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Writing about race is tricky. Writing a comedy about race in your debut graphic novel, well, you better know what you're doing. Having "writer for The Colbert Report" on your resume is a good start.

Longtime TV writer Glenn Eichler tells a bizarre, honest and funny story in "Stuffed!"

When Tim Johnston's father dies, Tim inherits his tiny museum of oddities. Among the collection is an African warrior, indignantly referred to as "the savage."

Motivated in equal parts by guilt and simple inconvenience, Tim attempts to give the statue to the American Museum of Natural History.

It is there that Tim learns, much to his horror, that the statue is in fact an actual mummy of a native African man.

With the help of Howard Bright, one of the museum's anthropologists, Tim tries to get the man, whom they begin to refer to as "the warrior," back to his homeland. That task becomes harder done than said and highlights the often-unspoken issues of race in America.

Eichler's comedy holds a mirror up to the racial mores of a society that has attempted to make up for generations of racial inequality with political correctness. But Eichler does it with a killer one-two punch.

You might find yourself giggling when Tim pulls up to the natural history museum with the warrior in the back of his catalog-perfect sedan, the mummy's head -- covered by a plastic bag as if to hide Tim's shame -- hanging out the back window. It's an embarrassing situation that we get to laugh at like an episode of "Curb Your Enthusiasm."

But you might find yourself laughing and then squirming later when Tim dreams of the mummy, which is stored in his bedroom closet, coming to life as a gold-necklace-wearing pimp caricature looming over Tim's naked wife.

Eichler builds on this theme throughout the book, leaving us to wonder what is motivating Tim: Is it a genuine sense of duty to return this man to his homeland, or is it a sense of guilt -- the racist sins of the father borne by the son? Or a sense of guilt that comes from Tim's own understanding that he harbors some of those same racist feelings?

Eichler spends almost equal time with Howard, the anthropologist. Howard, a black man in a white man's world, questions his own motivations for working so hard to return the warrior to his homeland. Is it guilt for "selling out"? He changed his real name, Hussein, to Howard, and he questions how his colleagues perceive him.

It's heavy material, loaded with insightful subtext, but Eichler's comedy, which ranges from sight gags to one-liners and situational comedy, keeps the reading funny, not preachy.

No small amount of credit must go to Nick Bertozzi, who illustrates "Stuffed!" Bertozzi, a graphic novel veteran, does an amazing job of hitting the comedic timing and switching from one type of joke to another, sometimes on the same page. He does all this while drawing an immensely pleasant-looking book.

Eichler and Bertozzi have a solid, critical story surrounded by smart humor. I wouldn't be surprised if Stephen Colbert's favorable plug has to share some of the cover space with laurels come future printings.

J. Brian Ewing reports on education when he's not immersed in comic books and graphic novels. Contact him at brian.ewing@news-record.com