Stuff We Like: Frazz

We love Frazz, the nationally syndicated comic strip created by Jef Mallett. Frazz is a janitor at Bryson Elementary School. He doesn't have to work because since becoming the school janitor, he has written hit songs. But, he loves the kids and the life he found there. Frazz does have a $3,000 entertainment center, his road bike. Mallett himself is an accomplished competitor in both cycle races and triathlons. When you see Frazz on a bike, you'll find and enjoy Mallett's attention to detail and his understanding of our sport. The strip is funny, touching, and familar to anyone who has ever been a kid.

This link will take you to the Frazz web site where the daily comics are posted. But if you enjoy Frazz, I ask you to write a gently written note to your newspaper's editor, requesting that Frazz be included in the funnies page of your local paper. Stuff this good has to be shared.

I think the comics are the great unappreciated art form. It was John Steinbeck who said that Al Capp (creator of Li'l Abner) was the greatest satirist since Laurence Sterne. I think Steinbeck got it wrong. In his glory days of the 40s and 50s, Capp was by far, the better of the two.

Ever since I could read, I have loved comics. As a little boy, I couldn't wait to get to the funnies page. My friends and I used to spend long summer afternoons with a pile of comic books, reading and re-reading them. It was by selling my comic book collection (including Spiderman No. 3) that I was able to open my bike shop. I write this as a way of saying that I take the comics seriously (fun is serious stuff) and dislike many of the poorly drawn, vapid, corporate type comics in the papers today.

Jeff Mallett is doing the finest work in the comics today. When the morning paper comes, I go to the comics page to read Frazz before doing or reading anything else.

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