Frazz

Frazz is a syndicated comic strip by Jef Mallett that, on the surface, is about school custodian Edwin "Frazz" Frazier and the school where he works, but which, according to Mallett, is really about discovery. The strip debuted on 2 April 2001.

Style and theme
Mallett has explained that the strip is about discovery, and not merely learning. Frazz's job is just the surface. He reads everything from Milton to Hiaasen to bike racing magazines, he writes, he races, he’s an athlete, and he’s a songwriter, discovering the value of a day job. When songwriting started going well, he kept his custodian job because it was the perfect environment for discovery through the energy and interest of the students. Many of the characters are based on his childhood experiences at school, and at home as the child of an educator. Frazz is, at least attitudinally, based on Mallett himself. During a 1996 book tour of schools to promote a children's book he wrote and illustrated, Mallett noticed that the kids wouldn't quiet down for their teachers or principals, but would for the school janitor; he or she was "the man", existing on a separate plane between the students and adults.

Recurring characters
Frazz – The Eponymous character, Edwin Frazier, is a 29-year-old songwriter who took a job as janitor of Bryson Elementary (he mentions that he got out of third grade 21 years previous to the strip's beginning). Later, he says that he is barely thirty, probably meaning that he ages in real time. Mallett describes him as "the voice of reason, the voice of experience and, frequently, the voice of temptation." 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. Because he doesn't look down on them, the students look up to him, and he also has the respect of the adults, with the possible exception of Mrs. Olsen, who remembers what a handful he was when he was in third grade. 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. However, among the students, he seems to have a spot in his heart for Caulfield especially, as he is always spurring him to mischief (often unintentionally), and makes excuses for Caulfield's "bored genius" behavior. He also seems to always clean the detention room where Caulfield spends a good bit of his time. He has a pet guinea pig which he rescued from Mrs. Olsen's classroom and named "Lyle" after Lyle Lovett. Frazz has a sister who works as a nurse, and his mother is said to be an excellent cook and seamstress, but to date these relatives are unseen characters. Frazz admittedly suffers from poor taste in clothes, confessing at one point that he wore sweaters "... good enough for Bill Cosby" all through high school and frequently showing a penchant for Hawaiian patterned shirts, inclding one featuring dogs playing poker. Frazz is also bad at shopping for gifts, having been banned from future purchases on his parents' behalf after incidents involving "... a singing bass and a Dancing Hula Girl".

Caulfield – An eight-year-old named by his parents after J. D. Salinger's Holden Caulfield, Caulfield tried to convince Mrs. Olsen that he was from a disadvantaged background, but his father is finishing his PhD in pharmacology, and his mother is a civil engineer. Mallett regards Caulfield as "the hero of the strip ... He won’t give up that joy of learning for the sake of a test score, for quiet approval, for the easy A". 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. Mrs. Olsen decides one year to remove all of the books Caulfield has checked out over the year from the library. She says it's a good plan until Frazz mentions that it "narrows it down to triple digits." She refines the statement, saying it's a good plan, not a foolproof one. Caulfield's costumes have included: Miss Jane Plainwell – The 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 inspired Mr. Burke to exercise more often, and trained and ran with him in the Detroit 5K. She majored in journalism, and worked at the sports department of a newspaper, before she decided to teach at Bryson Elementary, wanting to work with a "more mature audience." Miss Plainwell is modeled on Mallett's wife. She has a pet greyhound named "Mario", which she adopted after it retired from racing.
 * 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
 * Lt. Mudd a/k/a "the dead man in Yossarian's tent" from Catch-22
 * The Devil from Faust, specifically Randy Newman's Faust
 * The Road Not Taken
 * The Pit and the Pendulum
 * Gregor Samsa from The Metamorphosis

Mr. Burke – Mr. Burke is the fourth-grade teacher at Bryson Elementary, the best teacher there and Frazz's best friend. His one-on-one Basketball matches with Frazz are filled with brilliant discussions—and very little scoring. Burke started out obese, but has slimmed down due to a Frazz-inspired exercise program. He is revealed by the students to have had an Afro during high school.

Mrs. Olsen – Mrs. Olsen is the third grade teacher at Bryson Elementary, and the teacher from hell. She is frequently the object of tricks and practical jokes by Frazz and Caulfield, and Caulfield's questions/comments in class often drive her to distraction. She had enough of Frazz when he was her student years ago, and would just as soon he leave for good. 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 composite of several of Mallett's teachers and one of Mallett's wife's teachers. She has a brother or sister, as she also has a niece. She is also of Scandinavian (probably Norwegian) descent, as she once cooked lutefisk for her class, in much the same way that Mrs. Trevino cooks gorditas on Cinco de Mayo.

Mr. Spaetzle – The principal of Bryson Elementary. He craves the adoration the students heap on Frazz, and wants to be just like him. He wore nerdy glasses all throughout high school.

Coach Hacker – The physical education teacher, interested only in team sports, with no interest in participatory athletics. Coach Hacker was an All-Big 10 defensive end in the 1970s, but now is out-of shape and has been married five times. In a later strip, hoever, Coach Hacker is described as having been an all-conference defensive end for fictional "Southern State", and having played in the Cherry Bowl. The Cherry Bowl existed for two seasons in 1984 and 1985. In college his nickname was "Man-O-War", but now it is "Jellyfish". According to Mallett, he "doesn't understand Frazz any more than he understands how to work a combination lock". He is said to have eaten at Burger Bunker every single day for years. He is often very competitive with Frazz, comparing sports such as football and hockey against running and cycling.

Mr. Uhrmann – A substitute teacher for Mrs. Olsen who is unflustered by Caulfield. He is described by Frazz as the only one of Caulfield's substitute teachers not to "throw up his hands and quit by 9:30". Caulfield calls him "The Uhrmanator".

Mrs. Trevino – The second-grade teacher at Bryson Elementary. She cooks gorditas for her class every Cinco de Mayo. She also had "Tamale Day" to use cooking as a teaching tool (although she apparently didn't know that the corn husk was not to be eaten). This causes quite a bit of jealousy from Mrs. Olsen, who thinks that her native country's food is just as interesting as gorditas. Mrs. Trevino has been phased away from the strip, as has Clutch, now that Ms. Plainwell (Mrs. Trevino's former best friend) and Frazz are now in a relationship.

Clutch – Frazz's friend & fellow runner/cyclist. Works as an emergency room nurse.

References to real life
Many of the characters or locations in the strip are references to real-life people whom Mallett respects or other aspects of his life. In addition to various literary figures. 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.
 * Caulfield tells Frazz that Mrs. Olsen believes reports that Elvis was seen working as a barista at the Water Street Coffee Joint in Kalamazoo.
 * In one recent strip, Frazz is wearing a shirt from nearby University of Detroit Jesuit High School.

Comparisons to Calvin and 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 to Watterson's strip and that Frazz is Calvin as an adult. Some other characters that are similar are Miss Wormwood and Suzie Derkins in Watterson's strip to Mrs. Olsen and Miss Plainwell in Mallett's strip. In a May 2006 series of strips, Frazz and Caulfield invent a game called "Bedlamball" that, like "Calvinball", has no apparent rules or scoring. Mallett acknowledges Watterson's influence, but denies that he is Watterson or that Frazz is intended as a copy or replacement of, or sequel to, Calvin and 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."

Los Angeles Times columnist Charles Solomon said, "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. 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."

Awards

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

Anthologies

 * Live at Bryson Elementary. 2005, Andrews McMeel Publishing.  128 pages.  Collects strips from April 2, 2001 to January 6, 2002.  Includes foreword by Gene Weingarten and introduction by Jef Mallett. ISBN 0-7407-5447-5
 * 99% Perspiration. 2006, Andrews McMeel Publishing.  128 pages.  Collects strips from January 7, 2002 to October 19, 2002.  ISBN 0-7407-6043-2
 * Frazz 3.1416. 2008, Andrews McMeel Publishing. 128 pages. Collects strips from October 20, 2002 to July 26, 2003.  Includes an introduction by Charles Solomon.  ISBN 0-7407-7739-4.