This excellent comic strip, which recently died with the death of its creator, features Shoe (a misanthropic crow) and the Perfesser (a fishhawk) as the main characters. Shoe is the editor of the Treetops Tattler, the Perfesser his main reporter. The strips are intelligent, well-drawn, cynical, usually funny, rarely hilarious, with few duds. A good strip with a bit of style. ( )