Stuffed!

"The first graphic novel written by The Colbert Report's Eichler is a light comedy about racism, with a hint of retooled movie proposal about it. It concerns a pair of half-brothers — square family man Tim Johnston and a spaced-out, trepanned loose cannon who calls himself 'Free' — whose inheritance of their father's 'museum of curiosities' includes the preserved, stuffed body of an African man in a loincloth and bone necklace, holding the remnants of a spear. Naturally, they want to get rid of the 'Warrior,' as Tim prefers to call him — but getting rid of human remains turns out not to be as easy as driving them to a museum. Naturally, all kinds of uncomfortable associations about race and history burble up. Naturally, hijinks ensue. Bertozzi's artwork — a slightly cruder, much less detailed variation on the look of his graphic novel The Salon — unobtrusively whisks the story along; there's also a nuttier, bolder style for a series of dream sequences in which the 'Warrior' becomes the focal point for all of Tim's anxieties. Even when the plot seems a little too formulaic (will everyone learn something by the end?), Eichler's crisp, snappy dialogue keeps it percolating. (Sept.)" Publishers Weekly (Copyright Reed Business Information, Inc.)