Whiz Kid: Redmond Teen Readies Second Comic Strip Collection

Name, age: Seth Campos, 15.

School and Neighborhood: Seth is home-schooled and lives in Redmond. 

Accomplishments: A talented cartoonist, Seth has just published his second book, Real Bears Eat Takeout, a collection of his original comic strips. Seth had previously published Welcome To Beeky Airlines. 

Seth’s strips revolve around the humorous adventures of 11-year-old Carl, Ben the entrepreneurial bear, and Beeky the inventor-bird.

Key to awesomeness: Seth started reading comics when he was young and began drawing when he was about 8. Without any training, he decided to try his hand at creating his own strip.

“I just learned by drawing,” said Seth.

Seth first started drawing on paper, but switched to using a graphics tablet to make production easier.

Seth bases his strips on things that happen to him and his friends in real life. He has also been heavily influenced by Calvin and Hobbes, one of his favorite strips. 

Seth’s mother, Lucy, who had worked in the publishing industry, thought Seth’s work was good enough to be published. In order to help make this dream come true, Lucy started her own publishing company, Mubby Books, and released Seth’s first book in 2010.

“It was exciting, and it was encouraging that she thought they were good enough to publish,” Seth said.

Seth remembers when that first run of books showed up late at night, saying it was surprising to see them in completed form.

“It was pretty amazing,” he said.

Barnes & Noble carried Seth’s first book, as well as local independent booksellers and websites like Amazon.

Seth credits his work’s success on the fact that the material is funny while being safe and appropriate for anyone.

Seth has plans for a third book and has already started working on strips. When things are going well, he can churn out one or two new strips a day.