Paiging Frazz
Cidu Bill on Jun 22nd 2009
Two people asked me if whether I knew of any special significance to what appears to be a Satchel Paige tribute. Sunday was not, after all, the anniversary of his birth, death or first game in the major leagues. Paige was the subject of a new biography earlier this month, but that’s all I could find.
Filed in Bill Bickel, CIDU, Frazz, Jef Mallet, Satchel Paige, baseball, comic strips, comics, humor | 13 responses so far
bigdogrocks Jun 22nd 2009 at 07:22 am 1
The annual MLB Civil Rights game was held in Cincinnati this weekend…maybe that has to with the timing of this comic?
Judge Mental Jun 22nd 2009 at 09:58 am 2
I just took it as topical because the daily storyline is Frazz being tasked with coaching the little league team (as he is every summer).
The Ploughman Jun 22nd 2009 at 12:48 pm 3
My paper doesn’t get Frazz - do the children always talk this way in the strip?
Kevin Andresen Jun 22nd 2009 at 01:25 pm 4
Does ANY paper publish Frazz? Or, as has been postulated here, is it too intelligent for resistant America? [… that also shuns educational video games (save Dora).]
The Ploughman - These kids are pretty hip, possibly because Frazz has engaged them in their studies for years. I don’t remember ever thinking about discussing school reading with my class mates; it seems that could have changed my whole life. In high school, it might have energized my failed efforts to read “Great Expectations” and “Moby Dick”, two of the books from English class.
WordSprite Jun 22nd 2009 at 01:31 pm 5
Jef Mallet probably had the comic ready to go for when Satchel Paige does pass on, then had no other ideas for that Sunday strip, and just decided to use it then. (Don’t all bloggers or other writers do that? Have a little arsenal just in case?)
Yes, the kids DO always talk this way in Frazz and that’s one reason I love it- the other being that it is sort of like having Calvin and Hobbes back again.
Also, at least one paper carries it- the Chicago Tribune: it’s one of their better choices.
The Ploughman Jun 22nd 2009 at 02:12 pm 6
I should leave it alone, but when C&H comes up, WordSprite, I just got to keep talking!
My paper doesn’t get Frazz, though I’ve seen enough in other papers and online (including this site) to get a general sense of the premise and characters. One thing that’s bothered me about the strips I’ve seen is that it seems to wear its intelligence on its sleeve - like the guy who works in the fact that he’s doesn’t watch television into every conversation or quotes an obscure philosopher and then waits for you to ask who they’re talking about. In contrast, I always loved how C&H (often) had a more literary level, but was always, to me, more about the characters and the situation presented in the strip than the references. The children’s dialog here illustrates this to me - what they say is as intelligent as something Calvin might intend, but the actual words ring hollow in the mouths of children.
And nobody’s talking about boogers. That’s missing too.
John DiFool Jun 22nd 2009 at 02:27 pm 7
Yeah, its constant lampshading and such can get tiresome, and its rare that I LOL at it (like I often do with Zits, for example, c.f. the kissing thread last week).
Satchel would be on my very short list of pitchers to draft first (in one of those all-time sim leagues or such).
Blinky The Wonder WOmbat Jun 22nd 2009 at 03:44 pm 8
Wordsprite-
Satchel Paige passed away in 1982, so that shoots down your theory.
Or perhpas Mallet was saving it for when Satchel the Pooch passes away.
turquoise cow Jun 22nd 2009 at 08:15 pm 9
the Star-Ledger of Newark, New Jersey publishes Frazz. Generally I like it, but sometimes the kids are rather wordy and intelligent, which makes me wonder if real kids are this wordy and intelligent. I’m not around kids enough to know if they’re capable of that (though the idea is that Frazz is a good influence on them), and I don’t recall my classmates ever being quite so well-spoken. Then again, none of my classmates in elementary school were geniuses.
Lessa Jun 23rd 2009 at 12:01 am 10
Frazz is carried in the Kalamazoo Gazette also. Jef Mallett is a local boy, he lives in Lansing, and grew up in the Big Rapids area.
In considering the intellegence of this strip, remember that every year at Halloween, the readers have to figure out which literary character Caulfield is portraying. I find Frazz much more enjoyable than some others that have bee around for years.
Usual John Jun 23rd 2009 at 12:46 am 11
I generally find Frazz pretty funny, and the last collection showed how funny it can be. Mallett is consciously setting a good example. That can get tiresome, but I think most of the time he makes it work.
Kids do have the intelligence shown in Frazz, but they don’t have that level of experience or, usually, vocabulary. In the strip shown, presumably someone (probably Frazz) has been telling the kids about Satchel Paige and his favorite sayings. The kid mentioning Aristotle and Bertrand Russell is the smart kid, Caulfield. So, not all that unrealistic.
yellojkt Jun 23rd 2009 at 07:52 am 12
The Washington Post moved Frazz to the Kidz Page in perhaps the most tone deaf comics move ever.
Claude Jun 23rd 2009 at 10:25 pm 13
Perhaps it’s just a Sunday tribute to Juneteenth.