Comics can be a good a form as any to tell a true story, and in some cases, they may be even be the ideal medium. Take the subject of bailing hay, for instance: I don’t want to read an essay on that, but illustrate it with speech balloons, and I’m game!

That very item opens SYNCOPATED: AN ANTHOLOGY OF NONFICTION PICTO-ESSAYS, edited by Brendan Burford, a book full of simple pleasures under an unwieldy title. Why comics? “Why not comics?” Burford answers in the introduction, and he has a point — one which the next 150 pages will prove.

Rina Piccolo discusses the creation and evolution of the postcard, while Burford and Jim Campbell profile Boris Rose, arguably one of jazz’s all-time greatest fans and unlikely historians — a fascinating portrait. Ditto for “West Side Improvements,” Alex Holden’s chronicle of New York’s underground graffiti artists, as well as Alec Longstreth’s look at Dr. August Dvorak, who created a simplified keyboard layout that never caught on in his lifetime.

Greg Cook tackles the tricky subject of torture at Guantánamo Bay, strictly through FBI reports and silhouettes. Here’s a case where you need not see everything to get the picture. “Like Hell I Will” recounts the horrific night of the Tulsa race riot of 1921, while Dave Kiersh ponders the role of the American Indian in today’s society. Completing a race-oriented trifecta is Sarah Glidden’s moving “The Sound of Jade,” recalling her trip to China with her dad to pick up the new baby they adopted.

Burford closes out the collection with “An Encounter with Richard Peterson,” about his conversations with one of those chess experts in the park. This one happens to be more interesting than the other guys, regaling a shocked Burford with stories of scams he pulled in his criminal past.

So why not comics? Why not, indeed. —Rod Lott

Buy it at Amazon.