His appearance — long, flowing white hair framing an equally long, full beard — commands attention. His blue eyes sparkle behind round, Harry Potter-type glasses. After speaking with him for a few moments, it's clear there's nothing old or fogeyish about him. This guy's on the ball. It's no wonder his work — which includes scores of comic books and cartoons — remains in demand some five decades into his career.

The 78-year-old Scotch Plains resident is a frequent contributor to Playboy, for which he draws racy cartoons with double-entrendre punchlines. It's been a labor of love for nearly 30 years.

"It's pretty easy to do a sex gag," he acknowledges.

And Thorne should know; he created Moonshine McJugs, a comic strip that the men's entertainment magazine ran in the '80s about a "deep country gal of easy virtue."

Nowadays, the Rahway native's work is critiqued by none other than the man in the red velvet smoking jacket, Hugh Hefner. A work in progress on his drawing board includes notes from Hefner about the sketch and a rejiggering of the punchline.

"He's an excellent editor," Thorne says. "I owe so much to Hugh Hefner."

Still, it's evident that Thorne is a perfectionist. He labors over his work, spending many hours in the upstairs studio of the home he shares with his wife of almost six decades, Marilyn.

"After 57 years you would think" he could churn out the cartoons faster. But "it still keeps me up at night."

TO THE DRAWING BOARD

Thorne is far from a stranger when it comes to racy material. He created the character of Danger Rangerette for National Lampoon, as well as Ghita of Alizarr — a "sexier" version of Red Sonja, whom he lovingly drew in comic-book form for Marvel for several years.

But don't get the idea that Thorne is a superhero fanatic.

"I never really liked superheroes," he admits. "Sonja had no super powers. She's just a very fine swordswoman."

Thorne traces his fascination and enthusiasm for his work to his childhood.

"I can never remember when I didn't draw," he says, explaining that he spent many hours watching — and being inspired by — films at the Rahway Theater (now the Union County Performing Arts Center).

"All my life I've loved movies," he says, lamenting that he and Marilyn don't go to the theater much anymore because the volume is too loud. "(Italian film director Federico) Fellini was a big influence . . . 'La Dolce Vita' blew me away."

Everything changed when he was 9, though. That was when "my libido really kicked in," he acknowledges. He started drawing "highly erotic images" and found actress Maria Montez particularly inspiring.

Thorne, who calls himself "beyond a dirty old man," is actually a father of five, grandfather of 10 and great-grandfather of five. He is the author of several books, including "Drawing Sexy Women," "The Crystal Ballroom" and "Nymph."

These days, he keeps his Playboy punchlines hip and current by mining The New York Times' Modern Love column, among other sources, for material. His sketching talents were tapped for a recent episode of the History Channel's "MonsterQuest" about the Jersey Devil. He does a lot of commission work for Red Sonja, especially now that Quentin Tarantino's pal, film director Robert Rodriguez, plans to bring the character to life in an upcoming movie starring his girlfriend, Rose McGowan of "Grindhouse" fame. Hollywood has also expressed interest in bringing Ghita to the big screen under her alternate name, "The Girl in the Iron Bikini."

"It's not work," he says of the roughly eight hours he spends a day at the drawing board. "How can it be work?"