December 23, 2005 – Was that a Health Net Pro Cycling Team Presented by Maxxis wind vest comic strip character Frazz was wearing in the December 11 strip? Indeed it was. And it’s not the first time Frazz has donned Team Health Net apparel. The December 8th edition shows Frazz wearing a team t-shirt.

It turns out that the creator of the syndicated strip, Lansing, Michigan-based Jef Mallett, not only is a cyclist, but also a big fan of the Health Net Presented by Maxxis squad.

“The original version (of the strip) had Scott Moninger’s name right there underneath Lance Armstrong’s,” Mallett said in an email. “But my editors at United Feature Syndicate thought it might be wiser to name a cyclist and a triathlete instead of two cyclists. It was probably smart — I’ve got a lot of triathlete fans — but I still wanted to slip Scott in there. On top of his racing success and class, a friend of mine who knows him says very nice things. Then again, I’ll probably come up with another chance. It’s my strip, right?”

The strip’s namesake is also a cycling enthusiast, a direct reflection of the cartoonist’s own interests.

“I’m an avid cyclist. I don’t race bikes anymore — too afraid of a hand-breaking crash, since I have no substitute now,” he says. “Also, you have to race too often if you want to do it right, and I can’t let that get in the way of bike time with my wife. So triathlon works perfectly. I love triathlon. But as a spectator, I follow bike racing more, and Health Net is the class of the pack.”

Frazz appears in 125 newspapers worldwide, including the Los Angeles Times, Washington Post, Seattle Times, Chicago Tribune, Rocky Mountain News, and Detroit Free Press. Frazz won the Wilbur Award from the Religion Communicators Council for excellence in communicating values and ethics in 2003 and 2005.

Also, the recently published first compilation of Frazz cartoons, called Frazz: Live from Bryson Elementary, is now available in bookstores and online.

To view it, click here:
http://www.comics.com/comics/frazz/archive/frazz-20051211.html