Jef Mallet
Schuler Books and Music
2660 28th St. SE, Grand Rapids
Feb. 23, 7 p.m.
schulerbooks.com, (616) 942-2561
Each day, thousands of people open their newspapers to read a comic about a young man named Edwin "Frazz" Frazier, a sage janitor-songwriter-triathlete who is an important mentor to students, and friend to educators.
Author, illustrator and creator of Frazz, Jef Mallett, is relieved people can identify with his character because, well, Mallett is Frazz.
"Every writer is ultimately writing about himself," he says. "I make [Frazz] about me, but then of course, I have to make sure that I'm a little bit interesting, so I try to go out and have the most interesting life I can."
That philosophy of life started at a young age. When asked by a babysitter what he would like to be when he grew up, he had already narrowed his options down to a cartoonist or a Harlem Globetrotter. One of those jobs didn't quite work out.
Mallet pursued his goal, working as a graphic artist for multiple Michigan newspapers. It was when he was working as an art director and editorial cartoonist for Booth Newspapers' Capital Bureau in Lansing that Mallett had the idea to do a comic strip - he just needed a character for it.
"I had done a children's book...[and] I went to a lot of schools to do readings and assemblies and workshops. That's where I figured out that the only adult who could consistently calm the kids down was the janitor. He or she was The Man," Mallett said.
He decided to base his comic around a janitor in the school setting, and Frazz debuted in 2001.
Recently, Mallett has found success beyond the frames of a comic strip. As an avid triathlete -a sport where participants swim, bike and run all in the same competition-since 1981, he writes a regular column for Inside Triathalon and Triathlete magazines and is a contributing artist for VeloNews magazine. He was invited to speak at a coaching clinic for triathlons, which led to a column at VeloNews. After he illustrated a book about bicycle racing, his was approached for another task - his new book, Trizophrenia: Inside the Minds of a Triathlete.
"[It has] some technical stuff, but it's not a how-to," says Mallett. "It really boils down to, ‘Man, this sport is great, and this is why we do it.' It's like a funny philosophy book, a book without a niche."
He joked that Schuler Books, where Mallett will be giving a talk and signing books, might struggle in deciding which section to stock it in.
Trizophrenia, which is pronounced to rhyme with schizophrenia, is an insightful look at the "seemingly obsessive-compulsive rituals" of triathletes. Including such chapters as "A Brief History of a Sport with a Brief History," Mallett dispenses the wisdom of a veteran triathlete paired with a healthy dose of humor.
Being a triathlete "is a great way to live," says Mallett, "but I could've written the same type of book about running, canoeing or getting a degree in applied computer science. It's all about the joy of doing something full tilt."
