Samurai Comics doesn’t have a mission statement. We don’t need one-we’re not a huge corporation with special slogans and catch-phrases aimed to impress the casual passer-by; we’re a family that happens to love what we’re doing. Just because there are prices on our products doesn’t mean that we’re here just to pay our bills-we love bringing the same enjoyment to our customers as we get from our respective hobbies.
If you walk into Samurai Comics, you’ll meet some of our crazy, wonderful staff-it’s not a stretch to say that we make one hell of a team, and we know that we’ll take care of you better than anyone else. Here’s a little glimpse of our team, the Samurai Bullpen. Come by and meet us in person sometime!
Store Hours:
Samurai Comics Central Phoenix
5024 N. 7th St.
Phoenix, AZ 85014
602-265-8886
Store Hours:
| Monday |
|
9am - 8pm |
| Tuesday |
|
9am - 8pm |
| Wednesday |
|
9am - 10pm |
| Thursday |
|
9am - 8pm |
| Friday |
|
9am - 10pm* |
| Saturday |
|
9am - 9pm |
| Sunday |
|
11am - 6pm |
*Open later on some Friday nights for Magic the Gathering tournaments. Check store for details.
Samurai Comics West Valley
10720 W. Indian School Road Suite 61
Phoenix, AZ 85037
623-872-8886
Store Hours:
| Monday |
|
10am - 7pm |
| Tuesday |
|
10am - 7pm |
| Wednesday |
|
10am - 7pm |
| Thursday |
|
10am - 7pm |
| Friday |
|
10am - 7pm* |
| Saturday |
|
10am - 7pm |
| Sunday |
|
11am - 5pm |
*Check our calendar for Friday Night Magic Tournaments - the store will be open until 10 pm Fridays during these tournaments.
Photo Galleries
Check our our ever chaning photo galleries to see what goes on here.
Our Staff
Meet: Mike Banks, co-owner and operator of Samurai Comics. For over 30 years Mike’s Mom has been asking him “What do you want to be when you grow up?”—Mike finally decided he didn’t want to grow up, so he opened his own comic book store. Mike is no stranger to comic book retailing—in fact, he has been buying and selling comics here in Phoenix for over 20 years. Longtime comic fans will recognize Mike from his days with Adventure III and Comix ‘N Stuff, where he worked while in high school. Mike also spent 12 years leading All About Books and Comics to numerous industry awards, as they grew to be one of the biggest chains in the industry. Mike decided to take a step back and leave the big corporate comic scene behind, however, and start his own store where he could concentrate on the fan-friendly, personalized service that Samurai Comics is quickly becoming known for.
In addition to being a comic book, anime, and gaming fanatic, Mike is also a sports fanatic. As a Phoenix native, Mike owes his allegiance to all of the local teams, and remains convinced that “this is the year the Cardinals are finally going to win the Super Bowl”. Delusional, yes, but no one can say that he is a fair-weather fan.
Picking a favorite comic is impossible, but here are a few of Mike’s favorite reads (in no particular order)—
- The Ultimates
- Anything by Alan Moore
- Preacher
- Sandman
- Strangers in Paradise
- Stray Bullets
- Lone Wolf and Cub
Samurai Comics has been a dream of Mike’s ever since he bought his first issue of Howard the Duck way back in 6th Grade. It is a dream that probably wouldn’t have ever become a reality though, without the support and encouragement of his partner (and better half) Moryha Banks.
Meet: Moryha Banks. Known to the world at large as Moryha Goss until just recently, when she managed to tie down the elusive Mr. Mike Banks and get him to say “I do”.
Moryha is a lifelong comic book fan, and one of the biggest fans of Japanese animation that you will ever find. Not content to just watch anime on her own, Moryha has been instrumental in making Samurai Comics the best anime store in Phoenix. Moryha loves watching anime, reading manga, and has even been known to cosplay as some of her favorite anime characters.
Moryha is also Samurai Comics gaming guru, when she isn’t busy watching anime, you can probably find her at one of the gaming tables playing Living Greyhawk or perhaps a game of Munchkin.
Moryha’s favorite comics and anime include (but are definitely not limited to) the following:
- Fushigi Yugi
- Anything by Clamp
- Strangers in Paradise
- Exiles
- One Piece
- Marmalade Boy
Meet: Brandon Huigens, a young man that enjoys eating potato chips.
In addition to taking extra-special care of Samurai Comics for Mike and Moryha (along with fellow manager and human computer Ray San Felipe), Brandon produces an autobiographic comic called 'Hi. My Name is Brandon'. He is currently working on several different projects, including a soon-to-be-published poetry book called 'paper sailboat' and a collaborative anthology with several other small press creators called 'the Stop Dating anthology'. His comics work is enjoyed by many people, and Brandon hopes to publish comics on a national scale in the near future.
Also to his credit: writing for ConNotations newspaper, freelancing for several comics companies and websites, including upcoming work with Top Cow Publications, and writing a comics-based column for samuraicomics.com including creator interviews and reviews, making flyers for local bands, singing in a local band, folk/punk phenomenon Psychic Barbershop Quartet, participating in a webcomic that's up for Webcomic of the Year (www.pancakeresponsibilities.com), and heading up Phoenix&Mac226;s own small-press publishing coalition, On the Spot Productions. So he, um, really likes comics.
Brandon enjoys all forms of sequential art and comics, particularly independent black and white books, and is a huge fan of all of the following creators and as such is providing a web address for as many of them as have them:
Check out Brandon&Mac226;s poetry online, too! www.allpoetry.com/100percentbran
He also enjoys writing flattering and long-winded bio’s about himself in the third person.
Samurai Comics is the last job Brandon Huigens hopes to ever have, aside from becoming the next Charles Schultz (who, by the way, he'd never compare himself to because, seriously-Sparky's the greatest cartoonist of all time).
Meet Ray B. San Felipe: (Don’t be alarmed by the Moviefone style voice when you call us, it is a real person and his name is Ray.)
Ray is a 25 year-old Filipino-American, Pisces, a graduate of Arizona State University, and a 6 year veteran in the comics retailing community. Sometimes we think he is crazy for occasionally reading a calculus book or economics book when he could be reading all of the wonderful comics in the store.
One of the best parts of having Ray in the store is his dedication to the community. As Community Programs Director, he has conducted seminars during Teen Read Month in the local library system, coordinated toy drives, and furthered reading in many valley schools by donating comics. Also, he is our mail order guru. If you ever need something shipped to you anywhere in the world we always give it to Ray. Known for his overuse of the packing tape gun, your packages will arrive intact and packed securely. Sometimes we think he has dreams about working the UPS counter especially during the holiday season.
During his off time when he is not playing the latest shooter for the XBOX or PS2, one can find him playing Living Greyhawk, Crimson Skies clix game, or the D&D miniatures game just to name a few of his current interest. His interests in gaming are not limited to D&D. He also plays the occasional Vampire the Masquerade RPG, RIFTS, and the Everquest RPG. Aside from the role-playing games, he enjoys playing the wacky and fun filled family style games of Apples to Apples, Munchkin, and Blink.
He is a rather eclectic individual and will try almost anything as long as it does not try to eat him in the process. That means you can get him to do almost anything, just ask. Ray is also our resident world traveler having been to Australia, the Philippines, England, France, Germany, Switzerland, Russia, Italy, the Vatican, Denmark, Sweden, Finland, Norway, Holland, Mexico, and New Zealand. Where is he going next Ask the Navy…
Yes, he is planning to leave us for the benefit of the entire country. He has found his calling and that is to become a naval officer. Specifically, he wants to become a naval flight officer (just like Goose from Top Gun). His ultimate goal is to retire as a Vice Admiral and then run for public office as the Republican Senator from Arizona. It will be a sad day when Ray leaves us.
When he doesn’t have is head buried in academia he can be found reading:
- Hellsing
- Trigun
- .Hack
- Rurouni Kenshin
- Newtype
- Batman
- Transformers
- GI Joe
- Marvel’s line of Ultimate Titles
- Naruto
- One Piece
- FLCL
- And almost all the other Tokyopop books
When he isn’t reading at all one can usually find him lounging around watching:
- The West Wing
- 24
- The Simpsons
- Stargate SG-1
- Jackie Chan Adventures
- Hellsing
- Berserk
- Noir
- Escaflowne
- .Hack
- Trigun
- Anything Gundam
- And yes HAMTARO!!!!
Some of Ray’s favorite websites include:
The Navy
Navy Officer Candidate School
The CIA
Reaper Miniatures
Living Greyhawk – Nyrond Regional Page
Wiz Kids Games
RPGA
Chessex Dice
Meet: Jeff Owens (affectionately referred to as J-LO by friends and co-workers alike) is the newest member of the Samurai Comics' team. He has been working in comic retailing for a little over a year, and is happy to now be doing so with the Samurai family. He is bald...sometimes. He enjoys watching anime almost as much as he enjoys reading comics, which he enjoys almost as much as he enjoys playing music, and sometimes more, but his favorite hobby/past-time is writing really, really long sentences, especially when they have many, many commas.
Jeff loves so many comics that it would be impossible to list them all, being that his memory is spotty at best, but some of his favorite writers are (in no particular order):
- Alan Moore
- Grant Morrison
- Mark Waid
- Geoff Johns
- Neil Gaiman
- Frank Miller
- Mark Millar
- Ed Brubaker
- Warren Ellis
- Garth Ennis
- Greg Rucka
- Peter Milligan
- Joe Casey
Some of his favorite anime are (once again, in no particular order):
- X
- Cowboy Bebop
- Noir
- .hack//sign
- Witch Hunter Robin
- Chobits
- Hellsing
- Trigun
...and so on, and so forth (he is sure he's forgetting a few things). He maintains to this day that Superman: Red Son is the best Elseworlds and the best Superman story of all time, and that the anime Noir is one of the most wonderful things to ever see the screen (silver or otherwise). He also loves The Simpsons and Upright Citizens Brigade.
He is not sure what else to say, except that he loves being a Samurai *heh*, and does not see this love dwindling in the future.
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