Little Orphan Annie was one of the most culturally-influential comic strips of all time. It, like its rival,
Dick Tracy had a strange gothic vision and both endured for over eighty years, though
Annie's career was far more checkered. Originally started in 1924, it remained in Harold Gray's hands until his death in 1968, when it continued in other hands, notably Tex Blaisdell, Andrew Pepoy and Leonard Starr. It went through various hiatuses and incarnations until being most recently cancelled in 2010.
It was, I believe, the first strip to be run extensively in newspapers in reprints. Its 1930's radio show attracted six-million viewers and was allegedly the first radio show about a kid for kids. Several movies were based on it. Its main claim to fame now is the long-running and frequently-revived musical Annie.
The art was frequently satirized for the blank eyes of the characters. In his later years, and in this strip, Gray experimented with giving his people tiny eye dots. Annie was originally supposed to be a boy, little orphan Otto, but the syndicator ordered the name change and put a dress on Otto, who, apparently otherwise looked like Annie. Carmen is something of a rarity for being a lady of child-bearing age, most of Gray's females either being pre-teens or grandmother types. In context, she was a regular Hedy Lamarr. She either has a really impressive top knot or a really stupid hat.
