In artist Paul Madonna's weekly comic series All Over Coffee, San Francisco architecture—and coffee—seem to be the main characters. Beautifully detailed drawings of SF scenes, combined with disembodied voices that almost feel like the city's collective consciousness, give an ethereal quality to the pieces.You can catch All Over Coffee every Sunday in the Pink section of the Chronicle, and it's archived online as well. Paul also updates his web site every Monday with a new free cartoon.

This month, there are several ways you can get to know Paul and his work a little better:

• Tonight from 7 to 10 pm at 312 Valencia @ 14th street, there is a Book Release Party for Paul's collection of past to present work from All Over Coffee. You can also buy the book at a discounted price from City Lights Books.

• Paul is also part of the Life in Comics exhibit at the Oakland Museum, which is located at the Oakland Airport. (Sorry, couldn't find a direct link. Their website is a bit confusing!) The show runs until July 11.

• On May 12, Paul will be at the Charles Shulz Museum as part of their Artist in Residence program.

• He's also part of a panel discussion at Yerba Buena Center for the Arts on May 29.

• And he's doing two radio interviews: One with Dennis Morton on KUSP 88.9 FM, Santa Cruz, on May 29, and on Cover to Cover with Denny Smithson on KPFA 94.1 FM, Berkeley, on May 30.

KQED's Spark has a great profile of Paul, as does the Chronicle. In addition, Paul illustrated 826 Valencia's San Francisco Literary Map, as well as A Writer's San Francisco, A Guided Journey for the Creative Soul.

After the jump, Paul Madonna's answers to SFist questions, and another illustration.

Your Chronicle profile from 2004 describes the narrators in All Over Coffee as "Maurice and Sarah, whose oddly disembodied thoughts and utterances are inspired, according to the artist, by the novelist Margaret Atwood and the songwriter Elvis Costello." That's a really cool idea, but do you downplay that aspect now, considering it's not mentioned in the "FAQ" on your website?
It was the characters that were played up, but the references are still strong. Elvis Costello is always present in my influences, as is Leonard Cohen and Bob Dylan. Margaret Atwood was just who I happened to be reading at the time. I'm always reading a handful of books and magazines and some of them really find their way into my thoughts when I'm working.

The Chron article also mentioned the penniless months you spent peddling your comics on Telegraph Avenue a decade ago, upon moving back to the Bay Area after college. Got any crazy stories from those days?
Is a guy named Snake who liked to have sex in the wooded area of Berkeley campus a story? I think so too.

In your April 1st comic, you said you were going to start having "the people, cars, and politics of San Francisco" in your All Over Coffee pieces. We're guessing that was an April Fools joke?
Good guess. Though a LOT of people thought I was being serious. And since I ran 3 weeks of reruns after that I'm guessing some still think I meant it. That's the problem with wanting to be taken seriously in a comic strip.

If you decided to leave the Bay Area, what other city would inspire you to do a weekly comic? Would you have to change the concept all together, considering the architecture of SF is such a key aspect?
I think the strip could be from anywhere, but not necessarily for so long of a period. I don't know that I could sustain it for multiple years in a place like, say, Phoenix. But who knows? I think the strip would benefit from a selection of places, which is what I've slowly been incorporating over the years, and plan to continue doing.

Tell us about your Artist in Residency at Charles M. Schulz Museum. Charles Schulz is one of your heroes, right?
I don't really have heroes. There are people I respect and admire. I loved Peanuts as a kid, and still do. I think the work is wonderful. I'll be at the Schulz museum doing some drawing in the gallery, talking about my work and signing books.

Tell us about your exhibit at the Oakland Museum (and any of the other things you have going on--I will mention everything in the intro too).
The Oakland Museum Show is a collection of local zinesters and comics people. I think it's great to have a show in the airport. Museums are great because they have this respectibility and authoritarian quality about them, but they don't always equal exposure. The airport offers a random mix of people traveling and passing through. It's a great place to be and I love that the Oakland Museum wants to show comics that way. It demonstrates how comics are continually gaining ground in the art and literary worlds.

SFist standards:

Name
Paul Madonna

Introduce yourself in one sentence
When I was 22 I was carried into the emergency room with a kidney stone, laid on a gurney and asked what I did, to which I replied, "I make weird drawings."

Age and Occupation
34 cartoonist

Home Town
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

How long have you lived in the Bay Area and Where (city, neighborhood etc.) and WHY?
13 years in San Francisco. It might be shorter to list the neighborhoods I haven't lived in. Why? There's no where else in the US to live.

Favorite place to spend time online (website/blog/RSS feeds)
off line.

Favorite local business
Right now, Mission Beach Cafe.

What I'm currently Reading
Robert Olen Butler, Had a Good Time

Best Deal in San Francisco
That room off a kitchen on Lyon street, next to the water heater, for $150 a month. That was 13 years ago, though, so I don't think it's still there. Other than that, I'm drawing a blank.

Favorite mode of transportation
My feet.