Kurtzman had reconciled with Gaines by the mid-1980s, and contributed some pieces to "Mad" with art by Elder. Kurtzman brought "Little Annie Fanny" to an end in 1988, amid failing health, a poor relationship with "Playboy" cartoon editor Michelle Urry, and resentment over the discovery that he did not own the rights to the strip. "Harvey Kurtzman's Strange Adventures" assembled a wide cast of cartoonists in 1990 to illustrate stories from Kurtzman's layouts, though the book was not a success, nor was a revival of "Two-Fisted Tales". He had long planned to write a comics history, but other work had taken priority. Towards the end of his life, he agreed to collaborate with comics historian Michael Barrier to complete "From Aargh! to Zap! Harvey Kurtzman's Visual History of the Comics", which was published in 1991, though it was shorter than the more complete history Kurtzman had planned.