The 70’s were a strange time where a secret war was being waged between two pornographic giants. In one corner was Playboy, a magazine dedicated to the upper middle class lifestyle. In the other corner was Penthouse, dedicated to getting fucking laid. Both magazines engaged in an arms race of porn. Playboy had the Playmate while Penthouse had the Pet. Playboy had thoughtful interviews with politicians and authors. Penthouse had dirty letters written by fans or ghost writers. For humor, Playboy had a comic series called ‘Little Annie Fannie’. Fannie was a busty blonde who was constantly being sexually harassed but always managed to avoid getting laid. Penthouse had a comic series called ‘Oh Wicked Wanda’ about a powerful wealthy woman who raped your ass. You can imagine which series I liked better.
‘Oh Wicked Wanda’ was written by Frederic Mullally and drawn by Ron Embelton. The series revolved around Wanda Von Kreesus and her quest for world domination. She came from a long line of crazed maniacs, and kept her father’s corpse under glass in case she needed to consult with his spirit. Wanda was a brilliant, indomitable woman who led her own private army called the Puss Force. She could beat any man in any contest.
Wanda was accompanied by her 16 year old sidekick and lover, Candyfloss. While Wanda starts as a lesbian who eventually finds the appeal of men, Candyfloss pretty fucks anything that moves. I guess the best description for Candyfloss is a bratty submissive but really she transcends orientation and was just fucking horny. She’s the kind of character that could only exist in the 70’s as modern writers would ruin her character by giving her depth.
The writing was always fantastic. The plots were topical for the 70’s as Wanda would try to come up with an oil substitute or create a sex fantasy resort for adults. Those wacky people in the 70’s! Aren’t you glad we don’t have those problems any more?
The stories also used politicians and celebrities without mercy. Jane Fonda got spanked, Bobby Fisher was humiliated and Norman Mailer was made into furniture. What always impresses me about the way they used celebrities is the equal punishment they gave liberals and conservatives. Extremes at both ends of the spectrum are subject to ridicule and we don’t see enough of that today.
As for the art, Ron Embelton was a fucking genius. He crams the backgrounds with sights and jokes. Sometimes he sneaks in characters from other comics like Mickey Mouse and Alfred E. Neuman. Playboy’s own Little Annie Fannie appeared often as a subject of scorn. This was a man who did not beleive in wasted space. Why draw a table leg when he can draw a table leg that looks like a satyr fucking a nymph? The man loved breasts and legs and there is plenty to lust at in every page.
‘Oh, Wicked Wanda’ was a big inspiration for me as an erotica writer. Anything was possible in these stories and I don’t just mean sexually. They dealt with science fiction, pulp adventures and dangerous enemies. Wrapping fun adventurous plots with one long female domination fantasy showed me what porn could be. It’s a place where all your fantasies merge together, giving equal time to the lust and that universal desire for something fantastic.
Sadly there has been no complete collections of the Wanda stories. There was one book printed in 1975 that follows the first storyline but no modern editions have been printed. Lucky for us, there is an internet archive of the stories. Thanks to some amazing work, you can now enjoy every Wanda story ever told. Set aside the weekend and enjoy one of the great classics of porn.
2 Responses to “Oh Wicked Wanda”
Sorry, the comment form is closed at this time.
Oh, man, thanks for the link. I LOVED this when I was a teen. Great stuff. To be honest, I liked Little Annie Fanny as well. Vaughn Bode as well, and R. Crumb, and – man, memory lane time. A question, you’d have been awfully young when this came out, I guess you found it much later? I snuck the magazines off of the top rack at the bookstore, or looked at the comics at a local head shop.
During my teenage years, my family moved into our grandparents house. They had rented the upstairs attic to boarders. By the time we got the house, there was literally an entire house worth of stuff up there that no one knew who it belonged to. I found two foot lockers of porn magazines from the 70’s that I pretty much read for my entire puberty lol. I’m still not sure if it was my step-father’s, my grandfather or someone else’s. This was around the mid 80’s.
I appreciate Fannie more now as social satire but man, Wanda was my erotica crush.