Pink Raygun Interviews: Shannon Wheeler

Not every comic can successfully make the leap from the page to moving pictures. Shannon Wheeler’s Too Much Coffee Man, which he has been writing and drawing since the 1990s did better than that: last year, Too Much Coffee Man became an opera. Wheeler recently took a break from preparing for a Portland art show to talk to Pink Raygun about the opera, getting older, and the new direction of his comic.

Pink Raygun: Why does Too Much Coffee Man wear footie pajamas with a flap on the butt?

Shannon Wheeler: He used to have a cape and a watch. Basically, because I’m really lazy with costumes and I wanted it to be as stupid as possible and I didn’t see the point in putting a lot of work into costume design.

PRG: Reading some of those episodes got pretty uncomfortable for me because I felt like someone had been inside my head and drew pictures of what goes on in there. It’s dark and cynical, but funny. Who do you see as the target audience for a strip like TMCM?

SW: You know, when I do stuff in Hollywood, that’s what they always ask, ‘who’s my audience?’. When I write and draw, its usually for myself. I want to do something that’s going to be amusing, interesting or entertaining to me. So, I don’t know. I’m trying to find like minded people I guess. I’ve never had a good answer for that one.

When I cartooned a long time ago, other cartoonists were trying to appeal to certain groups. There was a feminist strip, a gay strip, a minority strip. Those strips ran out of ideas and steam after about six months because it was so calculated. I’m still doing TMCM. I don’t know if that’s good or bad, though. (laughs).

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PRG: A lot of the episodes seemed like things that may have happened to you or someone else in your own life. Does pretty much everything you see or encounter in your own life somehow become fodder for the comic?

SW: I wish. There are some really funny things that happen in my life that I would love to put in the strip, but I don’t feel completely comfortable with. Like last week, I called someone up and tried to get him to write an intro for my next book. He answers the phone and the first thing that he tells me is that he just got out of the shower and he’s dripping wet. For the entire conversation I was pictured a naked punk rocker. It was disconcerting to be talking to a naked punk rock icon, a hero from my youth. That would make a funny strip, but I wouldn’t wanna do it. So, there’s a lot of stuff that doesn’t make it in.

And topical things I don’t do very much of. I try to do universal things, because I’m interested in the strip still being relevant in ten or fifteen years. I did some Bush cartoons, but if it were more topical, then it would be less perennial.

PRG: When you have an idea for a strip, how do you execute it?

SW: Usually I work from a short script, but the script is in the form of a very rough cartoon. Sometimes its a joke, and I work backward from that moment of humor. When I’m working, its trying to figure out a way to get to that punchline. Occasionally I work the other way around, but usually I have a funny moment I want to get to. Then it’s about establishing the characters and settings, mechanical stuff to get to this funny spot. It’s nice when the whole thing just comes to me in a flash and I don’t have to do any work. Those are usually the best cartoons.

PRG: Some people scramble minutes before the strip is due. Generally, how far ahead of your publication are you?

SW: I’m typically a few hours ahead. I wish I was of the mindset to do more than that. I write things down incessantly over the week so I have a library of little ideas. Sometimes it’s really last minute because all of those ideas suck and I’m waiting for something that would be really good. Then I have to go with something that isn’t as good as I would like. Its because I want it to be better. It’s not out of procrastination. I want this to be funnier, I’m waiting for it to be funnier. Sometimes I have a whole strip almost finished, and as I’m finishing it I think of something that’s way better and I’ll start a whole other cartoon and put in another eight hours of work. I just want the better cartoon.

PRG: I’d like to talk about your Too Much Coffee Man opera. Why did you go with opera as opposed to interpretive dance or puppets?

SW: A lot of that had to do with what was available to me. A composer friend of mine, Daniel Steven Crafts, suggested we do an opera. I resisted the idea for many years because I thought it was terrible. But, he kept up and finally I started having these dreams where I saw TMCM singing opera. That was when I asked myself, why am I fighting this? I should go with it. So, I wrote a little piece and sent it to him, and he sent back the music and I was pleased with how well he understood the timing of the humor and how well the music matched and complimented the lyrics. I thought I should go for it and do it.

We worked on it for a few years just as a lark. When I got too stuck I solicited the help of a poet friend of mine, Damian Willcox. It was when I met the executive director of the Portland Center for Performing Arts that it became real. I was very lucky. The neat thing is, I’ve tried to translate TMCM to animation several times and never felt like it was working. In part because the strip is so heavy on internal dialogue. Its all about emotions and animated cartoons are very plot driven and have a lot of physical humor. TMCM translated really well to opera. Opera is all about internal dialogue of a character and the emotions. They’re singing how they feel. TMCM is very much about how he feels.

PRG: So there wasn’t a single plot line for the opera, it was more of a series of vignettes?

SW: Yeah. I pulled some of the story lines from old comics and added to it. Its when TMCM falls in love with a barista, then has conflict because he can’t muster the self-confidence to actually communicate with her. So, he has this relationship with his coffee cup and then Espresso Guy comes in and it’s a love triangle. An unrequited love triangle.

PRG: Are there plans to perform it in other cities or at some conventions?

SW: We’ve had people interested. Its a very doable opera because there’s three singers and three instruments. Its also only one setting and about an hour long. Its manageable. You can do it in a large or small space pretty easily. When I was writing it, I didn’t have a place to put it on, so I tried to keep it as minimalist as possible to keep it on a practical level. Because of that, it’s real portable. Albuquerque is a possibility, there are some people in New York who have talked to me about it. There’s some interest.

Putting the opera on was a lot like running a marathon. It was a lot more work than I thought and I have to steel myself to run that marathon again.

PRG: You been working on TMCM since the 90s. Do you have other projects in development other than TMCM?SW: I’m doing a graphic novel with a friend of mine, Jesse Michaels, and that’s called Drunk and Drunk Dwarf. Jesse was the lead singer of Operation Ivy, he’s an old punk rocker. Another friend wrote a book called Grandpa Won’t Wake Up, which is a kid’s book. An inappropriate kid’s book. I’ve kinda shifted the focus of the comic and changed the title to How to be Happy. Then I do a new weekly strip for The Onion called Postage Stamp Funnies. Those are little gag strips and puns and things. A lot of meta-humor, which I’m very fond of. Self- reflexive and self-aware humor. I just wrote a Gumby comic book that will be out for Free Comic Book Day. I’m dying to write other people’s stories. I have all these superhero stories that I’ve thought up over the years and I’d love the opportunity to do some mainstream comics.PRG: What has been the obstacle for you as far as getting into those mainstream comics?SW: I haven’t been to the right parties yet. I need to find a party with the right editors.

PRG: So, you changed the name of the strip from Too Much Coffee Man to How to be Happy. How has the focus of the strip changed?

SW: It’s more personal, more autobiographical, a little more gentle. The jokes are less focused on gags, and more on conceptual humor, like surrealism. And the imagery. Like in last week’s strip, I had a bunch of cats meowing until there was this sea of cats, and then the last panel is a dog that’s in a little boat that’s floating along this sea of cats. It’s not really a gag. Its just a little conceptual art piece. I’m tired of the “two-hostile-people-banter” strips. I want to do things that are more about symbols and a dreamlike quality is what I’m interested in.

PRG: Do you think that change is due to you getting older?

SW: Only in that I have more self-confidence now. I’ve always wanted to do that and now I’m older and can just say “screw it”. If you like it, you like it. If you don’t like it, you don’t. In the past I always wanted to be sure that people got the message I was trying to give and I focused on communicating those ideas. Now it’s more of a “take it or leave it” cartoon. So yeah, it’s because I’m older, but in a good way (laughs).

PRG: Getting older doesn’t have to be bad. I saw a documentary last week about how Baby Boomers are redefining old age, so it’s not a bad thing.

SW: Most artists tend to start sucking when they get old, that’s the thing. (laughs).

PRG: Is that because they’re maybe losing touch or have mad cow disease or are getting senile?

SW: I think a lot of people get lazy when they get older. They’re comfortable with where they are and they’re in these familiar routines. And they’re finding more reward in family life and their fine wine or whatever. They can enjoy their lives more. I’m trying to be aware of that and look at artists like Johnny Cash who kept pushing and worked really hard until they died. Guys like Henry Rollins and Jello Biafra are still pushing and working. And that’s what I want to do.

You can read “How To Be Happy” by clicking HERE.