Cranium Frenzy: Collected Edition

ALL FOUR VOLUMES ON SALE NOW!

MEDIA: To reach Steve Willis (Creator) and/or Tom Fellrath (Editor/Publisher), contact Fellrath at phoenixprodscomics@yahoo.com.

PUBLISHER TOM FELLRATH ON THE COLLECTED CRANIUM FRENZY

Steve Willis has entrusted me with the privilege of reprinting the entire forty-issue collection of his Cranium Frenzy series, which he self-published between 1981 and 2024 before putting it on hiatus.

Phoenix Productions will offer softcover editions of The Collected Cranium Frenzy. The first volume is “half-legal” size, or 8.5″x7″, to accommodate the paper size of six of the first seven issues. This is the first time since the original printing that the half-legal size has been used. The remaining three issues are “half-letter” size, or 8.5″x5.5″, in keeping with the original sizing.

Taking over 900 pages of masters and turning them into collection-worthy books is daunting and somewhat fascinating. The process involves hundreds of hours of labor in optimizing photocopy masters from content as much as 45 years old – sometimes second or third generation photocopies – to make them presentable for today’s audiences.

While Steve doesn’t quite get my giddiness about this project, I hope you share my enthusiasm. Steve Willis is a one-of-a-kind in American cartooning, and his work deserves the best possible treatment that publishing can offer. I will do my best to do justice to his creative genius.

PROGRESS VIDEOS

Along the way, I’ve periodically recorded brief videos of my work on this project. They will be released every couple of weeks on the FANzine Live YouTube channel. In the interest of not having to continually maintain this page, I’m posting links to every video – even the ones that have been scheduled but not released. Launch dates will accompany every video link.

ABOUT STEVE WILLIS

Steve Willis is an American cartoonist from the Pacific Northwest, who was prominently part of the new wave of small press publications of the 1980s. Willis sold his wacky, surreal and playful photocopied mini comics like ‘Cranium Frenzy’ by mail-order. He also contributed his work to local semi-regular papers like the Seattle Star. Willis’ main character was ‘Morty the Dog’, whose adventures he drew on the backs of retired filing cards or random pieces of paper. (Link)

Underground/Newave comix cartoonist Steve Willis was born and raised in Spokane, Washington. He attended the Evergreen State College, and earned a master’s degree in Library Science from the University of Washington in 1982.

While a student at Evergreen, Willis drew comics for the student newspaper, working alongside other future Pacific Northwest cartoonists Matt Groening, Lynda Barry, and Charles Burns. Willis worked at Washington State University as a Catalog Librarian for several years in the 1980s, continuing to draw Underground/Newave comix.

Willis later worked as a librarian at the Evergreen State College, and as of 2014 he is the Program Manager at the Washington State Library in Olympia. He offers cartooning workshops for novice and aspiring cartoonists in McCleary, Washington. (Link)

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RESUME

Faculty/library positions: Washington State University, South Puget Sound Community College

Library position: Evergreen State College

Retired in 2014 as Program Manager of the Washington State Library’s Central Library

B.A., Liberal Arts, 1979, Evergreen State College

M.L.S., 1982, University of Washington, School of Library and Information Science

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Small Press Comics Publication List (incomplete, 852 entries):

“Steve Willis” per Poopsheet Foundation 

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Featured in:

• Newave! The Underground Mini Comix of the 1980s (Fantagraphics Books, 2010)
• Treasury of Mini Comics Volume One (Fantagraphics Books, 2013)
• Treasury of Mini Comics Volume Two (Fantagraphics Books, 2015)
• “The Old School,” Robert Boyd, The Comics Journal 183 (Fantagraphics Books)
• Comic Book Creator magazine (TwoMorrows Publishing), issues 39, 41 & 42

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Notable:

• Steve has a voluminous personal blog detailing much of his zine activity from 2010 to 2020, including thoughts on earlier works (including Cranium Frenzy) here: Morty The Dog: The Diogenes Club
• Established the first academic collection of underground, newave and small press comix on the West Coast 40 years ago while a member of the faculty at Washington State University (Link)
• Created over 11,000 “Morty Comix” original cartoon pieces, which he distributes by hand around Greater Seattle and by mail to friends and customers.

• The late Larned Justin and Steve Keeter conducted an interview with Willis for their Talking Small Press Comics YouTube channel in 2024. Willis took emailed questions and provided suitably creative responses. His legendary style shines through the entire video.

MORTY THE DOG

Perhaps Willis’ signature creation that initially surfaced in 1981’s Cranium Frenzy #1, Morty the Dog graces many pages across the title. His impact goes far beyond, however, with two issues of a Morty comic series published in the direct market in the 1980s via Starhead Comix. Morty has been featured in many other minicomics and has been known to appear in comics and zines throughout the years.

In addition, Morty has led himself to loving homage creations, like those shown below:

CRANIUM FRENZY LAUNCH EVENTS

Steve Willis and/or Phoenix Publisher Tom Fellrath will be making a limited number of public appearances to celebrate the launch of The Collected Cranium Frenzy. This list will be updated over time.

• Short Run Comix Fest, Seattle WA – November 1, 2025 – Willis, Fellrath and Volume 1 Foreword writer Bruce Chrislip attended
• Small Press & Alternative Comics Expo (S.P.A.C.E.), Hilliard (Metro Columbus), OH – March 28 & 29, 2026 – Willis and Fellrath will attend

CONNECT WITH STEVE WILLIS

Energetically old school in his approach, Steve is not connected to the Internet and prefers to work via mail and shipping channels. You can reach him at:

Steve Willis, PO Box 390, McCleary WA 98557-0390

Willis also enjoys sharing his zines with those who wish to share with him. To that end, he will happily swap zines with those who send him zines of their own making.

SAMPLE EDITION OF ISSUE ONE