Frazz

Frazz
Author(s)	Jef Mallett
Website	http://www.comics.com/comics/frazz
Current status/schedule	Running
Launch date	2 April 2001
Syndicate(s)	United Feature Syndicate
Publisher(s)	Andrews McMeel Publishing

Frazz is a syndicated comic strip by Jef Mallett that centers on Edwin "Frazz" Frazier, a school custodian who enjoys life. The strip debuted on 2 April 2001. Frazz writes music, rides road and mountain bikes, runs, and simply enjoys living. Frazz often has comic conversations with the students and teachers at Bryson Elementary School where he works.

Style

The strip has a definite literary bent, as characters will frequently wax poetic about classic and contemporary literature, with the characters themselves often employing literary devices, both common and esoteric. Frazz will often use part of his songwriting royalties to purchase books for the school library. A recent story-arc involves a school-endorsed "Get Lost in a Book" day.

Mallett's decision to set the strip in a public elementary school seems to be partially motivated by a desire to share his opinions about public education in America; the school serves not only as a backdrop for students' exploits, but as a defining factor in shaping these children's personalities and opinions. As a former underachieving student at Bryson Elementary, Frazz represents the kind of student who, while bringing home bad grades, manages to be better educated than those students who excel, and then lives a personally rewarding life as a result of having been truly educated, rather than merely schooled. In one early story-arc, one of the students, Caulfield, intentionally does poorly on standardized tests, leading his teacher Mrs. Olsen to conclude that he is either lazy or not very bright. The manner in which Caulfield sabotages his own scores, though, reveals something of the artist's message: On his first attempt, Caulfield uses the shaded-in answer sheet to create a pointillist replica of the Mona Lisa; in another, he transcribes Robert Frost's "Fire and Ice," using the shaded circles to create letters in Braille.

While Frazz has a dim view of the adult world, he brings an adult perspective to the world of second-graders; this contrast highlights both the innocence of childhood and the frequent folly of adulthood, as when Frazz breaks up a fist-fight and admonishes the students to act their age. One of the combatants asks Frazz how that's possible when they're only eight; Frazz responds with, "I mean stop acting like adults."

References to Real-Life People

Many of the characters or locations in the strip are references to real-life people whom Mallett respects. In addition to various literary figures, among the people referenced are the following:

• In a 2008 interview, Mallett said that Bryson Elementary is named after one of his favorite authors, Bill Bryson.

• Frazz plays catch with Caulfield on Bobke's Bluff, referencing cyclist Bob Roll.

• Frazz keeps pictures in his workship of cyclist Steve Larsen, Olympic swimmer and triathlete Sheila Taormina and professional triathlete Tim DeBoom.

Physical Location

While Jef Mallett has not formally identified the setting, he often drops Michigan references into his strips (for example, on Frazz's t-shirts). Some of the location references include:

• While playing with two children, Frazz runs to a village limits sign for Rodney, near Mallett's home town of Big Rapids.

• One of the children tells Frazz and Ms. Plainwell that she saw them the previous evening at Zingerman's in Ann Arbor.

• Caulfield sings parody lyrics to O Little Town of Bethlehem referencing Twelve Oaks Mall in Novi.

• In October 2007, Frazz trains to run in the Motor City Marathon, and Ms. Plainfield coaches Mr. Burke to run in the 5K, in Detroit and Windsor, Ontario while Mallett was training to run in the same race, his first marathon.

• Caulfield tells Frazz that Mrs. Olsen believes reports that Elvis was seen working as a barista at the Water Street Coffee Joint in Kalamazoo..

• Mrs. Olsen asks Frazz to help with her car which got stuck in the snow. After he agrees, and discovers that her car isn't in the school parking lot, she tells him that her car is in Detroit, behind a casino.

• Caulfield and Frazz overlook a winter skyline featuring the three smokestacks from the Lansing Board of Water and Light Eckert Power Station, and a fourth topped by the "worlds largest lugnut" across from Oldsmobile Park, both located in Lansing .

Recurring characters

Frazz — The eponymous character, Edwin Frazier is a 30-something songwriter who took a job as janitor of Bryson Elementary. He took the job because his songwriting career wasn't going well, but then several of his songs became major hits. Now independently wealthy, he keeps his job as janitor because he can. His daily interactions with the students and faculty reveal insight into an unimaginable number of topics: books, music, pop culture, art, history, and many more. A true Renaissance man, Frazz is always ready to teach children and adults more about the world around them. The only true authority figure in the school, he has gained the respect of all of the students, and in doing so, of all the adults. Drawing inspiration from his daily school life, his songs soon become extremely popular. Frazz loves triathlons, bicycling, jogging, swimming, basketball, songwriting, and talking with the students.
Caulfield — An eight-year-old named by his parents after J.D. Salinger's Holden Caulfield, Caulfield is a handful. He is a genius, but hates school because it fails to challenge him. He spends a lot of time in detention for speaking out in class, but whiles away the hours discussing books or logic with Frazz. His fresh perspective on the world brings interesting, often startling revelations to the comic. Caulfield chooses a literature-themed costume every Halloween, often stumping most of the teachers, but which Frazz invariably gets. Caulfield's costumes have included: Scout from To Kill a Mockingbird, Santiago from The Old Man and the Sea, Dorian Gray,, The Frog from The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County, The Greek god Zeus Chief Bromden from One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest A Tralfamadorian from Slaughterhouse Five Mildred Montag from Fahrenheit 451
Miss Plainwell — A first-grade teacher at Bryson Elementary, and Frazz's romantic interest. The students all think they'd be a perfect couple, and the two often go on jogs together while talking about life and love. Like Frazz, Miss Plainwell is also an athlete, running in 5k charity races. She had been hired as a radio station manager before she decided to teach at Bryson Elementary, wanting to work with a "more mature audience." Miss Plainwell bears a strong resemblance to Watterson's "Rosalyn" character from his Calvin and Hobbes strip, but she's actually modeled after Mallett's own wife.
Mr. Burke — Born to teach, Mr. Burke is the best teacher at Bryson Elementary, and Frazz's best friend. His one-on-one basketball matches with Frazz are filled with brilliant discussions--and very little scoring.
Mrs. Olsen — Being very old, Mrs. Olsen is just a few years from retirement--and counts the days. Her disposition is grouchy at best, she hates her job, she hates her students, and she has hated Frazz ever since he was 'her' student. The only good that comes of her reign is that her students learn how to live under a malevolent authority figure while they still have the resilience to overcome it (which could come in handy in the future when they enter the adult world and work force). Another side of her character is seen when Caulfield gets a summer job in her garden (a summer 2005 sequence in Frazz) and they come to have a sense of respect for each other. She is a terrible driver, so much so that Caulfield and other students have set up a betting pool to predict how many parking-lot accidents she will have by the end of the school year. Although Mrs. Olsen resembles the character of Miss Wormwood from Bill Watterson's Calvin and Hobbes comic strip, she is a composite of several of Mallett's teachers and one of Mallett's wife's teachers. In earlier strips, other characters apparently didn't know whether or not Mrs. Olsen was married; on Valentine's Day 2008, Caulfield sent flowers to Miss Plainwell and because of his atrocious handwriting, they went to Mrs. Olsen and were thought to be from Coach Hacker. Mrs Olsen was shown hitting Mr Hacker with her flowers while telling him that she was married.
Mr. Spaetzle — The principal of Bryson Elementary, Mr. Spaetzle could easily be described as clueless. He has all the credentials and runs a smooth operation for the students, but lacks the respect he desires. He looks to Frazz for advice on dealing with students.
Mrs. Trevino — The second-grade teacher at Bryson Elementary. She is known for incorporating food into her lessons, with both a tamale day, and a reference to a gordita day on Cinco de Mayo.
Mr. Hacker — Mr. Hacker is the ultimate in irony: a physical education teacher with no interest in participatory athletics. His arguments with Frazz over what constitutes sports bely an epidemic of uninvolved couch potatoes. Essentially, Mr. Hacker is representative of the anti-Frazz in many ways.
Mr. Uhrmann — A substitute teacher, and the only teacher known to consistently outwit Caulfield, much to Caulfield's chagrin. Caulfield refers to him as "The Uhrmanator".

Comparisons to Calvin & Hobbes

Because of similarities in calligraphic style, Frazz's physical appearance, his station in life as a brilliant underachiever, and his age relative to Calvin of Calvin and Hobbes, speculation arose that Mallett was actually Bill Watterson, or that Frazz was an unauthorized sequel and that Frazz is Calvin as an adult. Some other characters that are similar are Miss Wormwood and Rosalyn in Watterson's strip to Mrs. Olsen and Miss Plainwell in Mallett's strip. Mallett acknowledges Watterson's influence, but denies that he is Watterson or that Frazz is intended as a copy or replacement of Calvin & Hobbes.

In his online column, "Chatological Humor", Washington Post columnist Gene Weingarten published a response by Mallett to the speculation that Frazz was a grown-up Calvin. In the foreword to Live at Bryson Elementary, Weingarten writes, "They're [critics are] focusing not only on hair (Frazz's frizz), but also on his station in life: a brilliant underachiever. Well, Jef assures me that any similarity is unintentional."

LA Times columnist Charles Solomon noted, "The humor and calligraphic drawing in “Frazz” reflect Watterson’s influence, but the strip doesn’t feel like a pallid imitation."

Mallett has alluded to the speculation several times in the strip, including developing a ball game for Frazz and Caulfield that is modeled on "Calvinball." In a September 2003 Sunday strip an introverted student tells Frazz that she wants to be famous, and believes it is possible to be famous for one's work, without exposing your private life to the public eye. Frazz says, "Good point. Like J.D. Salinger or Bill Watterson." She says she's never heard of them. As part of a brief story arc in November 2006, Frazz tells Caulfield "I also used to be Bill Watterson's personal assistant."

Character consistencies

Caulfield is the only recurring, named child character in "Frazz." The others who have appeared have either been unnamed sidelines or kids with names who were not actually part of the cast. For the most part, kids named in the strip are not shown again or, if they do, do so irregularly.

Awards

• 2003 and 2005 Wilbur Award for Promoting Ethics and Positive Values

Anthologies

• Live at Bryson Elementary. 2005, Andrews McMeel Publishing. 128 pages. Includes foreword by Gene Weingarten and introduction by Jef Mallett. ISBN 0740754475
• 99% Perspiration. 2006, Andrews McMeel Publishing. 128 pages. ISBN 0740760432
• Frazz 3.1416. 2008, Andrews McMeel Publishing. 128 pages. ISBN 0740777394. Includes an introduction by Charles Solomon

References

• Durrett, Mike (June 13 2001). Frazz by Jef Mallett - Comic Strip. Retrieved 24 May 2005.
• http://www.comics.com/comics/frazz/html/cast_Frazz.html Edwin Frazier's nickname is "Frazz"

External links

• Frazz at comics.com; daily strips and information about author and characters
• Interview with Jef Mallett by Marc Barringer in VeloNews magazine