Barnaby Volume One
by: Crockett Johnson , Eric Reynolds, et al.

Hardcover. Seattle, Fantagraphics, 1st, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: None, Hardcover, 336 pages. Crockett Johnson is best known today for his children's books, notably 1955's Harold and the Purple Crayon, but his paramount creation was the celebrated if obscure newspaper strip Barnaby, which, from its distinct visual look (minimalist, Thurberesque drawings; typeset word balloons) to its wry, understated humor, was unlike anything else ever to hit the comics page. When five-year-old Barnaby Baxter wishes for a fairy godfather, what he gets instead is Mr. O'Malley, a pint-size, minimally magical sprite sporting an overcoat, tiny pink wings, and an ever-present cigar (his "fine Havana magic wand"). These initial 20 months of strips also introduce other characters: Barnaby's concerned parents (who, naturally, never see their child's supernatural companion), his young friend Jane, Gorgon the talking dog, and Gus the ghost. Praised by the intelligentsia (Dorothy Parker called Barnaby and his cast members "the most important additions to American arts and letters in Lord knows how many years") but never widely popular, the strip ran for a decade, from 1942 to 1952. This first volume collects all the strips from 1942 and 1943.