Uncle Barnaby and aunt Clarice were Jed Walker's abusive relatives.
History[]
Clarice was a cousin of Burt Paulsen and Barnaby was her husband. They lived on a farm "in upstate Georgia". In 1985 after the death of Burt and his father Ezra, they took Burt's son Jed to live with them. They received $800 a month in welfare for taking care of the boy.[1]
However, in reality the couple treated the boy harshly, and a year later he tried to escape the farm. Since then they have been keeping him locked in a basement and subjecting him to beatings if he displeased them in any way, going as far as threatening to break all his bones. Their reasoning for keeping the boy, other than "protecting their investment", was an unexplicable conviction that it was important to keep Jed "safe", which most likely indicates a mental influence from Brute and Glob, two rogue nightmares with their own stake in Jed.
In 1989, Dream learned that Brute and Glob had settled in Jed's mind and came to Barnaby's farm to punish them. Brute briefly considered killing the couple and hiding inside their bodies, impersonating them, but concluded it wouldn't fool Dream.[2] The destruction of the pocket dream dimension that they constructed resulted in such a powerful blast that it killed Barnaby and Clarice.[3]
Continuity notes[]
- Barnaby and Clarice first appear in The Sandman #5 (1975). Jed's treatment in that story was more resembling of Cinderella, with them charging him with hard work while maintaining a friendly façade.
- The couple's children in the older Sandman are called Susan and Bruce. It's unknown whether "Barnaby Jr." is a mistake, a retcon, or a separate character.
- Ironically, Dream kills Barnaby and Clarice in the same issue where it's pointed out that he isn't allowed to kill people.