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 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. ( )

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 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!) ( )

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 of them referred to. ( )

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 of them referred to. ( )

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 of them referred to. ( )