I’m starting a new series called First Year Covers, the purpose of which should be obvious. I’ll take a famous magazine and share a gallery featuring all or selected covers from its first year of publication. For no particular reason I’ve chosen Hugh Hefner’s Playboy for the first entry.

Scratch that – there is a reason. Aside from all the controversy Playboy has courted almost since its first issue published in December 1953 — and featuring previously unseen nude photos of Marilyn Monroe — many of its covers in the early days are fun and imaginative exercises in graphic design.

So with that out of the way, let’s enjoy a look at the twelve months of Playboy covers, plus a bonus 13th cover to round out 1954. Sorry fellas, no nudity here.