Frazz by Jef Mallett follows the adventures of an unexpected role model: an elementary-school janitor who's also a Renaissance man. While he's sweeping the hall, he's whistling Beethoven. Or Lyle Lovett. He paints the woodwork in the classrooms; he paints a Da Vinci on the cafeteria wall. He's a trusted authority figure who is every kid's buddy. He took the janitor's job while he was a struggling songwriter, and when he finally sold a hit song, he decided to stay on at school. Frazz appears in 200 newspapers worldwide, including the Los Angeles Times, Seattle Times, Chicago Tribune and Detroit News. "A few years back, I wrote and illustrated a children's book," says Mallett. "When I was traveling around reading it at school assemblies, I noticed that often, the most respected, best-liked grown-up in the building was the janitor. And I thought, 'Hmm, there's a comic strip in that.'" Often praised for its intelligent wit, gentle spirit and effortless diversity, Frazz won a Wilbur Award from the Religion Communicators Council in 2003 and 2005 for excellence in communicating values and ethics.
© Jef Mallett - All Rights Reserved.
Frank & Ernest by Thaves
Fred Basset by Alex Graham
Comments (22) (Please sign in to comment)
Varnes said, 10 months ago
Can anyone interpret this for me?
Editer63 said, 10 months ago
Instead of running a “normal” route (out-and-back, or a big loop), they’ll be going around the block 30 times and stopping for lemonade most of the time. They don’t have money in their tiny little running-shorts pockets, so they’ll be drinking on credit.
Manhunter808 said, 10 months ago
excellent interpretation, Editer63!
TheSkulker
said, 10 months ago
@Varnes
As Editer63 said.
Also, “tab”, as in “running a tab” or “keeping a tab” usually refers to a “bar tab” where the bartender keeps tab (tabulating), on the running total of the amount of your drinks which you will pay when you are done. Hence, today’s drink “tab”.
Michael Ford said, 10 months ago
Thank you. I needed an explanation too.
KenTheCoffinDweller said, 10 months ago
And while I was in Germany in the early ’80’s the barkeep usually kept the count on your bar coaster (llll) etc, that way both he and the customer knew the count. For the most part customers stuck with the same brand or drink throughout their visit.
kroykali said, 10 months ago
Hope their stand isn’t shut down by the police for not having a permit.
starfighter441 said, 10 months ago
@KenTheCoffinDweller
The owner of the local I patronized kept track of my Bierdeckel and we settled up monthly. If you are a regular, they still don’t worry if you forget your wallet, and let you pay next time.
Cantankerous Coot said, 10 months ago
Tab was a soft drink in the 70’s.
Tacopielvr said, 10 months ago
Hmm, High of 97 & humid today. After my comics I head out to beautiful Rock Cut State Park for 7 miles of hilly trail running round the lake. Then later tonight a 4 or 5 mile run at a local (Midway Village) city park path. I love the heat, never let the heat stop me from doing anything as I always prepare well and know when to slow it down. And of course if I ever keel over in the heat, that would be the second best way to go after croaking in my sleep, lol.
puddleglum1066 said, 10 months ago
@Cantankerous Coot
But when it’s in all-caps (as it is in the strip), it’s an acronym, right? So TAB must stand for Tasty Adult Beverage. Yeah, if I’m gonna run, I want a couple of them waiting at the end…
tigre1 said, 10 months ago
Thirty laps and a tab…I LIKE that.
I had this absolutely great woman…ran every day, hell or high water…no faults except great passion and when we would go dancing…she would run in place. And didn’t know the difference. Never really got into expression of her feelings.
But then, running does build some serious strengths into a person.
Chicago Insurgent said, 10 months ago
the last lemonade stand i saw was like 5 years ago. The kid put water and a squished lemon inside.
prrdh said, 10 months ago
@kroykali
Or for running afoul of zoning laws.
celecca
said, 10 months ago
Took me a moment to figure out the “tab”. I was thinking the soda to make up for the lemonade. Frazz’s tab is MUCH more funny!