Format
The strip is most often presented as a single page in comic books, alternative press newspapers and other publications, though occasionally the story arc stretches into multi-page stories. The strip "Too Much Coffee Man" was retitled "How to Be Happy, with Too Much Coffee Man" with the January 23, 2006, installment. On February 6, 2006, the title was simplified to "How to Be Happy", and Too Much Coffee Man did not appear in the strip again until January 21, 2008.
Shannon Wheeler said he created Too Much Coffee Man to make more accessible themes he had begun in a college newspaper. He said in 2011:
In 1991, I drew an autobiographical cartoon for The Daily Texan with themes of alienation and loneliness. When I described it, people's eyes glazed over. As a cheap gag, I started Too Much Coffee Man. I still address the same themes, except now there's coffee. People like coffee.
Read more about this topic: Too Much Coffee Man