Barnaby The story of a boy named Barnaby and the magic world his parents refuse to believe in. CROCKETT JOHNSON (1906-1975) is the pen name of David Johnson Leisk, who drew the Barnaby comic strip in the newspaper PM starting in 1942. It was later syndicated in fifty-two American newspapers and collected into the books Barnaby and Barnaby and Mr. O'Malley. He is the creator of the classic series of children's books Harold and the Purple Crayon.