Our History

October 1995
In an attempt to woo Kim, Jason creates characters based on what the couple looked like as kids, and they begin appearing on various homemade gifts.

October 1997
Jason develops a comic strip based on the characters and submits it to the Northern Star, the official newspaper of Northern Illinois University. Kim & Jason is soundly rejected on the grounds that “college students would not be able to relate to it.”

September 16, 1999
JBiRD iNK is established as a real business entity for Jason’s freelance illustration and design career. The “iNK” was chosen to make the company sound like a real company while avoiding the costly incorporation fees.

May 20, 2000
Kim and Jason get married in real life. They are introduced at the reception to the Darth Vader theme, an unwitting nod to the Adultitis fighting that would come.

August 8, 2000
With the decision made to focus on Kim & Jason full-time and turn it into a full-fledged business, KimandJason.com officially launches, and the first strip is published.

November 15, 2000
Cholesterol Killed the Dinosaurs, the first Kim & Jason book, is published. It was 24 pages long, was printed at a local copy shop, and assembled by hand. Dozens were sold.

February 2, 2001
The first-ever news article is published in the Wisconsin State Journal, with some sweet full-color graphics.

April 1, 2001
Jason publishes the first full-color Kim & Jason Weekend strip. With visions of revolutionizing the comics page, he paints the strip by hand. It becomes the first and only hand-painted Kim & Jason Weekend strip.

May 2002
Just months after 9/11, Kim and Jason travel to New York City to walk the National Stationery Show and meet a licensing agent who is interested in repping Kim & Jason.

July 2002
We attend our first trade show, the Gift & Home market in Chicago, and begin selling our prints and greeting cards in real-life gift shops.

September 21, 2002
Kim, Jason, and Jenna exhibit their wares at Cheese Days in Monroe, Wisconsin. They set up shop outside Frame-It, one of the first retail stores to carry “Kim & Jason” gifts.

November 2002
The company begins donating a percentage of every product sold to a charity that helps children. The first check goes to the National Adoption Center.

Throughout 2003
Jason starts doing cartooning workshops in elementary and middle schools. Often visiting each classroom for three consecutive days, he guides students through the writing, drawing, and inking of a comic strip. The practice helps him get really good at holding the attention of an audience, which would serve him well going forward.

February 24, 2003
News Tribune, Jason’s hometown newspaper, is the first paper to add the daily Kim & Jason comic strip.

August 11, 2003
Frustrated by the continual perception of Kim & Jason as a children’s brand, consideration was made to give the people what they wanted. But after realizing that the real reason the company was started was to help grown-ups, Jason and Jenna brainstorm the slogan, “Escape Adulthood” at a gift show in Minnesota.

June 25, 2004
The first licensing deal is signed with a company in Japan that wants to use Kim & Jason artwork on photo albums and school yearbooks. Naturally.

February 21, 2005
After doing a bunch of cartooning workshops in schools, Jason gets booked to give his first-ever “Escape Adulthood” talk to a group of about 40 adults in Cedarburg, Wisconsin. It is a major turning point as Jason realizes he needs to do more of THIS.

April 11, 2005
Fueled by enthusiasm, youthful naïveté, and an overly optimistic plan to make a living selling books, Kim announces her resignation from teaching kindergarten.

April 21, 2005
The team hosts “Cruisin’ for Wishes,” a fundraising event for the Make-A-Wish Foundation at the Marriott in Madison. A cruise is given away, and over $10,000 is raised for the organization.

July 22, 2005
Escape Adulthood, Jason’s first non-Kim & Jason book, arrives from the printer. It shares the philosophy on life that inspired the comic strip and would serve as a major catalyst for securing speaking engagements.

August 1, 2005
Kim is down to her last paycheck period from teaching…still no gigs booked for fall.

August 8, 2005
Huzzah! Kim books Jason’s first national speaking gig in Seattle. The client pays more in travel than for the fee, but the duo is just thrilled that anyone would pay them to go to a city they’d always wanted to visit.

January 1, 2006
Kim and Jason kick off the Escape Plan with Challenge #1. Conducted live over 40 days, the challenge had the couple post their responses to each challenge online, and readers voted for a winner. Kim ultimately edged Jason in the final tally. His request for a recount was denied by the Supreme Court.

November 8, 2006
After coining the term “Adultitis” a little over a year earlier, Kim & Jason found the Cure Adultitis Institute to raise awareness for and help cure this insidious disease. The Adultitis.org website launches, and a month later, Yahoo! would name it as Site of the Day.

January 27, 2007
Artistic burnout and an increasingly busy speaking schedule make it difficult to maintain the pace of publishing a daily strip. After several months of deliberation, Jason decides to retire Kim & Jason, and the final strip is published on this date.

December 8, 2007
We host the 12 Days of Wishmas to benefit the Make-A-Wish Foundation. It features fun activities like ornament-making, gingerbread house-building, and a visit from Santa!

November 15, 2008
Establishment of the Twitter account, and with it, the posting of the first tweet, which was a ground-breaking piece of literature in 140 characters: “sitting at Barnes & Noble, which is a little bit of heaven on earth.” The company’s Facebook page is set up the following day.

February 8, 2009
Just two months old, Lucy travels with her parents to Jason’s speaking gig in Mundelein, IL. Seventeen days later, she’d board the first of 34 flights she’d take in her first year of life. For some reason, back-of-the-room sales at Jason’s programs skyrocket.

September 9, 2009
There’s An Adult In My Soup, a collection of essays by Kim and Jason is published. People who pre-order get a souvenir can of alphabet soup.

May 4, 2010
Jason delights the audience at a national conference held in Milwaukee, selling out of Adultitis First Aid Kits. Later, while eating dinner near the river, Kim and Jason spot one of the Kits “in the wild” when they see an attendee hanging out with friends at the bar. It is a big moment that serves as a sign for the couple that a decade of hard work is paying off, and they are on the right track.

September 13, 2011
Roughly four years of not making any real art after the retirement of Kim & Jason, which Jason calls his “fallow period,” he picks up his paintbrush and begins making art again. A new adventure begins.

November 2011
Just You Wait is published. The book is a response to all the people who warned Kim & Jason about how much more Adultitis they could expect once they became parents. It features a collection of private and honest essays they wrote during their first year of parenthood.

August 24 & 25, 2012
The first-ever Escape Adulthood Summit is held in Madison. Part conference, part retreat, part mastermind group, it is a wild rumpus of epic proportions that attracts attendees from all over the United States.

July 2013
A big decision is made to emphasize the message over the messengers, as the official brand shifts from “Kim & Jason” to “Escape Adulthood.” The occasion is marked with a branding makeover that includes a new logo, website and custom font designed by Jason, called “Escape Sans Bold.”

March 28, 2013
A book agent reaches out to Jason to inquire about representation. A direct result of all the art he has been creating and sharing, Michelle discovered Jason through some art shared on Facebook by a friend of a client. She would ultimately secure a publishing deal with St. Martin’s Press in New York.

June 29, 2014
Jason earns the designation of Certified Speaking Professional from the National Speakers Association, an honor held by less than 10% of speakers in the world.

June 23, 2015
Penguins Can’t Fly +39 Other Rules That Don’t Exist is published. It is the first of Jason’s books with a traditional New York publisher (St. Martin’s Press) and the first to feature his full-color artwork throughout. It also inspires the 25-city #Notarule Tour and 2,300-mile family road trip to zoos, ice cream parlors, and bookstores throughout the country.

January 1, 2016
Disgusted over having three annual reviews in a row in which he wished he had spent more time making art, Jason commits to his first Tinker Project: to create 100 new pieces of work. He finishes #100 on New Year’s Eve, and the project included his first oil paintings, which would change the trajectory of his portfolio.

2017
Penguins Can’t Fly is published in Korea, making it the first official book Jason wrote that he can’t actually read.

December 1, 2017
The 1st Wondernite is held at Hotel Red in Madison, Wisconsin. It’s an upscale event designed to showcase Jason’s unique blend of art and storytelling. Bucky Badger, mascot of the University of Wisconsin, is on hand for the festivities.

October 16, 2018
The Escape Adulthood League is launched, an online social network for Adultitis Fighters, promising relief from the negativity and division that has consumed the social media landscape.

April 13, 2019
Jason delivers a TEDx talk about rules that don’t exist.

August 2019
A Chance of Awesome is released, a book about how changing the way you see changes everything. It would prove to be very relevant seven months later.

March 17, 2020
Escape Adulthood LIVE is born out of a series of livestreams that started on St. Patrick’s Day, shortly after the COVID-19 pandemic was declared a national emergency. It brings hope, encouragement, and a sense of community during a dark time.

August 2020
The Wonder & Whimsy Society, an exclusive and secret society of Adultitis Fighters, is founded.

July 10, 2021
Jason and Kim appear on stage together at Caesar’s Palace in Las Vegas to deliver the opening keynote at the National Speakers Association’s annual conference.

August 2, 2021
Jason debuts his first short film, Here Comes the Sun, about the couple’s remarkable story of finding and moving into their dream home during the pandemic.

October 2022
Kim publishes her first solo book, Wonderhunt. The inspirational daily reader is a 31-day journey back to wonder that shares Kim’s personal journey through a dark time, including a series of photo prompts to help readers reconnect with their heart through nature.

September 2022
Jason’s dream studio, Echo Base, is officially completed.

August 2023
Must Be Nice is published. A fresh and funny take on comparison and gratitude, the book helps people figure out why you’re here and what to do next.

July 20-21, 2024
Jason exhibits at the Midsummer Art Fair in Sheboygan, Wisconsin, inviting kids to contribute to artwork he paints live during the event.

September 2025
The Penguin Who Flew, Jason’s first children’s book about a persistent penguin with an impossible dream, is published.

May 2026
The Escape Adulthood League is reimagined as The Wonderground, a vibrant online secret hideout for Adultitis Fighters.

August 1, 2026
The inaugural print of The Collector Club is released (#CC-001) and sent to 134 Founding Collectors who love Jason’s art and still believe there’s magic in receiving something meaningful in the mail.