A
comic strip (
ahem) in
Playboy magazine. It was created in 1962 by
Harvey Kurtzman, the founding editor of
Mad Magazine. Kurtzman had been contributing
cartoons to Playboy for several years, and the
magazine had even proclaimed him one of the
hippest
cartoonists around back in 1957.
When "Little Annie Fanny" made its debut in the October 1962 issue, it was the first fully-
painted feature in American comics -- every single
panel was a detailed
painting of the action. The strip, which was an obvious
parody of "
Little Orphan Annie," starred Annie, a
buxom, slightly
ditzy blonde who spent most of her comics appearances in various stages of
undress. Supporting characters included
Sugardaddy Bigbucks and his
mysterious assistant,
the Wasp, as well as
Wanda Homefree,
Ruthie the roommate,
Ralphie Towser,
Portnoy Alexander,
Benton Battbarton, and
Solly Brass. Most of the "stories" were
spoofs of
pop culture,
advertising,
politics, and all the stuff that Kurtzman had been spoofing back when he was at Mad, only now with a whole lot more
boobies.
Doing a fully-painted comic strip is very
difficult work -- most people who do painted comics have to take a long time to put them together, and it's almost
impossible to do a monthly painted strip all by yourself. So Kurtzman hired a number of
assistants over the years to help lighten the load a bit. Many of those assistants were former Mad
artists, including
Will Elder,
Jack Davis,
Russ Heath,
Al Jaffee, and others.
The strip, which ran every single month at first, cut back to occasional issues during the 1970s. Playboy cancelled the feature in 1988, with over 100 episodes in the bank. Kurtzman died in 1993, but the older cartoons had always been
popular as
reprints, so Playboy brought "Little Annie Fanny" back in 1998 with artwork by
Ray Lago and
Bill Schorr.
Research from http://www.toonopedia.com/anniefan.htm