We’re constantly perusing our Portland literary directory looking for interesting folks to feature in our weekly “Five Questions” interview series. Today’s featured guest is Shannon Wheeler, author of the recently released Too Much Coffee Man Omnibus.

Wheeler began cartooning for the University of California, Berkeley student newspaper. Later he created Too Much Coffee Man, which has run as a weekly newspaper comic, as a web comic, in comic books, in magazines and been collected in graphic novels. Too Much Coffee Man even lays claim to being the first opera based on a comic book.

The New Yorker began publishing single panel cartoons from Wheeler in 2009. BOOM! published a collection of New Yorker submissions in the book I Thought You Would Be Funnier (2010). Wheeler is currently working on a graphic novel about the Gulf Coast oil spill.

What Portland bookstore do you frequent the most?

Powell’s on Hawthorne has amazing employees and a rocking coffee shop (Fresh Pot).

What is the last book you bought at a Portland bookstore? What made you pick it up?

I bought Carter Beats the Devil for my book club. Yep, a few of us cartoonists get together to read books without pictures. We try to have food and booze that matches the book. Mostly I buy graphic novels or collections from New Yorker cartoonists.

Who is your favorite Portland author (past or present)?

I know a few of them so it’s hard to say. Ariel Gore has written great parenting books, interviews, and autobiographic books that all remain relevant. I’m dying to meet Katherine Dunn, author of Geek Love. It’s always great seeing Chuck Palahniuk and he actually seems to remember me. Kevin Sampsel put out a cool book, A Common Pornography. I heard he’s working on a second one and I’m looking forward to reading that too. Richard Melo is my old neighbor and has a great book, Jokerman 8. And that’s just the traditional novelists who I know. If I start talking about the graphic novelists I’ll be here all day.

What author would you drop everything to go see if they were reading in Portland?

Kurt Vonnegut, but I don’t think that is going to happen any time soon. David Sedaris is a great story teller, but it’s really Steve Martin I’d like to hear. His books are better than they have any right to be. Isn’t he a comedian? When did he learn to write such gentle, insightful, character-driven prose? And talk about turning a phrase – he makes a sentence dance the Charleston.

When is your next event? (And will you share a cartoon with us?)

I’m having a One-One-One-One art show that begins on October 6th at PCPA.