1065: Shoes

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Shoes

Title text: I *do* hear that they're the most comfortable thing to wear on your feet since sliced bread.

Explanation

Cueball is a knight that has saved a kingdom. It seems that he is being rewarded by a god, since his reward is inside a box that is floating in a beam of heavenly light. Inside the box is a pair of shoes with five toes - and with these magic shoes, he can outrun Death.

This comic refers to a new type of running shoes which have very little actual support with individual areas for each toe (they are supposed to make you feel like you are running barefoot). Specifically, the shoes Cueball takes out of the box look like Vibram FiveFingers.

The joke in the comic is that the shoes are so strange/creepy, that Cueball is not even sure he would want to live forever if he would have to wear these shoes at all times. Immortality is not worth it.

The title text is a play on the common phrase "x is the best thing since sliced bread". The way that Randall uses the phrase in the title text humorously implies that these shoes would be almost as good to wear on your feet as two slices of bread. Alternatively, that sliced bread had long maintained superiority in being comfortable footwear before only being surpassed by these new shoes of immortality.

Earlier in 977: Map Projections, it was stated that those who preferred the Dymaxion projection would wear shoes with toes. And later in 1735: Fashion Police and Grammar Police it was a different type of shoes that were deemed non-fashionable with the Crocs.

Transcript

[Cueball, holding a sword, looks up to a disembodied voice coming from above, and a box hovers in the air before him.]

Voice: For saving my kingdom, I offer you a gift of great power.

[Cueball's sword is now propped up against the right edge of the panel. The box opens, a glow emanating from within.]

Voice: These magic shoes enable the wearer to outrun death itself.

Cueball: Thank you. I...

[A close-up on Cueball as he examines the shoes. They have five toes.]

Cueball: Whoa, wait. They have those creepy individual toes.

[Cueball puts the shoes back in the still-hovering box. The sword cannot be seen.]

Voice: But they make you immortal.

Cueball: ...I have to think about this.

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Discussion

Can we choose to wear another pair of bigger shoes over the magic shoes? Davidy²²[talk] 13:39, 8 January 2013 (UTC)

Probably when you use the power of magic shoes, the magic shoes will "outrun" the bigger shoes, either manage to slip out of it or destroy it outright.

That said, I agree with you, the magic shoes will be felt close to no shoes at all, and therefore daily you will wear other shoes over it. Arifsaha (talk) 16:32, 8 December 2014 (UTC)

There should be four toe-holes, not five. The fourth and last toes are almost always in the same toe-hole, as the shoes become very uncomfortable otherwise. The (four-toed) shoes, however, are very nice for relaxation, general purposes, and the outdoors.

I have added a wiki link to these shoes and they have five toes!--Kynde (talk) 22:10, 21 June 2015 (UTC)

Technically, since these are stick figures, they shouldn't have any toes. Anonymous. 07:24, 12 January 2014 (UTC)

Technically, I don't even see any feet. 108.162.219.223 06:24, 23 January 2014 (UTC)

Oh, look, a squirrel! ImVeryAngryItsNotButter (talk) 10:43, 28 May 2015 (UTC)

After playing Mirror's Edge, the idea of using shoes with a separate space for the big toe grew on me. 108.162.254.65 03:20, 2 February 2014 (UTC)

I would like to note that shoes made out of bread were actually sold here. 141.101.104.39 21:31, 5 October 2014 (UTC)

Not sure enough of this to edit, but is it possible there is a whole loaf / sliced bread ~ whole shoe / toe shoe analogy going on here? Plm-qaz snr (talk) 08:32, 14 October 2014 (UTC)

You know, Dorothy in 1149: Broomstick (I regret that I don't know how to make a link to there) seemed to have shoes. 172.68.59.168 (talk) (please sign your comments with ~~~~)

Shoes seem to be only drawn when they are important to either the comics story arch, or to identify a character.

However, in case you read this again: You can find a lot of info of how to make entries here on the Editor FAQ, or just by looking at other peoples edits after clicking on edit. For example you can link to a comic by entering either its name, its number or number: name with 2 square brackets: [[]] - e.g. like this: [[1149: Broomstick]] - (the same also works for other pages than comics, such as editor FAQ - when editing this section you can see how I did it :) ) - Oh, and by the way: please sign your comment by using the signature button above the text field or by adding for ~ signs. --Lupo (talk) 10:24, 21 October 2019 (UTC)