•  Likewise: The High School Comic Chronicles of Ariel Schrag. Ariel Schrag. Simon & Schuster. 400 pages. $16.

Reeking of angst and authenticity, this senior-year collection of Schrag's high school memoirs is unencumbered by artifice or sophistication. Though extremely teenage-girly, frankly (and awkwardly) sexual, it's absolutely essential for Schrag's growing legion of fans.

•  Syncopated: An Anthology of Nonfiction Picto-Essays. Brendan Burfurd, editor. Villard. 160 pages. $16.95.

This first-class collection of nonfiction ''picto-essays'' has something for everyone: the 1921 massacre of African Americans in Tulsa; the history of the Dvorak keyboard; Americans' adoption of Chinese orphans; artists in New York's subterranean ruins; the hows and whys of hay baling; collecting jazz broadcasts and more. Each writer/artist presents the work lucidly and in a distinct style. It's a strong and diverse package that's absorbing, enlightening and delightful, representing the best of what graphic stories can be -- even true ones.

• Chicken with Plums. Marjane Satrapi. Pantheon. 96 pages. $12.95 in paper.

There is no better storyteller in words and pictures than Satrapi. This new paperback edition of a twice-told tale of the life and death of the Persepolis author's musician uncle, set in late-1950s Iran, is beautiful, powerful, hilarious and tragic.

• Humbug. Jack Davis, Al Jaffee, Harvey Kurtzman, Arnold Roth, Will Elder. Fantagraphics Books. 476 pages. $60.

The Usual Gang of Idiots from the original Mad had moved to Trump, another humor magazine, for Playboy's Hugh Hefner, who shut it down after two issues. Their next venture, Humbug, was artist-owned and managed, a sure recipe for disaster. This lovingly restored collection of Humbug's five issues is accompanied by essays, interviews and annotations, providing a glimpse into what Mad had wrought.

•  Studs Terkel's Working: A Graphic Adaptation. Harvey Pekar, Paul Buhle (editors). The New Press. 208 pages. $22.95.

Harvey Pekar is the ideal guy to adapt the text of Studs Terkel's first-person accounts of a variety of typical American workers (circa 1972). His all-star squadron of artists does a stellar job of illuminating each worker's tale. The additional adaptations by veteran cartoonist Sharon Rudahl, whose pencil work is better than ever, deserve special citation, and the other non-Pekar adaptations by Marvel Comics alumni Danny Fingeroth and Bob Hall are also excellent.

• Best of Simon and Kirby. Joe Simon, Jack Kirby, Steve Saffel (editor). Titan Books. 240 pages. $39.95.

Jack Kirby's creation (or co-creation) of most of the Marvel Universe may be his claim to immortality, but his earlier collaboration with partner Joe Simon was arguably richer, deeper and more varied than the edgy, hyperbolic and cosmic tales done in tandem with Stan Lee. Harry Mendryk's miraculous restoration of the art is a staggering achievement, and along with the incisive essays by Mark Evanier, make this -- the first in a series of hardcover collections of S&K art -- an essential addition to the library of popular American literature.

Richard Pachter is The Miami Herald's Business Monday books columnist.

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