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 (21) (Please sign in to comment)
Alexikakos said, 3 months ago
Clichés become clichés because they are cliché.
peterhuppertz said, 3 months ago
I am confident that clichés become cliche because they’re used so often.
Which probably indicates that, initially (before they got to be cliche), they were quite good in getting a thought across.
Agent54 said, 3 months ago
Just repetitive, unless you are actually using a cliche.
Richard S. Russell said, 3 months ago
trite
Varnes said, 3 months ago
I hope Caufield isn’t an only child….
pschearer
said, 3 months ago
Interesting. Despite the comic and the first two comments, my favorite dictionary lists “cliche” only as a noun. For an adjective they list only “cliched”.
(Disclaimer: I resist using diacritical marks which the French use to remind themselves how their words used to be spelled. Join me in my crusade!)
Wolf Emperor
said, 3 months ago
Self-parody on how clichéd the Mrs. Olsen/Caulfield “Are there any questions?” thing has become.
rshive said, 3 months ago
Thank you for sharing that with us.
comicsssfan said, 3 months ago
This is a very advanced elementary school!
ellisaana
said, 3 months ago
@Varnes
He probably is. Or, he is an eldest child and is used to conversing with adults.
exoticdoc2 said, 3 months ago
@Alexikakos
Cliches often become cliches because they contain an element of truth.
hippogriff said, 3 months ago
pschearer: I am bothered by spell checks that think resumé should resume. Like the song says, “Resumé, resumé mucho”.
paul brians said, 3 months ago
Oh dear. Like others of his generation Caulfield thinks that “cliché” is an adjective.
http://public.wsu.edu/~brians/errors/cliche.html
blather046047 said, 3 months ago
Mrs Olsen needs to start asking if there are any relevant questions.
bigpuma said, 3 months ago
Doesn’t a cliché have more of an element of universality to it? My sense of the word is that it refers to broad repetition, common overuse, by many, over time. Here, it’s just Mallett/Olsen/Caulfield repeating themselves. I mean, the usage here is a bit like saying, “Well, you know the old saying …” and then repeating something that was repeated, yes, but by a lone person.