Little Annie Fanny was a comic strip that ran in Playboy magazine from 1962 to 2000.  It satirized contemporary American society and its sexual customs, using bawdy humor.  Rather than the customary inked, outlined style with flat colors, the series was painted in oil, tempera and watercolor, resulting in a brilliant gradient of tones.  The series was created by writer Harvey Kurtzman and artist Will Elder.  Other artists, including Frank Frazetta, occasionally assisted Elder with the art, and Hugh Hefner closely edited the strip.  After Kurzman’s death, Ray Lago and Bill Schorr continued the series briefly.  In all, 107 episodes were published.  It was the first continuing comic strip in a major American magazine.

Little Annie Fanny was an innocent, based on Voltaire’s Candide (and Marilyn Monroe as well, vaguely, Little Orphan Annie).  Through no fault of her own, she ended up nude in every episode.  Celebrities (Ralph Nader, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Nikita Khrushchev, Phillip Roth, et. al.) were featured.  A revolving cast of Little Annie’s friends also appeared.  Over the years various trends and fads (rock and roll, miniskirts, streaking, computers, etc.) were mocked.  Background gags, little visual jokes, were often worked in.

I remember reading Little Annie Fanny in Playboy when I was younger.  I loved the strip’s luminous colors. 

A quote from Will Elder:

“The colors were like gems to me.  I worked very hard to give them iridescence”.

S. Gray

April 2025