Barnaby and Mr. O'Malley

Barnaby

by Crockett Johnson

What has little pink wings, talks with an Irish brogue and smokes a cigar?
If you are familiar with Crockett Johnson's comic strip Barnaby, you'll know the answer right Mr. O'Malley — one of the most delightful creations in comic strip history. If you're not, this book (and Dover's companion volume, Barnaby ) will give you a chance to make the acquaintance of Barnaby and his utterly fantastic fairy godfather.
From the first episode about the magic but non-germinating seeds that Mr. O'Malley supplies for Barnaby's victory garden through Mr. O'Malley's race for Congress, you will meet a host of wonderful Gorgon the talking dog, Atlas the (mental) giant, Gust the ghost, Barnaby's mom and pop, and many others. Of course, most important are the self-assertive Mr. O'Malley and Barnaby himself, whose faith in his gold-bricking fairy godfather is thoroughly heart-warming.
Altogether there are eight completely fantastic episodes in this book. By the time you have finished them — unless you are different from millions of other readers — you, too, will have become an ardent Barnaby fan.

Genres: Comics, Humor

144 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1944

About the author

Crockett Johnson was the pen name of the American cartoonist and children's book illustrator David Johnson Leisk. He is best known for the comic strip Barnaby (1942–1952) and the Harold series of books beginning with Harold and the Purple Crayon. [From Wikipedia.]

Reviews

[Steve · Rating 5 out of 5]

As of the time I am writing this in 2017, I
have just entered this book as the third book on Goodreads with the title Barnaby and Mr. O'Malley. This is a hardcover book with the copyright given as "1943, 1944," which I believe means it came out in 1944. The text on the front dust jacket flap starts "A year ago, when we published BARNABY," so I have put this as "Barnaby #2". However, other Barnaby collections are also titled Barnaby #2.

This is made up of eight sections of Barnaby comics reprinted from the newspaper comic strip (although I have read that Crockett Johnson redrew some of the newspaper comics before they were published in books). Each section seems to retain the continuity of the newspaper strip.

Barnaby is one of the all-time great comic strips and probably my all-time favorite strip. Barnaby is about a five year old boy who acquires a fairy godfather, Jackeen J. O'Malley, a little man with pink wings, just Barnaby's height, who constantly smokes cigars that he attempts to use as magic wands. Mr. O'Malley's "magic" seldom works, however. Barnaby's parents don't believe that Mr. O'Malley exists, because every time it seems as though they will meet, something goes awry.

Barnaby is visually different from most comic strips. Characters and objects are simple outlines with no shading. The people usually lack mouths. There are frequently areas of flat black. The dialogue balloons are typeset rather than hand-lettered.

This book is not the best of Barnaby, but it is good. I especially like the sequence about Gorgon and his father. (Gorgon, Barnaby's dog who talks, also gets the first joke in the book. Barnaby and Gorgon are sitting on a couch. Barnaby's father says, "But when you tell me about a cigar-smoking pixie with pink wings! I can't believe THAT!" And pointing at Gorgon, he goes on, "Any more than I could believe that dog can TALK!" Barney's father leaves the room and Gorgon says, "I guess he doesn't know about me, does he? About your mother not allowing me to sit on this couch.")

Barnaby has appeared in a number of collections, but they tend to be expensive. I think they are very funny and very much worth reading.

[Barbara · Rating 5 out of 5]

As a wildly enthusiastic fan of Harold and the Purple Crayon, when a friend introduced me to Barnaby and Mr. O'Malley, I immediately ordered the only title LAPL had on its shelves. It doesn't get any better than this! On so many levels this collection of comic strips is up there with the greats. How could I not have known about this series before?

[Valerie]

Unfortunately, many of these collections are out of print. The cheeky, cynical Mr o'Malley finds a perfect foil in the matter-of-fact, innocent Barnaby.

[Aaron · Rating 3 out of 5]

I seem to own a Barnaby not covered by Goodreads, but this will do.

[Conan Tigard · Rating 4 out of 5]

Barnaby looked very familiar to me. Then it hit me. He looks like an older version of the boy Harold, who had a purple crayon and wrote on his walls in one continues line drawing. Of course, I am talking about the famous book Harold and the Purple Crayon (1955). I loved this book as a child and read it all the time. After all, what kid doesn't want to write on the big white walls in their house?

Crockett Johnson wrote the purple crayon book, and more Harold stories, after the initial run of his daily comic strips of Barnaby and Mr. O'Malley, which ran from 1942-1952 and 1960-1962.

I highly enjoyed reading these old comic strips and I always think of my father when I read these types of comics, wondering if he read them as a boy. I found this book of comic strips to be timeless. Of course, kids today would have no idea what a slide rule is, but, heck, I never used one either . . . that was my father's era.

Overall, I highly enjoyed Barnaby and Mr. O'Malley and do recommend it for good, clean fun. Now, the only challenge you will have is actually finding the book. Good luck! It is well worth the hunt.

I rated this book a 9 out of 10.