O'Malley for Dewey

One of the most quietly fey and edgy comic strips in the U.S. this week made its second appearance in book form. Barnaby and Mr. O'Malley (Holt; $2) is a 328-page collection of the bland fantasies of 38-year-old Crockett Johnson. Johnson's unorthodox strip first appeared two years ago in New York City's tabloid PM, now draws a host of addicts in 31 U.S. newspapers, including the Baltimore Evening Sun, Philadelphia Record, Chicago Sun, St. Louis Star-Times.

Barnaby Baxter is a five-year-old who has dreamed up a fairy godfather named Jackeen J. O'Malley. O'Malley's round figure is no taller than Barnaby's, is equipped with two small wings and a magic wand in the form of a fat cigar. O'Malley is a thoroughgoing Micawber-type fraud who never brings off his constantly promised miracles, but never alienates his small disciple's faith in him. O'Malley's companions are: 1) Atlas the Mental Giant, a bull-necked gnome who computes all problems on a slide rule; 2) Launcelot McSnoyd, an invisible leprechaun who speaks thick Brooklynese; 3) Gus the Ghost, an ectoplasmic intellectual who ghostwrites O'Malley's autobiography when O'Malley runs for Congress. There is also a talking dog, Gorgon ("Didn't know I could do it. ... Never tried it before, I guess").

Barnaby and Mr. O'Malley covers seven months of Barnaby's adventures. Typical episode: Gorgon answers the telephone. Barnaby's mother, calling from a neighbor's, thinks she is speaking to mischievous Barnaby:

"Hello? Barnaby?"

"No. This is Gorgon, the dog."

"Now don't be silly. Go and get your father . . . right away."

Gorgon to Barnaby: "Your mother wants me to get my FATHER."

There follows a complex, legerdemainiac series of situations depicting the search for Gorgon's FATHER. The combined efforts of Barnaby, O'Malley and Atlas the Mental Giant are brought to bear. Gorgon pere is finally discovered to be the nameless, galumphing coach hound of the local fire department. But that slobbering, fragrant beast has no vocabulary other than "Arf," is a parasitic icebox-crasher to boot. He refuses to move off the Baxter's porch rocker until frightened by the word "bath."

Children, Too. In other episodes, Barnaby and Mr. O'Malley hunt lions which are found to be only too real when a circus big cat escapes and holes up in the Baxter cellar. They aid Atlas the Mental Giant in a staggering plan to divide up the postwar world ("xVrP2+a" Deltax2y >13 It comes out wrong"). They foil black-market desperados through O'Malley's pretended attempt to repair the carburetor of the getaway car.

Round-faced, 210-pound Crockett Johnson dropped his real name, David Johnson Leisk (pronounced Lisk), because he got tired of spelling it out. He began Barnaby while contributing a weekly wordless strip to Collier's. Barnaby is frankly addressed to adults, often surprises Johnson by appealing to children too. The reason, he guesses, is that children like to side with Barnaby Baxter against Mr. and Mrs. Baxter, archetypical pragmatists against whose earthbound minds the Barnaby strip is directed.

In his Darien, Conn, home, Johnson finds the creation of Barnaby six days a week, one month in advance, a painful literary job. He does the drawing easily. Last week Barnaby and O'Malley were deep in the presidential campaign; behind-the-scenes political moves were being masterminded by cigar-waving O'Malley. Said Barnaby to his practical father: "Mr. O'Malley is for Dewey because a lot of generals got to be presidents, but, so far, not any admirals."

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