Jef Mallett - Frazz 3.1416

Other Books by Jef Mallett

Frazz: Live at Bryson Elementary

99% Perspiration

Frazz is distributed internationally by United Feature Syndicate

Frazz 3.1416 copyright 2008 by Jef Mallett. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission except in the case of reprints in the context of reviews.

Andrews McMeel Publishing, LLC
an Andrews McMeel Universal company
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www.andrewsmcmeel.com

Library of Congress Control Number: 2008923476

Frazz can be viewed on the Internet at comics.com/frazz

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Introduction

When Frazz debuted, online rumors proliferated that Mallett was a pseudonym and that Bill Watterson had started a new strip about a grown-up Calvin from Calvin and Hobbes . As flattering as those rumors were, Wattersons influence on the artwork in Frazz is less important than the way the drawings communicate the cartoonists ideas.

At a time when many comic strips look like memo-pad doodles, Malletts strong, calligraphic lines make it easy for the reader to grasp an expression or a pose at a glance. The characters expressions often reveal subtle emotions, in the tradition of Peanuts : worry, curiosity, incomprehension, suspicion, annoyance.

The poses reflect Malletts ability to communicate a sense of gravity in his drawings. When Frazz tries to balance on a unicycle, the viewer can sense the uncertainty of his equilibrium, and that hes poised to throw his arms out to catch himself if he needs to. When Caulfield leaps through the air into a booby-trapped leaf pile, the back of his jacket lifts believably in the breeze. And when he lies amid the heaps of books hes knocked down, his T-shirt hangs off his torso with a convincing sense of weight.

The friendship between songwriter turned Bryson Elementary School janitor Edwin Frazz Frazier and the precocious Caulfield isnt just a plot contrivance: They both love to read and play tricks on Mrs. Olsen. Like the artists at the Jay Ward studio decades ago, Mallett uses words and makes references that readers may not get immediately or may have to look up. His strips include references to Kurt Vonnegut, Elmore Leonard, J.D. Salinger, and C.S. Lewis. And what other comic uses such recondite terms as callipygian, trebuchet, and palter?

When the characters comment on the world around them, its a reflection of their personalities, not a political screed. Frazz is a dedicated triathlete, so its not surprising that he urges Mr. Burke to abandon his TV at the curb, or complains about kids eating junk food. Mrs. Olsen may be a caricature of the dragon lady elementary school teacher every child had to endure for at least one year, but a rarely seen softer side gives her depth and believability. She loves to garden, and its touching to discover this squat old woman once dreamed of becoming a ballerina.

In many comic strips, children serve as vehicles for what adults think is cute, adorably mispronouncing pas-ghetti or fretting about the Tooth Fairys absence. Mallett remembers that elementary school is not fun for kids. Its an illogical, often scary place that forces children to confront bullies, spelling tests, arbitrary rules, spilled paint, icky lunches, humiliating P.E. classes, and stultifying lessons. Caulfield and his classmates have to go to school, but no one, not even Frazz, can make them like itand they often dont.

Although pundits frequently announce the imminent demise of the comic strip, Frazz continues the tradition of blending words and drawings to tell humorous stories about recognizable charactersthe combination of elements that made comic strips popular when they debuted more than century ago.

Charles Solomon, animation critic for the New York Times and National Public Radio

Most of this book is for Jim Kravets, whose thirst for life matches mine, and whose faith in my talent has always exceeded mine.

Except for the callipygian strips. Those are obviously for Patty.