Cover of Mad magazine by Will Elder and Harvey KurtzmanBy Dennis McLellan,
Los Angeles Times Staff Writer
May 17, 2008
Will Elder, one of the original Mad magazine cartoonist-illustrators who helped set the irreverent visual style of the legendary satirical publication in the 1950s and later co-created the long-running "Little Annie Fanny" color cartoon strip in Playboy magazine, has died. He was 86.
Elder died of Parkinson's disease Thursday in a nursing home in Rockleigh, N.J., said his son-in-law, Gary VandenBergh.
"His artistic ability was unparalleled, but it was the sense of humor that he brought to it that really set him apart," Hugh Hefner, Playboy publisher and a fan of Elder's work since "the early days of Mad," told The Times on Friday. "He was a zany and a lovable one."Copyright 2008 Los Angeles Times
