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

http://woub.org/2013/05/09/get-your-geek-athens-comic-book-convention-returns-weekend

Check out the article above to see more about Ratha Con on WOUB online.

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…

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.

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.

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".

A bit of information about our very special guest, Joanne Padgett.......

Joanne Padgett is the author creator of the acclaimed novel series Vampires of Camelot Camelot’s True Story Part One. Joanne is a respected author. As a writer she is very expressive and thought provoking; getting people interested in her cliffhanger drama style. After leaving Central New York, she joined the workforce and found it was not her fit. Joanne found her passion was writing but, how to make that a career was another issue all together. Joanne dabbled in banking, sales, and other things but, she was always drawn back to writing.

Joanne on her 30th birthday was looking back at her first thirty years and did not like what she had become. Joanne was looking back on her life and was reminded of her first memory of mortality. Joannewas in the 8th grade where each student was given an assignment to write to their favorite author and ask them to come speak at an event. Joanne loved the works of Roald Dahl and wrote to him. Joanne waited for a response and two weeks later she received it.

Joanne was so excited she waited to read her response letter to the class. Joanne went to school with letter in hand and ran to the front of the class and opened the letter she began to read the letter aloud. It stated that they appreciated the fact that she loved Roald’s work and regretted to inform her that he had been deceased.  Joanne was devastated and ran out of the room crying so upset her teacher Mrs. Bassett calmed her down and told her that was okay because his words would live on forever he had left his legacy and that is when Joanne decided to write her first novel The Vampires of Camelot Camelot's True Story Part One.

 Joanne came up with idea for the novel when watching Arthur and the Knights of the Roundtable.Joanne contemplated what if Camelot had Vampires in it? Joanne studied the Arthur legends and within two years she had written her first novel.  Joanne has launched the first book in the series.  Joanne hopes everyone will enjoy her new epic novel series Vampires of Camelot Camelot’s True Story Part One.

Go to the following link to see the work of Nicole Marie Jean and Spencer Doe. They are professional costume makers from New England who will be at Ratha Con this year.

http://www.geeksaresexy.net/2012/11/23/nicole-marie-jean-cosplays-as-lady-bane-pics/

Meet the artist...............
Michael K. Easton

About Me: Learning his craft with The Impossible Family Adventures, a multi-generational superhero story based on members of his extended family, Michael K. Easton went on to be the artist and co-creator of the webcomic, Short Pants Romance and the comic book series Paradox City. Michael’s work has appeared in various publications, working in different areas as penciler, inker, letterer, colorist, and co-publisher with Jordan Lowe under their Axiom Digital Media Imprint. By day, he is a self taught graphic designer and webmaster in Marietta, Ohio and by night an illustrator of the heroes that defend and protect Paradox City.

Short Pants Romance

Webcomic- www.shortpantsromanceonline.com

Art blog: www.mkeaston.com/mkeaston/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/michael.k.easton

Just confirmed - Sandy Plunkett will sit on a panel (be sure to visit his retrospective at The Kennedy Museum. The exhibit is called FANTASTIC! The Comic Art of Sandy Plunkett. A must see for all comic fans.

Also, Superfly Comics from Yellow springs will be returning. They have reserved a giant space for selling their comics and collectibles.

Lastly, our food vendor this year will be Not Guilty. They have healthy, wholesome foods and are sure to be a big hit.

Stay tuned for more information as we get it.

2013 Ratha Con - May 11th, 10 am - 9 pm

We have lots of wonderful things planned for this year's event:
*Artist Alley
*Sellers
*Costume Contest
*Panel Discussions
*Musical Guests
*Costumed Dance Party
*and much, much more........

If you are a creator/artist or seller or someone with a cool collection to diplay please email us at rathaconmedia@gmail.com we will send you information on how you can join the fun.