Comic Con started in 1970 at the U.S. Grant Hotel in San Diego to just 100 attendees. Today, the event has grown to be a national televised event and has spawned similar local conventions around the U.S., including Athens.
The second annual Ratha Con comic book convention run by Arts/West will be held Saturday at the Athens Community Center, 701 E. State St., to a host of new events.
“Everyone is excited about the prospect,” said Kelly Lawrence, events coordinator for Arts/West. “The event has grown this year and we have a lot more events offered this year for people who come out.”
Ratha Con will feature four main panel discussions lead by guests and Ohio University professors who are involved in the culture. The panels will focus on comic artists, costume design, comics and graphic novels in academia.
Other events include a costume contest, raffles, displays of comic book collections, free comic giveaways, build-a-superhero contest and a dance party to finish off the night.
The main event, however, might be this year’s speaker Joanne Padgett, author of the book series Vampires of Camelot.
“I always loved Camelot and I love vampires, so I thought to myself, why not put vampires in Camelot,” Padgett said.
Padgett was once a speechwriter but said she found the work to be morally wrong and began to question what kind of legacy she would leave behind.
The first book in the five-part series has sold 75,000 copies worldwide and Padgett said she has done all of it through her self-publishing techniques, which is the focus of Saturday’s speech.
“It’s all about self-publishing in the digital age,” Padgett said. “Everybody thinks writing a book is the hardest part about being an author and that’s the easiest part. It’s to get the average Joe to buy your book.”
Through these techniques Padgett was able to expand her market to 35 bookstores and 12 countries throughout the world.
She added that a new character from her series will be revealed at the event. She is also working on a six-minute live action video of one of the scenes from the book, which will be released in June. However, she said she views this convention as a way to help others looking to self-publish.
“I want to educate people because I don’t want them to go down the wrong road and spend thousands of dollars they don’t need to,” Padgett said. “I wish someone had done this for me instead of having to learn through the trials and tribulations and falling on my face before I learned how to do it properly.”
wh092010@ohiou.edu
If You Go:
What: Ratha Con
When: 10 a.m. - 6 p.m. Saturday
Where: Athens Community Center
Admission: $5
