Ratha Con Dates and Locations

Ratha Con is a comic, sci-fi/fantasy convention held in Athens, Ohio. This year's convention is going to be on May 11, 2013 from 10 am to 10pm at the Athens Community Center, 701 E. State St. Athens, OH 45701. The main con will take place from 10 am to 6 pm then the costumed dance party will take place from 6 pm to 10 pm

This year's admission cost is $5 for everyone 11 years old and up - kids under 11 are FREE. Dance party is free for visitors with a Ratha Con hand stamp - $2 for those without hand stamp.

Friday, May 10, 2013


SCHEDULE OF EVENTS
10:00 - 11:30 am - conference room, ground level/athens community center
Panel Discussion with comic artists Sandy Plunkett, Steve Richter, Chris
Monday and michael easton
10:30 am - 5:00 pm - Children’s activity area - coloring pages, mask making,
etc...
10:30 - 5:00 pm - Boffer Sword Play - in front of Community Center -
(registration required in children’s area)
12:00 - 1:30 pm - conference room, ground level/Athens Community Center
Discussion on costume design with Ohio university theater professor, thomas
fiocchi.
1:30 pm - Build A Superhero Timed Contest - teams of 3 or 5 work togther to
create a superhero with attributes and a name. (Registration Required)
2:00 - 3:30 pm - conference room, ground level/Athens community center
Special guest, Joanne Padgett, author of “Vampires of Camelot” will lead a
discussion on self publishing.
4:00 - 5:30 pm - conference room, ground level/Athens community center
Panel discussion with Ohio University professors, Michael Gillespie, Kevin
Haworth, and Akhil Huston, about using comics and graphic novels in academia.
5:00 pm - Main Floor, community center- winners of raffle named
5:30 pm - Main Floor, community center - costume contest
(registration required)
Gaming run by John Pare and JT Johnston -
11:00 am - 3:00 pm - Castles & Crusades for 6 people (registration required)
4:00 - 6:00 pm - axis and Allies for 4 people (registration required)
1:00 - 4:00 pm - Mutants & Masterminds for 6 people (registration required)
All Day:
ARTISTS’ ALLEY
Larry Blake
Jesse Marks musingmark.deviantart.com
Sandy Plunkett plunkettart.com
Steve Richter steverichterart.com
Katherine Wirick katherine.kreider-wirick.com
Ken Eppstein nixcomics.com
Michael Easton mkeaston.com/mkeaston
Lee Smith OhioComics.com
Terence Hanley/Five Star Comics hanleyart.com
Chris Monday flyingweevil.com
Derek Croston methodcomix.com
Courtney & Chris Young
Joe Dragunas facebook.com/TheArtOfJMDragunas
Gary Gibeaut/Five Star Comics garygibeaut/fivestarcomics.co
Art Vendors
Nancy Baur - comic greeting cards & comic themed sewn items
reewesablefiberarts.blogspot.com
Thomas Fiocchi - costume items
Special Displays
Connor Miller
James Hamilton & Brent Smalley’s Nerdiversity
Models
Jay Pare
Sellers
The Wizard’s Guild Athens, OH
Super-fly Comics & Games Yellow Springs, OH
Jerry Lowe
Frank Gorscak
Fan Clubs
Rebel Legion - Great Lakes Base greatlakesbase.com
501st Legion - Ohio Garrison ohio501st.com
Food Vendors
Not Guilty Food Cart
Fluff Bakery
Gaming - casual magic games - inquire at The Wizard’s Guild booth
6:00 - 10:00 pm - Costume Dance Party - Multipurpose room/Community
Center. - Music with DJ Barticus and new, local Band “The Geek Girls”
 Admission is FREE with Ratha Con handstamp and $2 for others. Beverages and baked items for
sale to help raise money for ARTS/West.
A Secret Map promoSteve Richter's new gallery show, A Secret Map, opens Friday, May 10, in Athens, Ohio, 6pm til 9 pm at UnionArts Gallery on West Union.

Check this out - happening tonight.  Great way to get ready for the con tomorrow.  While you are at it go to The Kennedy Museum to see a retrospective of Sandy Plunkett's work.
Casa Nueva restaurant and cantina will be holding a Ratha Con after party starting @ 10:30pm.  
Free for those 21 and up, $2 for underageWear your costume and receive 15% off of your bar menu food order. 
There will be an improvised photo booth for those in costume to take advantage of as well. 
DJs Sector7G and Thoughtbeat will be regaling the crowd with a bevy of sci-fi themed tunes and 8-bit bleeps and bloops mixed with tracks to get you shakin' it on the dance floor.
While you're there check out the artwork of Brent Elam currently on display in the cantina
:
http://brentelam.wix.com/inmyhead#!__gallery

Directions from the Athens Community Center:  http://mapq.st/19624Iw

Monday, May 6, 2013

We are just days away - will post more fun stuff about the con as the week progresses.

Acclaimed fantasy author to speak at Ratha Con 2013 - The Athens Messenger: News

Acclaimed fantasy author to speak at Ratha Con 2013 - The Athens Messenger: News: The author of an acclaimed fantasy series about vampires in King Arthur’s court will be one of the keynote speakers at the second annual Ratha…

Tuesday, April 30, 2013

Comic Book fans! (And who isn't one???) FREE Comic Book Day is THIS Saturday! Comic books will be given away in the lobby of the Athens Public Library this Saturday, May 4, soon after we open 'til the pillage is gone. ;) 

Then, next weekend is RathaCon, featuring special guest, Joanne Padgett, author of "Vampires of Camelot"! 




We will have RPG games going on all day at this year's event. Here are the 2 people running them:

John Pare is 49 and studying to be an LPN. He lives in Albany Ohio.
His hobbies include Roleplaying games, Flight Simulator, and scale models.

Castles & Crusades is a roleplaying game by Troll Lord Games, it is a combination of various editions of Dungeons and Dragons. You will enjoy the day more after gaming with John in a 4 hour session.

TJ Johnston is a freelance article editor and founder of TheCoolShip.com.
When he isn't writing or editing, he generally kills time by playing games
or trying to keep up with his two children. He lives in Albany, Ohio with
his wife.

Mutants and Masterminds is an easy-to-learn, d20-system-based superhero
RPG. Want to throw cars at bad guys? Want to save the world from
galactic-level threats? This is the game you want to play.

There will be a sign-up sheet at the door.

Thursday, April 25, 2013

The con is coming together..............
There will be 4 panel discussions - 
Comic Artists @ 10 am
Tom Fiocchi - costume design @ 12 noon
Joanne Padgett author of "Vampires of Camelot" @
2 pm
OU Professors discussing using graphic novels and
comics in academia @ 4 pm
During the whole day there will be..........
Artist Alley
Gaming (PRG, Board, & Card) - sign up at door
Collections Displays
Artisan Vendors
Vendors/Sellers
Kid's activities
Food from Not Guilty Food Cart
Raffles
and much more...........

"Build a Superhero" contest @ 1:30 - sign up at door
Raffle Drawing @ 5 pm
Costume Contest @ 5:30 pm - sign up at door

Costume Dance Party with DJ Barticus and The Geek Girls
goes from 6 pm - 10 pm (the band plays @ 7 pm).

The main con costs $5 for everyone 11 years and up and is FREE to kids under 11. The Dance Party is FREE for those with a Ratha Con hand stamp and $2 for others.

Wednesday, April 10, 2013

We are sad to report that our special guests, costume designers Nicole Marie Jean and Spence Doe, are unable to make it this year after all.  We will still have our other special guest, Joanne Padgett, author of the popular "Vampires of Camelot".