From The Daily Cal To The New Yorker: Q&A With Shannon Wheeler of Too Much Coffee Man

What projects are you working on at the moment?
I’m still drawing my weekly strip. I submit ten cartoons a week to The New Yorker. I’ll do the occasional illustration set for the Idiot’s Guide books. My friend has rewritten each book of the Bible down to three paragraphs and I’m doing a gag cartoon to head each one. 66 books total. Another friend has written a kids’ book that I’m illustrating. I’d love to do something more with my opera. I don’t know. . . I’m open. Booked, but open.

You’re currently selling cartoons to The New Yorker—do you adapt your style to match the kinds of cartoons you see there? Do they provide a guideline for submissions?
There are no guidelines but you can tell what they like. I’ve definitely shifted my style to suit. Someone asked me if that bothered me. I said, “When you’re in a jazz club you play jazz.” If I felt like it robbed me of any of my humanity it would bug me. Really, it’s allowed me to push and open up in new directions. I’m trying to work with the line art. It’s forcing me to have faith in my line—I can’t hide things with cross hatching.

© Shannon Wheeler

Was is a nerve-wracking experience to have your cartoons critiqued at The New Yorker during your recent visit?
Holy crap, was it ever. [Robert] Mankoff (the editor) has a great eye. There are cartoons I knew could have been better. There’s always a compromise between making them perfect and just making them. If you’re too precious then you’ll never finish anything. If you’re not precious enough then your work will suck. It’s a fine line—one that, 99% of the time, you’re on one side or the other, rarely where you want to be. So when you have finished stuff you hope that your short-comings won’t be noticed. There are always short-comings. Mankoff ignores the weak cartoons but focuses on the ones that are almost good. He points out flaws and articulates the doubts that I myself knew. He’s been looking at, and thinking about, cartoons for a long time. He knows what he’s talking about. It’s both great and horrible getting a critique from him. It does make me push harder. As corny as it sounds, ultimately we all want to be the best we can be and realizing how much further you have to go with your talent is a good thing that makes you push harder. It is a nerve-wracking, ego destroying, pit-of-despair sort of thing. It’s also good.

You’re working with Mark Russell on a summarized version of the Bible. Basil Wolverton has The Wolverton Bible, Crumb released Genesis—what’s with the attention the Bible is getting from comic artists (who are not necessarily believers) these days?
The Bible is such a central part of our culture. I think it’s the same way we drew pictures of our teachers when we were in grade school. Whether you believe in God, Satan, the Golden Frog or whatever, the Bible is a big wall to draw on and cartoonists have a lot of crayons to draw with. Can’t resist the temptation.

Comic Book: The Movie (2004) is a tribute to the loyalty of comic book fans, and includes footage of San Diego’s immense Comic-Con. What has your experience been with the fans at comic book conventions?
It’s been mostly good experiences. I see one or two Too Much Coffee Man tattoos every year. People are genuinely appreciative of my efforts.

It’s easy to point at the weirdness of it all. I like it. I’m glad people are comfortable enough to dress up and be ridiculous. We don’t have much room for weirdos in our culture and the comic con helps celebrate them more.

I wish the movie studios would back off some.

Shannon Wheeler

You were recently at Portland’s Wordstock literary festival—how did you spend your time when you weren’t at your table?
I did a couple panels and I introduced a number of people. There was a story telling booth where they take your picture and you record a story.

Portland has a strong comics community—what’s your favorite comic shop in the Rose City?
I don’t want to play favorites but Cosmic Monkey is pretty amazing.

What are your current favorite comics—are you a “bag-and-boarder” or a casual reader?
I’d color myself casual. I bought Marvel’s Strange Tales. I loved it. Mostly I read my friends’ comics. . . the ones they wrote and drew, that is.

Comic book movies are making BIG HOLLYWOOD MONEY recently—which ones did you think were well done? Which were crap?
Shoot. I liked Wolverine more than I’d expected. I don’t think I’d call it good, but I sure did enjoy it. I’m looking forward to seeing Where the Wild Things Are (mostly because it’s Spike Jonze), the first two X-Men movies were pretty close to great, and I loved all three Spider-Man movies. As a whole, the movies seem to be getting better and better.

What is the best part of drawing comics for you?
When it works. I have an idea and I’m able to take it through to the end and it just feels right. That’s amazing.

Many many thanks to Mr. Wheeler for his participation. His website is Too Much Coffee Man, with hundreds of his comics available for reading, and he updates regularly at LiveJournal. Keep an eye out for his cartoons in The New Yorker, and in Mark Russell’s reduced Bible.

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