27 Years of Shoe: World Ends at Ten, Details at Eleven

Shoe

by Susie Macnelly, Jeff MacNelly, Chris Cassatt

Shoe , one of the most popular comic strips ever created, continues to delight millions of readers in hundreds of newspapers from Tijuana to Timbuktu.

Edited by Chris Cassatt and Susie MacNelly, 27 Years of Shoe contains hundreds of cartoons from the Shoe collection, and is just as lively, vital, and vibrant as it was under the direction of Jeff MacNelly, whose death in June 2000 truly signaled the end of an era. Plenty of MacNelly extras pepper the book, including actual (and critical, of course) notes from Jeff's teachers, as well as photos and warm remembrances of the creative genius who won three Pulitzer Prizes for his editorial cartooning and two Reubens, cartooning's highest award, for Shoe .

But best of all, 27 Years of Shoe includes year after year of Shoe, Perfesser Cosmo Fishhawk, Skyler, and Roz-along with Senator Batson D. Belfry, Irving Seagull, Wiz, Loon, and more-squawking, diving, and flying hard through life's ups and downs. Through the decades, Shoe has proven both successful and memorable, a tribute sure to be shared by this MacNelly collection.

Genres: Comics, Humor, Graphic Novels, Animals

216 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2004

Reviews

[S.S. Julian]

I went into this book expecting to see some hidden origins about the meaning of Shoe. Some perspective, message, political stance or just a story to be told, buried in the beginnings of what is now a zombie comic spouting off gag-a-day drivel. Turns out there isn't one. Jeff MacNelly was always just a gag-man. I couldn't even get a read on his political stance (If I had to make a guess I'd say libertarian with a distaste for hippies). But that's just me projecting. Shoe is and has always primarily been a vehicle for MacNelly's puns, malapropisms, and cynical observations. The man was a talented artist, and by the looks of the reflections and photos peppered throughout the book, kind-hearted soul. You could call him the king of dad jokes, before the internet democratized the title.

There are some genuinely hilarious jokes within this book, but like I said, gag-a-day doesn't really move me anymore. Here are my favorite jokes from the book, to save you the trouble of reading it yourself:








Not so funny in 2016, is it?


Politics never changes, apparently.


This one isn't a joke, it's just a correct answer.

[Duane · Rating 5 out of 5]

I am new to the comic strip "Shoe" but after reading his book, I'll be sure to find more about this great comic strip and the interesting fellow that created it. A great bonus is the family photographs that they include so you can see what really made this man so special. Now this strip is meant for adults simply because of it's adulthood observations but I think teenagers might also enjoy some of the political humor that's timeless. I love books like this that lets you see how each character in the strip has changed and evolved over the years. Fans of comic strips will love this book.