Before Barbie was Barbie, she was Lilli Tom Heintjes, of the comic strip history publication Hogan's Alley points out that Mattel's Barbie was based on a German doll named Lilli, which was from a bawdy German comic strip about a sexy young woman. Methinks Cucker Tarlson would disapprove. That is no doll that Cucker would to **** after a few beers.