Friday Night Lite...

Action Figure - Garry Trudeau
Indeed it is not often that one finds a comic book reviewed in any form of serious intellectual enterprise. Seeing as this is neither a serious nor intellectual work of art, and it's FRIDAY, we may have found the perfect forum for all things trite. Unfortunately this would not fall into that category either. This "book" is a collection of comics revolving around Trudeau's Doonesbury character "Uncle Duke". Duke is an exaggeration, as all good comic book characters are, but his exaggeration is based on reality. Roughly modeled after Hunter S. Thompson, and therefore given to bouts of heavy drug use, rampant artillary firing, and overt abuses of the politcal system, Duke makes for an interesting character in which to satirize the political machine, espescially the Republican side. Duke often pops up during election cycles, and especially sticky bunglings made by real people. He has appeared as Jesse Ventura's campaign manager, a NRA spokesperson, an Oilman, and a contender in the 2000 election cycle just to name a few. Trudeau has a sharp sense of wit, and uses it with reckless abandon with this character. If political satire, or analysis is your thing it would be hard to ignore the value of the Doonesbury perspective.
Rating: A
Related:
Buck Wild Doonesbury - G. Trudeau
Duke 2000 - G. Trudeau
Shrub - Molly Ivins
A Peoples History of the United States - Howard Zinn