Joe will be participating in an In-Store Signing at all of our locations next Wednesday (at Florissant and South County) and next Saturday (at Maplewood and Saint Charles).

Fantasy Shop: Hey Joe, how's it going?
Joe Harris: It's going great!  How are you guys doing?

FS: Doing quite well. I'm always curious what introduced someone to comics because I find that it often explains a little bit about their current tastes in comics. What was the first comic you remember reading?
JH: I believe it was Ghost Rider #69.  The original Johnny Blaze series, I mean.  It featured Ghost Rider on the cover going up against a "runaway earth mover" and had this moment inside where he twists a metal wrench like it was made of tissue paper in order to demonstrate "the power of vengeance."  I think I own two or three copies of it, today.

FS: I think every reader finds themselves buying multiple copies of their early reading experiences at some time or another. Something about those early experiences that make us want to revisit them from time to time. Often times we don't even realize during those early reading experiences that there are writers and artists who work on those books. When did you decide you wanted to work in the comic inudstry?
JH: When I was about 15.  I was a musician when I was in high school, but had begun to realize that writing was my calling.  When I became exposed to comics in a big way, soon after, my life path sort of just clicked.  A lot of different books made me want to do this.  Titles like Nexus, Sandman, and creators like Alan Moore, Frank Miller as well as lots of J.M DeMatteis comics made me really want to do this when I was a kid.

FS: It's always interesting to hear which creators put the spark of desire into a future writer or artist. What was your first published comic work?
JH: X-Force #77

FS: No way! I actually have that comic. I remember it quite fondly as a matter of fact. Strange how that happens. What are you working on now?
JH: At this moment, late at night?  I'm finishing up the scripts for Great Pacific #8 and The X-Files: Season 10 #3.  I'm also pecking at some script and story element stuff for a new series I'm doing at Oni Press which we'll be announcing soon.

FS: Sounds like you've got a lot on your plate. I have to say that I'm really looking forward to The X-Files: Season 10 and have really been loving Great Pacific. Where did the inspiration for Great Pacific come from?
JH: From a combination of real world events and environmental phenomena like the physical Great Pacific Garbage Patch, along with my love of science fiction and survival movies like "The Naked Prey."

FS: Very interesting. The book has been getting a whole lot of positive buzz. Have you been pleased with the reaction fans and critics have had to Great Pacific?
JH: Very much so.  Long before we launched, I imagined we'd be lucky to last six issues.  That I'm able to plot this series out through year two and beyond right now is intensely gratifying.

FS: That's great. And it seems more and more that Image has had success giving creators a place to show off what they can do and give them enough room to grow. I'm glad that things have been working out for you and that you've managed to get on the radar of more readers. There are bound to be things that are flying under the radar for many readers these days. what're you reading these days that you think more people should be aware of?
JH: Cullen Bunn and Brian Hurtt's, "The Sixth Gun" -- though I think the "more" is coming very soon with that book.

FS: I certainly hope you're right on that front, that book has been stellar since the beginning. Hopefully there will be good news about the NBC television series based on it soon. It sounds like you've got a lot on your plate these days. What do you have coming up that you'd like to make sure people keep their eyes open for?
JH: My new graphic novel, Wars In Toyland, with Adam Pollina on art, is coming out from Oni Press this July 10th.

FS: That's exciting, especially since he drew your first issue of professional work. It seems like the convention circuit never ends these days, aside from your forthcoming signings at the Fantasy Shops are there any appearances you'd like to make people aware of?
JH: I'm just putting my plans together now, but I know I'll be at HeroesCon in June, then San Diego in July. I'm going to be in New England for FCBD, splitting time at Larry's Comics and Jetpack Comics.  I'll also be at Third Eye Comics down in Maryland that weekend "X-Files: Season 10" #1 comes out.

FS: Thank you for your time Joe, we look forward to having you in the stores

So that means it's once again time to select your guild, open your packs, and do battle in the name of your fellow Guildmates! (Good luck to my fellow Azorius Senators!) 

Once Again - 
If you Play in FNM –  You Pay Less!
Play in FNM at any of our locations on April 26th and you'll get $5 off Entry into 1 Pre-Release Event!

Here are the links to the details for each store's events for the weekend!

Plus many, MANY more!

(This is just a small fraction of all the games that will be available. We add new games for each event - new releases, old favorites, expansions, etc.)

Everyone who attends is welcome to bring a game (or games) they would like to play or just come and learn a new game!

Hope to see you there!

Celebrate Table Top’s anniversary in true gamer fashion: by playing games.

 We will kick off the festivities March 30th at 11 AM with games, food, and the live stream of Table Top.

 Like Wil Wheaton, we will be awarding winners though out the day.  Only our prizes are better than a piece of tape with your name on it.  We will run four games during the day (at noon, 3 PM, 6PM, and 9 PM), and the winner gets the game they just played!  Sign up sheets will be posted at the entry table the day of the event. Seating is limited for demo to win games, so sign up early!

 If you don’t get a seat at the demo to win tables, don’t worry.  We will be running a bunch of smaller raffles during the day for gift certificates and smaller games.

 Fantasy Shop staff will be on hand to answer questions and teach games.

 As an added bonus, if you participate in International Table Top Day, you will get a coupon for $5 off your entry of our regular Board Game Day on April 13^th.

 If you have any questions, contact the store via our Facebook page: http://www.facebook.com/FantasyShopStCharles

Wednesday Night Magic Arena

Sealed Deck
Starting: Wednesday, February 6^th, 2013
Ending: Wednesday, March 6^th, 2013
Time: 6:00 PM - 9:30 PM 

Cost: $20 (1 Guild Pack)

Regular Retail Price for any Additional Guild Packs (6 Boosters)/Boosters

Prizes: Gateway Foils for Participation (15 points)
Foil Premium Card for Top 3 Places (Min. 30 points)
Foil Premium Cards (2) given as door prizes (Min. 30 Points).

The format for the next Arena season is Return to Ravnica/Gatecrash Sealed Deck. 

Each player will receive one (1) Return to Ravnica Guild Pack - OR (1) Gatecrash Guild Pack - 

of their choice (while supplies last).  All 10 Guilds are available but supplies are limited.  If all Guild packs are gone, each entrant will receive 6 boosters of Return to Ravnica or 6 boosters of Gatecrash to build their deck.

Minimum deck size is 40 cards.  Basic lands will be provided.  Sideboard will consist of the rest of the cards in purchased pool. 

Each week, after the first, an additional booster of Return to Ravnica OR Gatecrash may be purchased and the cards used to modify the deck.

Stieg Larsson's The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo Volume 1 Hardcover comes out next week. It's the third time the novels of the same name will be adapted into a visual medium. If nothing else that should speak to the amazing popularity of the books by Swedish novelist Steig Larsson. 

Despite his having died before what many would consider to be his masterpiece ever saw the light of day it is certain now that he managed to create one of the defining figures of literature of the new millennium:

Lisbeth Salander.

Writers far better than I have explained why this series, and why these characters, have managed to dig such deep hooks in to much of the global reading community. Film critics have spoken at length about the impact and relative success of adapting the books into the film medium. 

I will leave these men and women to their own conclusions and to their own reviews. I can only speak with any kind of authority to the medium which I have devoted much if not most of the reading time of my life consuming, Comics.

It's hard to start talking about the book without first addressing the book's cover. The cover by Lee Bermejo (which I feel would be somehow criminal without including a link to the full sized image so click HERE ) is a beautiful piece depicting the titular character and certainly speaks volumes about the character. I could loook at this piece forever. It's amazing. I keep finding things about it that I love (The most recent being what looks like a dragon in the smoke curling from Lisbeth's lips).

Denise Mina's work from DC's Vertigo comics line as well as their Vertigo Crime Graphic Novel line showed a spectacular grasp of the medium. Her Hellblazer work in particular was really fantastic. She does a great job of adapting the work of another novelist to a new format and lets much of Larsson's original work speak through, something with which many tasked with adaptations struggle.

Her collaborators on this work have a distinct difference that they bring to the work, which I think is part of what makes this work somewhat magical. First the work of Leonardo Manco. Manco and Mina have worked together before, on the issues of Hellblazer that Mina penned. So there is a familiarity to the language that they share on the page. It is clear that he grasps what she is asking of him on the page. Manco's work, which focuses on the character of Lisbeth, is brilliant. It is very lifelike and at times verges on photorealism without feeling too staged or posed. It still breathes and manages to capture the characters without making them look like celebrity portraits. There is a darkness and a grit to the pages that Manco pencils and I think that it brings the world of Lisbeth and the characters that inhabit her corner of Stockholm to stark reality. For a character who is incapable of understanding the shading of emotions it certainly makes a great deal of sense to have this kind of work depict her (It also helps to have an artist who can capture something of the kind of style that the cover depicts working on the interiors).

The artist who depicts the events from the perspective of Mikael Blomkvist is Andrea Mutti. Mutti is an Italian artist who has also worked at DC's Vertigo imprint and is probably best known for his work on graphic novels like The Executor and Right State and on Brian Wood's DMZ. The difference between Mutti and Manco is instantly recognizable which is fantastic in many ways. It helps to discern the characters (all of whom are just average folks wearing average clothes) and it helps to differentiate the ways that the characters perceive the world. Mutti's pencils are a little more traditional when it comes to comics and he has a great sense for story telling that is different than the kind of page useage and pacing that Manco utilizes.

Mutti's art depicts things from the perspective of a man whose world is coming apart at the seams and who is looking to find refuge from the real problems in his life where ever he can. So that it is distant from the style of Manco adds to the strangeness of the world in which Blomkvist finds himself inhabiting. 

Each part of the original Millennium series will be broken into multiple parts so as to give the series enough room to breathe which I think has every indication of making the comic a great series for existing fans of the novels, existing fans of the films, or even attracting a new audience all together. 

I can only give it the utmost of praise ... and that it makes me want to finally finish reading the novels.

Sunday October 14^th

Format: Standard 

Registration: 9:00am 

Event Begins: 10:00am 

Entry Fee: $25.00 

Swiss pairings with a cut to Top 8 

• K-Value: 24

• Rules Enforcement Level: Competitive

• Players are Responsible for knowing all DCI Rules

• Deck Lists are required for Events of this Rules Enforcement Level

• Players must bring the following: Pen, Paper, Card Sleeves, and appropriate Counters

 Come prove you're the best in the state of Missouri!

Prizes will be based on attendance.

Each player in the top half of the field will receive prizes.

The prize pool will consist of 3 Boosters of Return to Ravnica per participating Player.

In addition to product prizes Top 8 Competitors will receive:

Commemorative Championship Playmat

In addition to Product Prizes and Top 8 Prizes Champion will receive:

2012 Missouri State Champion Plaque &

A Playmat uniquely designed specifically for them.

AND will be Automatically qualified for:

The TCGPlayer.com $50,000 Invitational

For More Information Contact The Saint Charles Shop @ 636.947.8330 -or- FantasyShopSTC@gmail.com