Fantagraphics Books Barnaby Volume One

A lovely depiction of childhood as an adult would want to remember it. I think Johnson is doing more than evoking a memory of what childhood feels, with all its wonder and uncertainty. He seems (or should I say seemed) to be making a wish that a child could still live his/her early years in a gentle, protected way, even in the face of the realities of war. Of course the American home front was a much better place to be than anywhere in Europe, for example, but even a child would surely be aware that adults were experiencing something mysteriously serious. Both the text and the artwork express all this with a deft, gentle touch. The whimsical aspects of Barnaby's adventures with O'Malley and his supernatural friends is cleverly interwoven with air raids and black marketeers, so that the fancifulness is neatly grounded by events that children really shouldn't understand. It's impressive work and I'm glad to have stumbled across it, mostly because it reminds me of a set of noble, kind-hearted American values that are long, long-gone...

"Dear, was there ever anybody a little -- er -- out of the ordinary in your family?"Cigar-chomping, tall tale-telling, dumpy, winged, vain, and utterly amoral, Mr. O'Malley flew into Barnaby Baxter's life on April 20, 1942. Precisely two months later you can hear the cadences of Calvin's much-harassed dad in Mr. Baxter's voice.But this is not a rip-off of 'Calvin and Hobbes'. In fact, Bill Waterson wasn't even born when Crockett Johnson's strip came to an end in 1954.However, that end was a dozen years in the future when the strips reprinted in this glorious volume start. But one virtue that these two strips share is that they can be read at different levels, as pure whimsy, as satire, as rollicking humour, and even interpreted with the deepest philosophical undertones.Do not dismiss this as a comic strip for children. In the Golden Age of the newspaper strip the 'funny pages' were read by adults. And Crockett Johnson -- whose real name was 'David Johnson Leisk' was quite clear on his audience. "I don't get anything much from kids," Johnson said, "And I don't draw or write 'Barnaby' for children."That is obvious. I doubt that many five year-olds would know who John Maynard Keynes was, or make sense of sentences such as 'But that's usually obviated by a tautological statement from the sponsor'. If Crockett isn't talking down to children he isn't talking down to adults either, throwing in references to everyone from Shakespeare to Superman.(Duke Ellington, himself a fan of the strip, was so pleased with a reference to himself that he wrote a letter attesting to his own belief in Mr. O'Malley.)So, what makes this strip one of the true classics? The art could not be simpler, pure black and white lines that are reminiscent of 'The Little King' without imitating Otto Soglow.The plots are rooted in the World War II era. (And Fantagraphics has added a twelve-page 'The Elves, Leprechauns, Gnomes, and Little Men's Chowder and Marching Society: A Handy Pocket Guide' at the back of the book, which explains that 'ARP' stood for 'Air Raid Precautions', that 'OCD' was the 'Office of Civilian Defense', and even offers us the text of Senator G. G. Vest's 'Eulogy of the Dog' -- a masterpiece of purple prose.) But the humor is timeless.When Mr. O'Malley tries to train Gorgon the Talking Dog for a turn in the circus that much-suffering canine can only sigh, "This shouldn't happen to a cat!", a marvellous twist on the usual phrase. (And the expression on Gorgon's face is priceless.)When Barnaby and he are running away after breaking the oil line to the furnace, Mr. O'Malley suddenly brakes to a halt with, "But SAY! Why are we running? Your parents don't believe your Fairy Godfather even exists". To which Barnaby, still speeding away, responds, "But they know I do!"Crockett Johnson delineates characters as economically -- and as effectively -- as he does with his art. And there are a world of characters even in the first years of the strip, not just Barnaby, his fairy godfather, and his parents, but Jane Schultz (the girl down the road) and her parents, Gus the Nervous Ghost, Gorgon the Talking Dog, Launcelot McSnoyd the Invisible Leprechaun, Honest John Snagg...When the much harassed Mrs. Krump finally sees off Barnaby from the Kiddie Kamp, and her sympathetic assistant says, "Poor Barnaby. He expected that imaginary pixie to arrive in the midst of it and do card tricks...", Mrs. Krump responds, "You know Miss Pringle... SO DID I" (And there is a look of absolute wonder in her face.)What of the actual book itself?There is a generous helping of extras. There is a three-page foreword by Chris Ware, a four-page introduction by Jeet Heer, a fifteen-page afterword by Philip Nel, Dorothy Parker's famous 'Mash Note' to Crockett Johnson, and the aforementioned 'Pocket Guide', along with copious photographs and cartoons, that place both the strip and Crockett in perspective.Nits?Here is a tiny one: The September 30, 1943 strip seems to have accidentally duplicated one of the four panels.Here is another: Some of the strips seem to have been reprinted from poorer sources. Look at Page 250, for example; every word in the October 15, 1943 strip is beautifully clear but the words in the October 16 strip, while still eminently readable, appear to be smudged.But these are (very, very) minor detractions.And the best part is that Fantagraphics has already announced that there shall be a Barnaby Volume TwoI would give it six stars if I could. Highly recommended.

You just have to read this comic strip to appreciate it. Crocket Johnson, author of "Harold and the Purple Crayon" had a marvelous way of looking at the world--with eyes far different than most of us. Eight years before "Harold" was first read to children, Mr. Johnson began writing and drawing a daily comic strip named "Barnaby" after the pre-school aged child protagonist who was braving the unusual circumstances of the World War II years in America. Barnaby is joined with his Fairy godfather, Mr. O'Malley, Father, Mother, Grandmother, and a host of other characters.This book begins at the beginning of the strip in 1942 and runs through 1943. It has a strange quietness for a very turbulent time. Not that excitement wasn't constantly occurring in Barnaby's life. The garage burns with father's car in it--due to Mr. O'Malley's desire for a festive fourth of July. Mother and Grandmother's preserves from their victory garden are destroyed. Nazi spies are captured. And this within the first 68 strips!All sort of features of life in America during the war are covered, including the Air Raid Patrol (ARP), of which Barnaby's father and mother are members aspiring for advancement; and all sorts of "war efforts" like victory gardens.I will admit that I have been biased toward Barnaby since I was about 5 (1954). I learned to read using the first edition of this book printed back in 1943. An older brother patiently taught me how to read it and answered thousands of questions I peppered him with. "What does Cuchlamochree mean?" being just one example. Now, I do not want to give the impression that this book is for children. It is not _not_ for children, of course, but the subtle humor is probably lost on most children. Although I am surprised at how much I understood. Of course, I didn't read it just once. Barnaby was my best friend. I knew not to put gasoline into inner tubes because Mr. O'Malley already had--to absolute disaster.The character development is consistent throughout the strip, and the story is continuous, much like life is for any child. There are plenty of episodes in each of our lives, but the curtain does not go up and down around each. One blends with the next, past, present, future, in continuum. For Barnaby, the story does not stop when he goes to bed, it just continues. Time moves left-to right, but just as for a child, minutes aren't a real measure. They may be interminably long or infinitesimally short. Wonderful characters populate the strip, like the shaggy dog, Gorgon, who teaches himself new tricks, and tells anecdotes:"And then there's the one about the man who ordered a special cake and he was so fussy about the shape of it that he had it done over four times and when the baker said, "Now that it is finally okay, where shall I deliver this cake? ...The man said, "Oh, I'll eat it here."Barnaby's Fairy Godfather replies, "Yes. We've heard that one, too! Barnaby, isn't there some way we can make this shaggy dog stop telling his shaggy dog stories? I came here to tell you of..."While the dog begins another tale, Barnaby, who fixes most everything with more grace and pure good fortune than his Fairy Godfather can manage in magic, says, "This will stop him, Mr. O'Malley. Watch. PLAY DEAD, Gorgon!"While the dog plays dead, he still continues his stories, causing Mr. O'Malley to exclaim, "I came to tell you -- Say! This talking dog IS amazing...He out talks your Fairy Godfather!" (January 15, 1943)If you like comic strips, if you appreciate fine quiet humor, if you like marvelous character development, if you would like a glimpse of civilian life during the war years in America, buy and read this book. It is far easier than POGO, and just as smart. And the art is special, too.Now, I wonder, which of my parents thought it was a good idea for this book to be available to their five boys? It could not have been Mother...she didn't approve of Barnaby. My Father is still surprising me!

Created in 1942 the comic strip “Barnaby and Mr. O’Malley” by Crockett Johnson helped many get through the Second World War during its early months and years from April 20, 1942 to December 31, 1943. It is through those years that the book Barnaby Vol. 1 that covers the comic’s adventures of the main characters five-year-old Barnaby (who would also become Harold, known as Harold and the Purple Crayon) and his Fairy Godfather Mr. O’Malley who is always portrayed with wings and a cigar in his mouth and hat and coat. Cartoonist Crockett Johnson was inspired by the animation of New Yorker cartoonist Gluyas Williams who in turn took from the creativity of the “clear-line style” of European Master Herge best known for Tin Tin. Aside from the similarities, Barnaby was all of its own and reflective of the period, a time of change and how communities coped with war on the homefront in the suburbs.The comic strip and the many subtle madcap escapades of Barnaby and Mr. O’Malley is an examination of imagination and the philosophy of some things are not always what they appear. Upon reading the introductory forward of the book Chris Ware simply explains that insight, “Barnaby has to walk a tightrope between these two philosophies making sure that he balances his imagination with his sense of reality” (14). Such is the case during wartime and the aspect of uncertainty and the fears that loomed ahead as the war waged on, and to read a somewhat sigh of relief to read the comics was a diversion of the news; comics were a coping mechanism quite parallel to reading fiction in a novel. And also other parallels, while reading the tongue-in-cheek humor and irony in the comics, Crockett’s Mr. O’Malley was as symbolic to the conscience as Jiminy Cricket was to how Walt Disney utilizes that element to guide his audience. As one takes into perspective the greater meaning of Barnaby, it is the history of the period that highlights the back story of each comic, the uncertainty and how Crockett portrays its is through a playful and child-like approach, Barnaby encounters a Nazi Ogre, ventures into an old haunted house, monsters, ghosts such as Gus, a large lion at a circus. And who better to provide relief? Mr. O’Malley who is close by to the rescue and later along his Elves, Leprechauns, Gnomes and the Men’s Chowder and Marching Society as well as O’Malley's fearless phrase “cushlamochree!” And what exactly did that mean? One will find out at the end of the book, which includes a mini biography of Crockett and short synopsis of each of the cartoons in this volume of the book.And after reading this volume one will find a unique understanding of how comic strips were a way for the homefront found ways to deal with war in the most creative ways. For this reader, Barnaby was familiar and it was a presentation centered on the United States Marines and Harry S. Truman during World War I that introduced the world of Barnaby and Mr.O’Malley and his Men’s Chowder and Marching Society that brought me to read much more about the comic strip that was widely read in newspapers a time before television and other modern conveniences looked upon today.

good writing but the limeted art was too simplistice.