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Too Much Coffee Man: Saving the World, One Cup at a Time

An interview with underground comic artist-turned-magazine editor Shannon Wheeler.

By Victor Vazquez

Who can take a political issue, sprinkle it with paranoia, cover it with irony and a panic attack or two? Too Much Coffee Man can. Shannon Wheeler's brooding, over-caffeinated, spandex-clad anti-hero gets his name from the giant cup of steaming coffee growing from his skull. As you might have already assumed, the comic is anything but normal.

TMCM began as a half-hearted sketch, then became a character in a number of strips and minicomics before he became his own Adhesive Comics series. Now, Wheeler's underground comic antihero is moving from its former comics medium to a full-blown magazine bent on world domination.

I recently got to speak briefly with Wheeler at the Alternative Press Expo in San Francisco about his latest project Too Much Coffee Man Magazine, and about comics in general.

Youth Radio: Do you still think that there's a valuable element in mainstream comics or are they kind of watered down? What's your take on it?

Shannon Wheeler: I really like mainstream comics, but it's a different kind of pleasure. It's more like watching television a little bit. It's like the entertainment is there and I still really enjoy it, but I think it's a real privilege to get something that has a lot of personality.

YR: So would you say comics are leaning more towards art or entertainment?

SW: Well they're not necessarily mutually exclusive, but I think indie comics are definitely more art and I think that's their strength, you know, when they do achieve that.

YR: A while ago there were rumors about a Too Much Coffee Man animated series… so what's up with that?

SW: Yeah, I went through the Hollywood ringer for sure. I'd hooked up with an animation company and they paired me with a writer… the scripts that were beginning to be turned out… I was not very happy with what was being done. Right now it's in limbo. They were edging me out of the process slowly but surely. They were saying less and less and they were telling me more and more that I could not be involved in this thing that I was creating. It was very weird, very Hollywood.

YR: So if you were to try and do this again, under what circumstances would it be?

SW: I would put myself in as a writer from very early on and get that in the contract as opposed to having them just tell me, "Yeah, you'll be one of the writers…" Like no thank you. I'll have that in writing. I'll be a little bit more cautious about it in the future. I think it would be a lot easier to go into a Hollywood situation with something that I cared about less. I think part of my weakness is that my heart and soul is really in this comic book and in this character, and watching him be changed by people who didn't understand what I was doing was really difficult.

YR: So okay, back to comics again: What do you think comics are trying to do and what are you trying to do with comics?

SW: Well, there's a real gamut in comics and that's what makes them really neat. I think what really attracts me in comics are people that actually have a message; they have something important that they want to say and they're trying to communicate information. It's an amazing medium for communication, I feel. So when people have an idea… like they want to talk about the evils of capitalism… it's a great medium.

YR: Okay, if it's such a great medium, then why did you switch over to the magazine format and how are you finding the transition?

SW: I switched the comic book to a magazine mainly to reach a wider audience. People will pick up a magazine a lot quicker [than a comic.] Comics have a stigma to them. People will pick up and read a magazine about fishing even if they have no interest in fishing, so it just places me out to more people. But I'm still doing the comic strips. It's still a comic book, it's just like a comic book wrapped inside of a magazine. It's a Trojan horse of content.

YR: So would you still do little mini comic stuff for all the O.G. fans?

SW: I would love to if I had time to do it. But doing the magazine is organizing people and getting people to pay their bills and paying bills. And all that stuff is so consuming. I mean we just work all the time trying to get a good magazine out.

YR: It kind of seems like you're trying to make a difference with comic strips (not to be corny)… Do you think that's kind of what you're trying to do and if you are, is this like a possible thing?

SW: Yeah, I think you have to try. I'm definitely trying to do that, y'know. I put my beliefs very much in my comics and I think it's important to do that, especially when the political climate starts shifting around you. That's when it's the most important. Dissent is not unpatriotic and it's weird when disagreeing publicly becomes an unpatriotic thing. I think that's really dangerous and I think that's when it's really most important to start putting your ideas out. I mean, democracy is about dissent… so yes.

YR: Okay. So, what's next for you?

SW: Next, just bang out the magazines try to get in more places, get out to more people make it work smoothly. We're still hitting a lot of speed bumps where things will go wrong. We're constantly scrambling to fix problems and make it work and once things run smoothly then I have a lot of writing projects that I want to do. Hopefully the magazine's a kind of format where I can slip in some projects of mine and have it as an excuse to do other projects.

YR: Like writing?

SW: Yeah, writing. Y'know, humorous writing for sure and small books. I would love to start doing some books

YR: Alright anything else you want to add?

SW: Check [Too Much Coffee Man Magazine] out. That's the best thing: you can always read it for free in bookstores.

— Victor Vazquez rocks the party that rocks the body.