Hello, everyone! I can’t believe I haven’t written anything on the site since the release of The Collected Cranium Frenzy by Steve Willis Volume 1 was released!
No, scratch that. I can believe it.
It’s been a wild time here at Phoenix Prods HQ, between remastering/reissuing the balance of Steve Willis’ legendary zine, summer travel (including but not limited to the southernmost tip of the Arctic Ocean), Dad taxi service in full swing, a kid who took up club sports (the biggest of all time sponges), near-daily FANzine Live videos, college visits and so, so much more.
But you’re not here for excuses, you’re here to see what’s new on the comics and zine front. Let’s try to summarize (and note that links to the books and zines are provided throughout):
The Collected Cranium Frenzy by Steve Willis Volume 2
Issues 7-16, 1994-2023
Released July 20, 2025
This is the volume with the biggest time gap, as Steve took a few multi-year breaks between issues.
He kicked it into high gear with issue #11 in 2022. In many ways, it feels like a relaunch of the title with that issue.
And issue #14 introduces his nemesis, Mrs. Buginthebutt. So much misdirected bile…
The Collected Cranium Frenzy by Steve Willis Volume 3
Issues 17-28, 2023-24
Released August 24, 2025
Everyone has their favorite issue, and the one that drove home the power of Steve’s incredible storytelling came with issue #20, “Wherever I may roam…”. It’s an issue unlike any other in the series as Steve shifts his focus to his home state of Washington and shares vignettes about the people, places and geology of The Evergreen State. Love it!
The Collected Cranium Frenzy by Steve Willis Volume 4
Issues 29-40, 2024
Released October 2, 2025
The grand finale! Well, the start of another break as Steve sidestepped into a nearly year-long series of jams with cartoonists and small pressers.
Sebastian Cabot begins his tour de force in issue #31, and Steve’s top 100 “Cultural Countdown” runs in issue #38.
The Collected Cranium Frenzy by Steve Willis Reader
Released October 2, 2025
Somewhere in the midst of remastering, I started wondering if perhaps there was too much Cranium Frenzy being foisted upon the public at one time…these meaty tomes of cartooning greatness might just be too much for the average person to ingest at once.
Hence, the Reader! A full magazine-sized publication, 84 pages long, giving the Willis-curious a place to sample his wares without taking the plunge (but, I’m guessing, the place where a number of people will say that they first discovered this amazing man’s work).
I had some fun putting this together. We have excerpts of all four volumes in delightful, oversized pages PLUS a reprint of a 2009 Rick Bradford interview of Steve as well as a selection of Steve’s Morty Comix!
So yeah, it’s kinda-sorta a reprint book. It’s also an entirely different animal than the four volumes…and definitely worth a look.
The TRAGEDY of MORTY, Prince of Denmarke. (Hardcover) (Softcover)
Released October 5, 2025.
Rather than restate myself, I’ll just share the FANzine Live video I made on this incredible book.
OK, I’ll say a little.
Most who are Willis-aware consider Tragedy to be Steve’s signature work. I’m thrilled to be able to take Jeff Wood’s digital masters and add a brand-new color cover to the first-ever fully collected edition of the story. There’s also some pretty cool back-matter culled from Steve’s Morty Blog.
I also started a series of posts on social media (YouTube, Facebook and Instagram at minimum…more if I have time to manually cross-post) with Steve’s cartooning from Cranium Frenzy (and perhaps, as time rolls on, other sources). I call it #SundaySteveWillis. Here are the first three…
- September 21, 2025 – Cranium Frenzy #1
- September 28, 2025 – Cranium Frenzy #2
- October 5, 2025 – Cranium Frenzy #3
Dispatches from the Hudson’s Bay Company and the Early Fur Trade
Released September 13, 2025
(Did I mention that I opened up a ko-fi storefront for my minicomics and home-printed zines?)
I will never regret putting nearly a year of my comics/zine-making life into the Collected Cranium Frenzy project. At the same time, I have some other creative itches to scratch.
This was the first (and simplest) project – taking a little snippet of my Northern Ontario trip and attempting to translate it to zine formatting. The idea of taking museum exhibits and sights that most every reader would never see in person and then remixing it to make a worthwhile reading experience was a fun challenge.
It seemed especially appropriate as the first part of the zine dealt with company workers sending illustrations of the wildlife that they saw back to Europe to share with management and family. Cartooning by another name…
The FANzine Live YouTube video channel is humming along. 392 videos (including some Phoenix promo ads and the like, but definitely over 350…probably around 375). Over 40,000 total views. Over 2,000 watch hours. Nearly 650 subscribers.
It’s been a lot of work, but gosh is it fun to pore through the comics and zines! If you aren’t watching FANzine Live, please go check it out!
More or less, it’s all condensed down to this 30-ish second gem:
That’s “it”. Not much, right? There’s surely more to add, but I think these are the high points.
And you know there’s more to follow! Quite a few ideas and projects are percolating…just need to get through the Short Run Zine Festival in Seattle on November 1. Speaking of…
Thanks for your patience as I worked through the Cranium Frenzy project. I’ll do my darnedest to share more here on the website…but there’s only one of me, and so much to do!
Be good, everyone! Enjoy the reading.
Phoenix Productions 