For fans of the comic strip “Shoe,” just read its creator has died at a depressingly young age:
Good God a-freakin’ mighty… Never was a huge fan of Shoe, but it’s sad to see him go.
tip o’ the decidedly novice and amateurish pen
Say hi to Sparky when you get there, Jeff.
Man, the good cartoonists are dropping like flies. Can’t say “Shoe” meant much to me, but his political cartoons were usually dead-on.
I’ll probably say the same thing regarding Doug Marlette (political cartoonist + Kudzu, the comic strip that should be immediately retired) when G-d decides it’s his turn to go.
I hope Dave Barry does a serious column to eulogize him.
Rest in peace, Jeff.
Aw, hell.
Loved “Shoe.”
Loved his editorial cartoons.
Loved his illustrations of Dave Barry’s columns.
Geez. Death sucks.
Oh, my!!
I’ve always enjoyed Shoe and his political doodles.
Peace be with you, Jeff.
SterlingNorth
Jeff McNelly was a longtime resident of Richmond and I’m sad to hear that he died. He’ll be missed. IIRC, his son died not too long ago. Poor family.
No more Senator Batson D. Belfry. That is sad…
I’m originally from Richmond, and my S.O. is originally from Chicago, and seeing ‘MacNelly’ scribbled at the bottom of the illustrations of Dave Barry’s columns, or Shoe, or an editorial cartoon has always brought about fond thoughts / memories. Shoe (and Dave Barry, ftm) has always been a ‘must read’ for me.
I will really miss seeing that sig. 
Who’s next? Slug?
I’ve got a MacNelly 'toon, a J. Garcia print and a Slug sketch above my monitor.
Too damn bad. And too damn young. His political cartoons were wonderful…wasn’t he the guy who did those screamingly funny depictions of the United Nations Security Council?
“Shoe,” however, was worthless. Wonder why he felt he needed that extra creative outlet?
While “Shoe” has been running on fumes for many years now, it did have a few good years just after its inception. (Hell, even “Garfield” had a good year or two when it first ran.)
But I’ll miss MacNelly’s political cartoons; he never lost his zip there, IMO. What I remember most about him is that, in the year or two after Nixon resigned, it seemed that most of the big political cartoonists of the day didn’t have any good ideas anymore, without Nixon to kick around anymore. MacNelly hit his stride right about then; for a few years, before people like Oliphant and Marlette gave him some competition, he was easily the best political cartoonist in America, with a style so removed from the way that political cartoons had been done up to that point that he reshaped the medium, IMO.
I answered in the other thread, but notice of Jeff’s passing deserves a bump up top.
Peace be with you, Jeff.
Hope you & Schumacher are smoking a great conversational cigar On Yond
Damn. Thanks, Eve; I hadn’t caught the news.
I never got tired of “Shoe”; the anthropormorphic slyness of the birds in sneakers didn’t get old for me. His knack for merging bird/human quirks always amused me.
Rest in peace, and thanks for the laughs.
Veb
Ditto what TVeblen said. I’ve passed by this thread several times thinking, “I know what ‘Shoe’ is, don’t I?” but not quite remembering what “Shoe” was. I enjoyed the piled up desk and the just as messy PC, the birds in clothing and the way one was made to fit into/onto the other and the cafe scenes. RIP
Shit.
I absolutely was enamoured by his Dave Barry cartoons! Completely and totally entranced!
This is severely less than cool.
Apparently MacNelly hasn’t written most of the dialogue in the Shoe cartoon strip for some time now. I know someone slightly who supplies MacNelly with many of the ideas for the cartoons, and he’s been doing this since the mid-'90’s. He also does some of the ideas for the Mother Goose and Grimm strip.
Wendell:
You know the guy who comes up with the jokes for “Shoe” AND “Mother Goose and Grimm” ?
May I have his address? I’d like to go to his house and kill him.