Status
Available
Call number
Publication
Fantagraphics (2013), Edition: 1st Edition, 336 pages
Description
Harold and the Purple Crayon cartoonist Crockett Johnson's Barnaby revolves around a precocious five-year-old named Barnaby Baxter and his fairly godfather Jackeen J. O'Malley. Yet O'Malley, a cigar-chomping, bumbling con-artist and fast-talker, is not your typical protector. His grasp of magic is usually specious at best, limited to occasional flashes, often aided and abetted by his fellow members in The Elves, Leprechauns, Gnomes, and Little Men's Chowder & Marching Society.
User reviews
LibraryThing member burnit99
"Barnaby" is perhaps the last of the great classic comic strips to get the (planned) complete series republication treatment (although "Polly and Her Pals" deserves the complete reprint rather than the few compilations that have recently come out). Never popular (it only appeared in 52 newspapers
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at its peak), it nevertheless commanded a loyal following among knowledgeable readers and comic strip creators alike. "Barnaby" is about a young boy, Barnaby, who wishes for a fairy godmother after his mother reads to him about one in a bedtime story -- and lo and behold, Mr. O'Malley shows up. As fairy godfathers go, Mr. O'Malley hails from a slow reading group. He is a 3-foot tall, bald, chubby, cigar-chomping winged pixie with less-than-perfect command of his fairy abilities, cheerfully convinced of his own infallibility and shocked when the rest of the world doesn't share his fine opinion of himself. O'Malley is never quite noticed by grownups, especially Barnaby's long-suffering parents, who wish he would drop his fantasy of a winged pixie of a fairy godfather. Shades of "Calvin and Hobbes". But O'Malley is demonstrably real, frequently seen by other children. This is one of my favorite strips, with a fine and absurd humor that often reminds me of Walt Kelly's best work. Indeed, many cartoonists have expressed homage to "Barnaby", and I'm very pleased to finally see it get the reprint respect it deserves. Show Less
LibraryThing member Rosa.Mill
I thought this was incredibly witty and it reminded me of the South American Mafalda in many ways. Absolutely worth the read. I only wish they had either footnoted the notes at the end or put them under the panels the notes were referring to as by the time I got to the end I had forgotten what some
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of them referred to. Show Less
LibraryThing member Rosa.Mill
I thought this was incredibly witty and it reminded me of the South American Mafalda in many ways. Absolutely worth the read. I only wish they had either footnoted the notes at the end or put them under the panels the notes were referring to as by the time I got to the end I had forgotten what some
Show More
of them referred to. Show Less
LibraryThing member Rosa.Mill
I thought this was incredibly witty and it reminded me of the South American Mafalda in many ways. Absolutely worth the read. I only wish they had either footnoted the notes at the end or put them under the panels the notes were referring to as by the time I got to the end I had forgotten what some
Show More
of them referred to. Show Less
LibraryThing member Rosa.Mill
I thought this was incredibly witty and it reminded me of the South American Mafalda in many ways. Absolutely worth the read. I only wish they had either footnoted the notes at the end or put them under the panels the notes were referring to as by the time I got to the end I had forgotten what some
Show More
of them referred to. Show Less
LibraryThing member ashleytylerjohn
A delightful volume--I wasn't a fan of Barnaby before (nor not a fan, I simply hadn't encountered him--but I was greedily ordered the second volume.
The stories are charming, there's just the right amount of disbelief among adults (it's there, but it's not oppressively present), the spare clean
(Note: 5 stars = rare and amazing, 4 = quite good book, 3 = a decent read, 2 = disappointing, 1 = awful, just awful. There are a lot of 4s and 3s in the world!)
The stories are charming, there's just the right amount of disbelief among adults (it's there, but it's not oppressively present), the spare clean
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lines of the art perfectly complement the typeset text, and it's the kind of gentle fantasy that's very appealing to me.(Note: 5 stars = rare and amazing, 4 = quite good book, 3 = a decent read, 2 = disappointing, 1 = awful, just awful. There are a lot of 4s and 3s in the world!)
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LibraryThing member villemezbrown
I love classic comic strips, but I've never been inclined to really try Barnaby based on the few times I've seen some examples of it. The characters aren't particularly attractive or emotive, and were usually standing around doing nothing much of anything underneath very large word balloons with an
When I started reading the first panels, I found Barnaby Baxter to be a dull little child and his fairy godfather, Jackeen J. O'Malley to be an annoying jackass who lies, fabricates, and deceives as he tells tall tales about himself and helps himself to things that don't belong to him. About halfway through the book, I finally started to find the pixie to be a little bit charming, and by the time the little rascal found his natural home in politics and started debunking Santa Claus, Mr. O'Malley had won me over.
I really appreciate all the extra behind-the-scenes essays and material included in the book, including a contemporary review of the strip by the legendary Dorothy Parker.
I'm in no rush, but I'll probably give the second volume a try in the future.
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off-putting type-set font instead of hand lettering. But, hey, Hoopla was offering the first volume of a comprehensive collection of the strips as a free Bonus Borrow, so here we go . . .When I started reading the first panels, I found Barnaby Baxter to be a dull little child and his fairy godfather, Jackeen J. O'Malley to be an annoying jackass who lies, fabricates, and deceives as he tells tall tales about himself and helps himself to things that don't belong to him. About halfway through the book, I finally started to find the pixie to be a little bit charming, and by the time the little rascal found his natural home in politics and started debunking Santa Claus, Mr. O'Malley had won me over.
I really appreciate all the extra behind-the-scenes essays and material included in the book, including a contemporary review of the strip by the legendary Dorothy Parker.
I'm in no rush, but I'll probably give the second volume a try in the future.
Show Less
Language
Original language
English
Original publication date
2013-03
Physical description
336 p.; 10.9 x 6.9 inches
ISBN
1606995227 / 9781606995228