'''Barney Google''' is a small, good-natured, and lazy avid sportsman known for his large eyes and a moustache, with a penchant for gambling and mischief. He is typically seen wearing a bowler hat, a suit, and often smoking a cigar. Despite his small stature and homeless lifestyle, he possesses a big heart and a resilient spirit. He is a lovable rogue, always seeking excitement and fortune, though rarely achieving lasting success.

Prior to becoming a ne'er-do-well hobo, Barney was relentlessly henpecked by the formidable Mrs. Lizzie Google, a wife "three times his size" who grew increasingly frustrated with his deadbeat habits and obsession with sports. After attempting to sneak into heavyweight boxer Jack Dempsey’s training camp, she sued him for divorce and virtually disappeared from the strip thereafter.

Throughout the comic strip’s early run, Barney found himself the center of several major hijinks, such as becoming a celebrity flagpole sitter and switching places with a millionaire. Come election season in 1928, Barney was selected to run for president by the Billygoat Party, a political group that aimed to serve their country by leaving politics to the Democrats and Republicans. But this run was cut short by a disrupted appendix, forcing him to spend his recovery time in the hospital.

Barney's closest companion is Spark Plug, a racehorse he wound up winning from a man who had been tossed out the window of the Pastime Jockey Club, landing atop of Barney who happened to be on the sidewalk. Convinced this relatively soft landing had saved his life, the grateful victim gave Barney the horse in gratitude. Without a home to return to, Barney journeys across early 20th century America, entering Spark Plus into various horse races and sports. Despite their ups and downs, Barney and Spark Plug share a deep bond and are inseparable partners in their escapades.

In 1934, an even greater change took place when Barney and his horse visited the North Carolina mountains and met a volatile, equally diminutive moonshiner named Snuffy Smith. Hillbilly humor was popular at the time (as Al Capp was proving with ''Li'l Abner''). The strip increasingly focused on the southern Appalachian hamlet of "Hootin' Holler", with Snuffy as the main character. The mountaineer locals are suspicious of any outsiders, referred to as "flatlanders" or even worse, "revenooers" (Federal Revenue agents).

Snuffy Smith was so popular that his name was added to the strip's title in the late 1930s, while the top-billed Barney Google became an increasingly peripheral character in what once was his own comic. Eventually, Barney Google left Hootin' Holler in 1954 to return to the city, and was essentially written out of the strip except as a very occasional visitor.

All published appearances of Barney Google from before January 1, )-(95)}} are public domain in the US.

Some notable appearances are listed below:

*Take Barney Google, F'rinstance (1919-1934)
*Barney Google and His Faithful Nag Spark Plug (1923) (Cupples & Leon Co.)
*Barney Google and Spark Plug #2 (1924) (Cupples & Leon Co.)
*Barney Google and Spark Plug #3 (1925) (Cupples & Leon Co.)
*Barney Google and Spark Plug #4 (1926) (Cupples & Leon Co.)

*All the Funny Folks (1926)

*Horsefeathers (1928)
*OKMNX (1928) (or Barney Google's Welcome Home)
*T-Bone Handicap (1928)
*Money Balks (1928)
*The Beef-Steaks (1928)
*Runnin' Through the Rye (1929)
*Sunshine's Dark Moment (1929)
*Neigh, Neigh, Spark Plug (1929)
*A Horse on Barney (1929)
*Just a Stall (1929)
*The Pace That Thrills (1929)
*Slide, Sparky, Slide (1929)

*Tetched in the Head (1935)
*Patch Mah Britches (1935)
*Spark Plug (1936)
*Major Google (1936)

*Large Feature Comic v2 #11 - Barney Google and Snuffy Smith
*Barney Google and Snuffy Smith #1-4 (Toby)

*Barney Google is believed to be a potential inspiration for the name of the number googol, which in turn was the etymology for the search engine Google.

*[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barney_Google_and_Snuffy_Smith Wikipedia]
*[http://www.toonopedia.com/google.htm Toonopedia]
*[https://comicvine.gamespot.com/barney-google/4005-66509/ ComicVine]
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