Graphic novels aren’t just the province of superheroes and neurotic shut-ins. Forth is proud to feature an example of the new direction of this form, via an excerpt from Jimenez Lai’s Bureau Spectacular.

Katabatic wind: Rapid downward motion of air. Concerning the Henbane Bird. Colored Pencil

Adam Szymczak was born in the year One Thousand Nine Hundred and Eighty Seven. He was raised in a quaint New England town, and studied English at Suffolk University. He has always drawn and doodled, but only recently became truly interested in it. His comic book fury can be witnessed at: http://www.goodshowsir.com.

I fell three feet and into a puddle of grape-flavored Juicy Juice. Not too much juice, it was probably just from one carton. But this was no ordinary puddle; there was something different about it. I knew that because it told me. “Hey you! I’m no ordinary puddle!” it said.

The Long Beach Museum of Art is preparing a new exhibition titled Sweet Subversives, which will open October 16, 2009 on the first floor of the Museum’s gallery pavilion. Sweet Subversives is a unique gathering of 31 drawings by Southern California artists who explore their personal vision of what a drawing means to them and how they achieve this vision.