The first time I saw this comic, I was severly taken aback. Too much coffee? Too Much Coffee? This guy's obviously seriously deranged, or never had finals in a course he's hasn't attended two consecutive lectures in (That's, uh, a random example, if one of the people that determines my future in academia is reading this). The super-heroes story is only eight of the thirty-two pages, anyway: It's preceded by a seven page strip on writers block, and followed by nine pages about breaking up. These two surrounding strips are wonderfully bitter-sweet observational comedy about a person/people just sitting around talking, like Peter Bagge without the sense of doom.
The actual superhero nonsense is approriately silly, with TMCM meeting the archetypal superhero, Cliche! The war of cliches that ensues is wonderful, particularly the way TMCM effortlessly keeps up the cliche's, staring bug-eyed at Cliche all the time. The art for Too Much Coffee Man is consistently good, with the same expression I've occasionally seen in the mirror myself. The art for the rest of the superhero sequence, however, is dodgy in the extreme. This is a shame, since the other two stories are really pretty.
In all, this is a good black & white comic which you ought to enjoy if you've ever felt the pull of the demon bean at the top of your head. I still can't bring myself to believe in too much coffee, though...
Art: 3
Writing: 4
Andrew These reviews are copyright the authors