Barnaby Volume Five

Volume Five collects the final two-plus years of the strip, including the rarely-if-ever-seen conclusion of the strip, as five-year-old Barnaby Baxter says goodbye to his Fairy Godfather, Mr. O’Malley. Unlike most comic strips, Barnaby ended its ten-year run with an emotionally satisfying ending that broke the hearts of fans when first published in newspapers. The magic of Barnaby resides in its canny mix of fantasy and satire, amplified by the understated elegance of Crockett Johnson’s clean, spare art.

Barnaby expanded our sense of what comics can do through its combination of Johnson’s sly wit and O’Malley’s amiable windbaggery, illustrating a child’s feeling of wonder and an adult’s wariness, highly literate jokes and a keen eye for the ridiculous. This volume also features essays by comics historian Susan Kirtley and Johnson biographer Philip Nel, as well as an introduction by filmmaker Ron Howard, whose acting career was launched in 1959 at the age of five, when he was cast as Barnaby in a 1959 adaptation for General Electric Theater, hosted by Ronald Reagan. The book includes rarely-seen stills from the 1959 production — which also featured Wizard of Oz alum Bert Lahr as Mr. O’Malley!