Dark Horse has yearned for Too Much Coffee Man, the overweight, high concept character since 1996, when he first appeared in Dark Horse presents. "I immediately saw sales potential," said Michael Martens, director of sales and marketing at Dark Horse, "and this has proven to be true as issues of DHP with Too Much Coffee Man have skyrocketed in value."

Before his Dark Horse adventures, creator Shannon Wheeler experienced success self-publishing his comic book. In fact, he might be the only comic book creator to have written, drawn, and self-published his own full-color comic book. Articles celebrating his creation appeared in the Chicago Tribune, Washington Post, Wired and elsewhere. Converse used his caffeinated character to promote their shoes, he's won numerous awards including the coveted Eisner, and in Japan a bootleg of Too Much Coffee Man appeared, which Wheeler bootlegged himself for his own use. And still he cartooned on.

In the cold winter of 1997, Wheeler tried to self publish a collection of Too Much Coffee Man cartoons. "I thought it would be easy to make a coffee table book with a coffee related character," Wheeler said. But he failed. "For some reason I didn't think that just because a book is bigger than a comic, it would be more work to publish than a comic." In the wake of his personal foolishness Dark Horse charged in to save his sorry hide from a life in the gutter. They now have the dubious honor of publishing the soon-to-be-ubiquitous graphic novel of caffeinated cartoon stories entitled Too Much Coffee Man's Guide for the Perplexed. "We're very excited," said Martens, "but of course, we're always very excited."

But Wheeler isn't resting. Each week he creates Too Much Coffee Man cartoons that appear in several alternative weekly papers across the country. These one-page comic strips not only work to promote the sales of TMCM books, but comprise much of the book itself. The book also includes the infamous bullet-hole story; so called, because (in its original appearance) each and every comic was shot with a handgun. It's rumored that Wheeler carries a gun to signings, offering to shoot books for select fans. "It's just a .22. What's the big deal?" Wheeler said.

Too Much Coffee Man: Guide for the Perplexed wrapped, five-copy counter-displays are available for $54.75. A limited-edition signed and numbered hard cover version with extra full-color pages will be released May 27 at a retail price of $49.95. The soft-cover, 144-page collection of this award-winning series is available May 6 at the reasonable price of $10.95. Too Much Coffee Man is one of the only meaningful comics on the market that has no pretense of value.