Louis Karlsen loved playing around his south Minneapolis neighborhood with his friends and two brothers as a kid. He also loved comics and his mom’s cooking. Today, he’s turning those passions into an entrepreneurial adventure that feels distinctly his own.

Karlsen, a psychology major (minoring in philosophy), was drawn to Duluth after taking a campus tour. “The nature up here is really cool — the lake is absolutely fantastic,” he says. “Just being up here and getting some independence has sparked my creativity.” 

That spark inspired Karlsen to launch a business selling onigiris to local cafes. Onigiris are a Japanese rice treat wrapped in seaweed and filled with accents like tuna, salmon and avocado. “I grew up with onigiris in my lunchboxes,” he says. “They were always my favorite.” 

Karlsen has also rekindled his love of comics, creating a strip he calls “Around the Neighborhood.” Karlsen's favorite comic growing up was “Calvin and Hobbes,” and he even briefly began his own comic in middle school called “Cody’s Life,” but it was lost in the shuffle of being a busy kid. 

When he met his residence hall roommate during his first year at Duluth, he found they had a common interest. “My roommate and I discovered that if we combined our “Calvin and Hobbes” collections, we would have the entire collection. So “Calvin and Hobbes” reignited that passion for me. I was like, ‘I really do love this.’”

He started drawing again, and soon “Around the Neighborhood” began appearing regularly in UMD’s student newspaper, “The Bark.” Not long ago, Karlsen received a Minnesota News Association award for best use of infographics and illustrations for the strip.

A fusion of interests

Karlsen plans to take advantage of Duluth’s status as a prime tourist destination, bringing the next iteration of his business to the streets: a mobile food cart selling onigiris wrapped in seaweed and packaged inside his comic strip.

If all this seems unrelated to his psychology and philosophy interests, he’s here to tell you — it’s absolutely not. 

“I really wanted to be able to write philosophy on my own in my comic strips,” says Karlsen, recalling the philosophical themes from Bill Waterson’s “Calvin and Hobbes.” “That's why I chose to start taking philosophy classes. It's fun. I'll be sitting in class taking notes about class, but also notes on how I can apply what we've been learning to my comic strip.”

He says faculty have become some of his biggest supporters. 

In Basic Helping Skills, a psychology course taught by Catherine Reich, Karlsen often brought comic strips into small group discussions. After noticing the pattern, Reich invited him to office hours to learn more about his work. She’s been a strong supporter ever since, regularly checking in on how his comics are going. 

Reich wasn’t the only faculty member to recognize and support Karlsen’s creative efforts. Professor and comic book aficionado David Beard, who annually publishes a compendium of creative writings, has connected Karlsen with noted professional comic creators and last year included Karlsen's comic in his annual collection, titled "Sonder Through our Eyes." 

“I was really surprised by how much people cared about it,” says Karlsen. 

Art imitates life

Karlsen’s comic strip recalls the diverse characters and environments from his childhood. The children are inventors and philosophers, daredevils and hockey players, all from a wide and diverse range of backgrounds and experiences. 

“Diversity is something that I grew up with, and I think it's important,” says Karlsen. “I've been trying to create a comic strip that has a diverse cast, where each person can find someone they can relate to. I'm still not there. I mean, there are so many people in this world, I expect I'll never quite get there.”

In fact, Karlsen’s heritage influenced not only his comic, but also his business. 

His grandfather emigrated to the U.S. as a boy from Japan and later founded Kiku Enterprises, a business offering guides for Japanese tourists visiting the Twin Cities. While visiting Japan with his grandfather several years ago, Karlsen noticed that nearly every convenience store sold onigiris.

“They're a staple in Japan,” says Karlsen, “so I felt like this is a good way to honor my Ojichan (an affectionate Japanese term for "grandpa") and his heritage,” says Karlsen.