant on their part to do that. Somebody was talking to a teacher.”

Video game designer and writer Milo Stone also watched judge shows as a kid. As a writer, he thought it would be a fun challenge to combine his childhood interests with the format of a graphic novel, as graphic novels are often more challenging to create because the language is more spare. They also challenge children to read more deeply, as the child can’t depend upon the crutch of an entire paragraph to give them a clue as to what one sentence means.

“The concept of the judge show? A lot of that was applied to the books,” explains Stone. “Those kinds of shows are so wildly popular. That kind of format is a perfect format for a kids book. We hope this stands out because it’s so unique compared to all the other book series, and it’s unlimited in the amount of stories you can do.”

The characters also benefit from having been touched by experienced writers who understand that a children’s book benefits from subtle character development.

“We want characters with flaws,” says Stone, bringing to mind any number of popular Marvel, Image or DC characters who are made more interesting because they sometimes struggle.

Illustrator Christopher Jordan said the choice to make the main character a darker-skinned black girl was deliberate in terms of showcasing diversity, as was the choice to center the type of kids-antics you might find in any class of neighborhood in the United States. Or, in the kids case, in the town of Fairville, where everything ought to be fair.

The diverse note is key, because books produced by and about kids of color still lag behind the numbers of books published that center white children. Also worth noting is that is that this book series tells stories that are positive without skewing saccharine, preachy or patriarchal.

The Society of Illustrators event runs until March 18 and gives the public – and fans of the authors – to see the work of illustrator Christopher Jordan up close and personal.

“Our young visitors have spent hours reading the work on our gallery walls,” says Anelle Miller, the executive director of the Museum of Illustration. “We are proud to be hosting an exhibit featuring the art from this incredibly creative as well as educational children’s book series.”

Jordan is humble when talking about his decade-long contribution to the series. His work is in demand, and he has contracted with clients big and small, but all the while he stayed with Judge Kim.

“We’ve worked on this project so long together, all together, it would kind of be unimaginable to not see it through,” says Jordan. ”It doesn’t get more rewarding than to be able to not only get to the finish line, but get to the finish line with a major publisher.”

Judge Kim and the Kids Court: The Case of the Missing Bicycles, written by Martinbrough, Stone and Joseph Illidge, and illustrated by Jordan is on sale now. Creating Justice: The Art of Judge Kim and the Kids Court can be found at the Society of Illustrators in New York City.