Fantagraphics Books in the state of Washington includes a two-volume set (to order separately) about Playboy’s “sexy, comic heroine.” Any Dopers remember her? The writers sure seemed to give the impression that, for as much of a sexy bimbo as Annie was, she didn’t seem to be malicious or promiscuous; it was the men like Sugardaddy Bigbucks and Benton Battbarton who were the “villains” of the series. Any comments?
I’m relatively young, but I bumped into a website dedicated to her some time ago while randomly poking around the web, and I’ve been interested in the character ever since (for purely academic reasons, of course). I’d post a link, but it might violate the board’s “no porn” rule.
And yes, it’s her utter lack of guile that makes her so sexy. That, and the gazongas.
Harvey Kurtzman and Bill Elder, two of the original artists for Mad magazine, created our innocent buxom heroine. Check the body (to coin a phrase) of work these two geniuses created, and decide for yourself whether LAF was the pinnacle of their achievement or whether they were slumming.
i remember her. those were some pretty clever comics, actually. i remember one where the old man tricks her into ho’ing, and him taking the money. it was a while ago, so i cant come up with details, but i remember her.
Annie was sweet. Nothing like Wicked Wanda over in Penthouse.
I remember once when Annie met the world chess champion (based on Bobby Fisher). She drove him crazy when she leaned over the board and touched two pieces simultaneously.
The strip did several dead-on parodies of celebrities and fads during the '70s. The sky-diving episode with the Stallone character also sticks with me.
(Yes, back then I fell for the great Playboy lie. “We order these drinks, dress this way, and tell these jokes. And THESE are the girls who hang out with us! What, it doesn’t work for you? That’s because this month we are ordering these drinks, dressing this way, and telling these jokes. Those lame things you are doing only were cool last month…”)
What do you mea: “Remember?” They’re still running the strip, on the same irregular basis they always did. Kurtzman and Elder have passed on, but the strip continues.
For Wicked Wanda fans, it’s available in full on the web. Rather than linking directly to a site containing such adult oriented material, email me if you want the address.
Really??! :eek: 
When I first saw LAF in Playboy I was about 13, and sneaking looks at the magazine in general and the Playmates, the cartoons, and Annie in particular, in the racks in stores. I guess what was sexually appealing, to the male readers at least, was that she almost always wound up naked by the end of the story. (In Part 2 of a story that spoofed James Bond, she was naked throughout–and drawn by Russ Heath and Frank Frazetta, for the most part.)
I wonder if the supporting characters are still with her–including Ralphie, Battbarton, Sugardaddy, Ruthie, Buxton, and Duncan Fyfe Hepplewhite (who apparently served a prison term for art forgery).
I can’t say that I remember Annie, since the strip ran its course before I took an interest in girls, and I’ve never really been much for porn, anyway. But Kurtzman is my god, and I’ve gotten into Little Annie Fanny that way.
Kurtzman said that Annie was a female version of his 1950s/1960s character Young Goodman Beaver—the quintissential innocent, cast into the harsh, real world. I’m more familiar with Goodman Beaver than with Annie Fanny, but from what I can gather, it’s an accurate assessment. Kurtzman said that Annie was a little wiser than Goodman, pretty much because as a woman, she has to be.
The last Goodman comic was a sendup of the Archie comics gang called Goodman Goes Playboy. Archie comics was furious about it, and sued Kurtzman’s Help! magazine into oblivion. Oddly enough, it was Playboy that was Kurtzman’s real target in the satire. Odder still, Hugh Hefner himself was so intrigued by Kurtzman’s work that he offered him work doing a strip for him—and Little Annie Fanny was born!
I’ve seen the Annie Fanny anthologies in the store. I’m going to have to pick them up. Harvey Kurtzman played a large role in making me who I am today, so blame him.
By the way: Kurtzman died of Parkinson’s in 1993, but Will Elder is still alive.