The always amazing comic con of Arizona, better known as Amazing Arizona Comic Con, starts its third year later this week, running from Friday January 25th through Sunday the 27th. We managed to catch up with the convention’s co-owner and organizer, Jimmy Jay, while he was enroute to Phoenix for this weekend’s festivities. The convention itself is run by Jay Company Comics, a family-run comic company founded by brothers Jimmy and Bill Jay back in 1996. Jay Company started out as a retail comic business, but has expanded into so much more, with the company playing publishing consultant, publisher (with a subsidiary company called Arcade Comics, co-founded by Rob Liefeld), and now convention host & promoter with 5 shows under their belt in just 24 months.

Amazing Arizona Comic Con started out in January 2011, as the first comic show of that year. Since then Jimmy has hosted Image Comic Expo, been the consultant for Las Vegas Comic Expo, and is about to throw the third Amazing Arizona Comic Con this weekend. For nearly 20 years Jay Company has had an interest in the comic convention circuit, as they have grown their retail business to be the largest new book dealership in the comic con circuit. Therefore, Jimmy Jay says creating Amazing Arizona Comic Con “was just a matter of taking our knowledge and extending our brand”. But why did this California based comic company choose Arizona of all places to host their convention? “That is a great question. The reason being the Arizona fan base is the most amazing and dedicated comic fan base out there” according to Jimmy. “We’ve been going to conventions in the Phoenix area since the 90’s. I still recall being at the Chaos Fan Fest (put on by Lady Death creator Brian Pulido, a con which was also Mike Turner’s first traveling show). So when it came time, my brother and I were talking about how we could put on a comic con event, and there was an opportunity in time and location in Arizona.” Last year the show tracked roughly 12,000 attendees coming through the doors of the Mesa Convention Center over a 3-day span. This year Jimmy reports they’re tracking significantly above that, with presales doing 2.5 times the amount of last year. He attributes this growth not only to their impressive guest list, but to their move to the bigger Phoenix Convention Center, and strong local promotional campaign.

Speaking of impressive guest lists, the 2013 Amazing Arizona Comic Con certainly is a who’s who of the comic book industry. In the past this convention has hosted big names like Robert Kirkman, Jeph Loeb, Todd McFarlane, and more. For this year’s show they headline with big name guests like Stan Lee, Jim Lee, John Layman, and many many more. But having such an awesome guest lists isn’t just for the fans, but part of the fun of running a comic convention like this for a big comic book geek like Jimmy Jay. “Well on one hand it is a business, but these are people we’ve looked up to our entire lives and we are just as big of fans of them as the people coming through our doors” says Jimmy. “My personal highlight [of running the convention] would absolutely be working with Jim Lee. He is the best selling comic artist of all time. I personally grew up reading his early Marvel work, I was there for the formation of Image, I was standing in line around the block when WildCATs came out, and I have been a huge fan of his DC work, such as Batman, Justice League, and everything in between. As for Bill, his highlight definitely was just the initial confirmation of Stan Lee coming to the show. Stan called Bill up and at first he thought he was being Punk’d. Afterwards he called me up and it was one of those moments that really makes you a big fan all over again.”

But while hanging out with the creators of some of your favorite comics is definitely a dream come true for most fans, it is not the coolest part of hosting your own convention for Jimmy. “Every year there are new challenges, and we try and set our benchmark very high. As much as I just spoke of these interactions with hall of fame creators, it’s finding something new. Digging through bins or walking through artist alley it’s discovering something you haven’t seen before, having that ‘ah-hah!’ moment and I think every year there will be more and more opportunities for that. To put it in perspective, we’ve had all of the modern greats sign at our shows, Kirkman, the cast of the Walking Dead TV series, McFarlane, Liefeld, Image Expo having the Image seven, Johnathan Hickman, etc. We’ve interacted with our childhood and current favorites. But the discovery moment that makes things new every single time out is the best and fans coming to the show can enjoy that too!”

Of course, while there are many perks for the Jays in putting on these incredible conventions, there is also a fair share of hardships they must face. When we asked Jimmy if he’s had any with Amazing Arizona he told us “Absolutely, it’s just the nature of putting on these events. It’s like throwing a really cool birthday party and just hoping people will show up. And that is very much our approach for throwing this con. Everyone coming through our door is a guest and we want them to have a great time” So what does he recommend for those attending the show to guarantee they have a great time? “Obviously I recommend seeing the headline guests, but in addition, we have great program lists that showcase your favorite creators talking about their new projects, namely the Batman panel and the New 52 panel. But there is also the cosplay element. The costume element has grown leaps and bounds and we as a convention are very cosplay friendly. On top of that, Nichole Chilelli (winner of SyFy’s Face Off) is going to be doing make up demonstrations throughout the weekend. We have a huge video game arena giving an arcade experience for fans of that too. So we truly have something for everybody at the Amazing Arizona Comic Con.”

Though this is just Amazing Arizona’s third year, it truly has expanded greatly in a short amount of time. Where the Jay’s did get to put together a rather big first year event with Image Comic Expo in Oakland last year, they’ve only learned from the experience, bringing their knowledge to Amazing Arizona. “We’ve always been extremely supportive of our headline guests and from Image Expo we’ve learned how to up our production values, with things like having our panels run smoother and putting out higher quality souvenir guides. It’s only been 24 months since Amazing Arizona started and we’ve already done 5 major events. We are constantly refining and tweaking our game, looking to keep on building up what we have. To put things in perspective though, with our presales, the size of the floor, tickets, number of creators in artist alley, etc. this show is on track to being a much bigger show than Image Comic Expo. It is by far our biggest event ever thrown and that’s saying a lot. We had a great time up in Oakland, those creators were fantastic, the fans coming in were enthusiastic, but again we are growing on those experiences and moving forward.”

Yet the wisdom, attendance, and floor space of the convention aren’t the only things to have grown with Amazing Arizona, as Jimmy’s convention staff has grown as well. “The staff is bigger but we still run on a skeleton crew. First show, it was really Bill and me and my cousin Dave and a few other family members. It was really small. We were doing everything, from the ticket counter to guest relations to booking peoples flights and making sure they arrived on time. We’re control freaks, so that worked at first, but a big help came in 2012 when we hired Holly Jensen, she’s been a godsend. Definitely makes our lives easier. We have also incorporated an active volunteer program. We are leaning on our publicity director, Emily Barna, and our sponsors and promotional partners, such as incredible stores like Samurai Comics and Jesse James Comics. This year we even added The Phoenix Suns (NBA team) as a promotional partner. Aaron Forrester and Jessica Nigri are brilliant, helping run costume events, and we’ve hired other experts in their fields to throw a great event.”

Which leads to our final question, we had to ask Jimmy, about the future of the show. Amazing Arizona shows great potential and already is incorporating concepts like cosplay, television, and video games in its programming and show floor. As the show expands closer to potentially reaching San Diego Comic Con levels, we asked Jimmy what he thought about it eventually being more like Comic Con International in the broad scope of being an all encompassing pop culture convention. Jimmy replied “I think it’s an interesting point, but the core brand of the show and Jay Company is comic books. We put the creators and their properties on the fore front. You will always see them as top billing at our shows. We do the costuming events, largely based on superhero costuming, with groups like Arizona Avengers and Justice League Arizona. We make it a point to always incorporate comic books, even in the arcade, whether it’s Marvel vs Capcom or something like it, we try and incorporate comics into it all. It seems like a novel approach that comic books are at a comic con. I know it’s not always the case and that is something Bill and I actively choose to put forth with our own brand”.

In the end Amazing Arizona Comic Con certainly is the comic convention for comic fans, and quite obviously, by comic fans. As we stated before, the third annual Amazing Arizona takes place this weekend, January 25th-27th, at the Phoenix Convention Center. Tickets are still available online, via Ticketmaster, or can be purchased at the door for incredibly affordable costs. To learn more check out the show’s website at www.AmazingArizonaComicCon.com