There are thirty comic book stories to read in this latest edition of the Best American Comics series. Some are excerpts, such as El Deafo by Cece Bell and Adults Only by Lance Ward. There are self-published stories by GG (Don’t Leave Me Alone) and an online comic by Liana Finck (All the Paintings Here Agree). They all represent the diversity seen in comics today.

Whether it is a memoir, a story about talking art, or a piece about New York history, comic writer and illustrator Roz Chast (Can’t We Talk About Something More Pleasant?) narrowed a list of one hundred and twenty selections chosen by series editor Bill Kartalopoulos down to the ones published in this book. Each selection begins with a one-page introduction which includes a biography about the author-illustrator and summary or fact about the story. If it’s an excerpt, details about where the story came from are shown. In the back of the book is a three-page list of other notable comics from September 1, 2014 to August 31, 2015.

I had only read one of these comics before (El Deafo), but I enjoyed many of the others because they were well-written and I enjoyed looking at the art. Many of them reflect a truth about life; oftentimes not nice to look at or be reminded of, but the creators are brave for getting their stories out to the public. The audience for this book will likely be adults who read award-winning comics or small-press comics.