Although you don’t see them much these days, for years, most of the popular US (and a few British) men’s magazines have included comic sections appearing in their monthly editions, featuring sexy female characters. A prime example being Playboy magazine’s Little Annie Fanny (at right), arguably the best-know of the comic cuties.
Described as being “vaguely based on the Little Orphan Annie theme,” but with the title character being more like an embellished Jayne Mansfield type, Little Annie Fanny was created by Harvey Kurtzman and Will Elder, Annie debuted in Playboy magazine in October 1962 and made her final appearance in September 1988. During her 26-year, 107-episode run, Annie found herself in various predicaments in which she is usually separated from her clothing.
The following characters ended their runs long before the magazines ended theirs, at leas in print (Playboy recently resurrected its print edition, but it will be only annual rather than monthly), but they will always remain as much as American pop culture as stapled centerfolds. Here’s a look back at some of those awesomely sexy characters.
If Playboy‘s Annie could be considered number one, then it would stand to reason that Playboy‘s biggest competitor, Penthouse, would have the number two girl on this list. Wicked Wanda, by British duo Frederic Mullally and Ron Embleton, debuted in Penthouse in 1969, but didn’t become a regular monthly feature in the magazine until 1973, when she began her seven-year run until 1980.
Probably as an answer to Little Annie Fanny’s sidekick Wanda Homefree, Candyfloss (a British term for cotton candy) aka “Pusscake” was Wanda’s teenage (very) close friend. Originally intended as a “gift” for Wanda’s father, Candyfloss was just too sweet for Wanda to resist and she ended up keeping her for herself. Candyfloss affectionately called Wanda “Boo’ful.”
Sweet Chastity, the successor to Wicked Wanda, was also drawn by Ron Emberton and began her run in the pages of Penthouse in 1981 and ran until Emberton’s passing in 1988. Even though the pink-haired (carpet as well as drapes) vixen was drawn by Emberton, her adventures were penned by Penthouse founder and editor-in-chief, Bob Guccione. It’s been speculated that August 1976 Pet of the Month and later 1977 Pet of the Year, the late Victoria Lynn Johnson, with her gorgeous fiery red hair, was at least a partial inspiration for Sweet Chastity.
Hustler magazine’s answer to Playboy’s Annie Fanny and Penthouse‘s Wicked Wanda and Sweet Chastity was Honey aka Honey Hooker whose striking (even more striking than Sweet Chastity’s) resemblance to Penthouse Pet Victoria Lynn Johnson we assume was probably coincidental). Unlike their rivals’ comely comic characters, Honey was a prostitute who loved her work. Furthermore, the comic, like the magazine it ran in, was far more explicit than those of its competitors.
Varoomshka was the creation of New Zealand cartoonist John Kent, who passed away in 2003. She ran in the British daily newspaper The Guardian from 1969 to 1979. Then-Guardian editor?, Betsy Reed, wrote of Vroomshka in Kent’s obituary:
Some feminist groups took credit for Varoomshka’s departure because of the pressure they put on the Guardian. However, that was entirely untrue and Varoomshka continued to make occasional appearances in certain other publications throughout the 80s.
Last, but certainly not least, is the pioneering Sweet Gwendoline, who first appeared from June 1947 to February 1950 in the mainstream girlie magazine Wink. The creation of fetish photographer and artist John Alexander Scott Coutts, better known as John Willie, Sweet Gwendoline often found herself in a bind.
Cherry Poptart (later re-titled to just “Cherry”)
Although she didn’t appear in a “Men’s Magazine,” per se, Vampironica deserves a mention here. Vampironica was actually a ripoff who got ripped off. She appeared only in the first issue (published January 1982) of Cherry Poptart, which was an adult comic book (later re-titled to simply “Cherry” after the second issue because Kellogg’s, the maker of Pop Tarts toaster pastries threatened legal action, but that’s a whole ‘nother story).
Vampironica was that creation of Larry Todd, as a parody both Vampirella and Veronica from Archie comics. She would have been a recurring character, but of course, Archie Comics threatened a lawsuit due to similarities between Vampironica and other characters surrounding her and their characters, so Cherry Comics decided to pull the plug on further stories with Vampironica. However, fast forward to 2015 and Archie Comics (probably sensing Welz and Turner’s character would be a profitable thing for Archie Comics) announced that their new horror imprint (Archie Horror) would feature a “significant female character from Archie’s past.” Archie Comics officially announced Vampironica in late 2017 and she debuted in Archie Horror in March 2018.
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