![\"Ocean](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/plo-l-comiccon-2-e1786647772205.jpg\")
Ocean Beach resident and filmmaker Mark Atkinson. (Provided by Mark Atkinson)<\/p>\nAfter attending Comic-Con International as a fan for more than 20 years, Ocean Beach resident Mark Atkinson found himself experiencing the event in a very different way this year.<\/p>\n
Rather than attending as a spectator, he moderated two very different panels within the San Diego Convention Center in downtown: \u201cAliens 40: The 40th Anniversary of One of the Best Sequels Ever Made!\u201d as well as the panel to preview \u201cConcert Heroes: Film, Comedy & Rock N\u2019 Roll!\u201d<\/p>\n
Even days after the convention ended, Atkinson said he was \u201cstill high\u201d from the event.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s a lot of work, but you see the fruits of your labor,\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s kind of like the feeling you have the day after Christmas. Even though I am lacking food and sleep, I still have energy from all the excitement.\u201d<\/p>\n
This year\u2019s Comic-Con took place from July 23-26, hosting around 135,000 attendees. Thousands more participated in outside events ranging from flash mobs to music festivals, pop-up fan zones and all manner of themed activities.<\/p>\n
Of the dozens of panels held daily at the event, both of the ones Atkinson moderated were considered among the 15 to 20 \u201cmajor\u201d panels, with the \u201cAliens\u201d panel being highly anticipated by fans devoted to the franchise and \u201cConcert Heroes\u201d drawing attention because of the many familiar names in the cast.<\/p>\n
Ocean Beach resident and filmmaker Mark Atkinson. (Provided by Mark Atkinson)<\/p>\n
Written and directed by James Cameron, \u201cAliens\u201d was released in 1986 as a sequel to the 1979 Ridley Scott-directed \u201cAlien.\u201d<\/p>\n
Citing more interesting characters and \u201cawesome\u201d actors, Atkinson said, \u201cI think there are just a few movie sequels better than the original, with \u2018Aliens\u2019 being probably one of the best sequels ever made.\u201d<\/p>\n
Panelists for the July 23 \u201cAliens\u201d talk included the film\u2019s actors Mark Rolston (Private Drake), Ricco Ross (Private Frost), Jenette Goldstein (Private Vasquez), Carl Toop (the Alien Warrior), William Hope (Lieutenant Gorman), Daniel Kash (Private Spunkmeyer) and Cynthia Scott (Corporal Dietrich).<\/p>\n
No stranger to moderating at conventions, Atkinson\u2019s past events include an \u201cAliens\u201d 40th anniversary panel at WonderCon in Anaheim last March, where 1,000 people filled the room, despite there only being two actors on the panel.<\/p>\n
Atkinson said the audience members were big fans, who especially seemed to enjoy the behind-the-scenes stories and the funny antidotes told by the panelists.<\/p>\n
\u201cKash had a small part in the movie, but had the best audition story and the crowd went nuts when he told (it). Scott also had a smaller part in the movie, but was very verbose and entertaining during the panel,\u201d Atkinson said. \u201cToop, who played the Alien Warrior, didn\u2019t say too much, but was really funny and clever when he did deliver a line.\u201d<\/p>\n
With \u201cAliens\u201d being known as a \u201cvery quotable movie,\u201d Atkinson said one of his favorite bits was a rapid-fire quick round in which he asked the participants to recite their favorite line from the movie during the Comic-Con panel.<\/p>\n
Pivoting to a new style of film, Atkinson also moderated the July 25 panel for \u201cConcert Heroes,\u201d an independent film shot entirely in San Diego, with scenes in Pacific Beach, Point Loma and the San Diego Sports Arena.<\/p>\n
The comedy follows a burned-out videographer who finally lands his dream job filming the farewell tour of his favorite band.<\/p>\n
Despite only having a moderate budget, the film has a \u201cstacked cast,\u201d Atkinson said, which includes Chris Kattan (\u201cSaturday Night Live,\u201d \u201cA Night at the Roxbury\u201d), E.G. Daily (\u201cPee-Wee\u2019s Big Adventure\u201d), Robert Romanus (\u201cFast Times at Ridgemont High\u201d), Eddie\u00a0McClintock (\u201cWarehouse 13\u201d), Carolyn Hennesy (\u201cStar Wars: The Rise of Skywalker\u201d), Ryan Ochoa (\u201cPair of Kings\u201d), writer\/producer Steven Mark (\u201cThe Samuel Project\u201d) and director Joe Nunez (\u201cSuperbad\u201d).<\/p>\n
With 2,000 Comic-Con guests packing the Indigo Ballroom for the session, Atkinson said, \u201cAll the panelists came to play with their A-game.\u201d Attendees were treated to behind-the-scenes stories, exclusive clips and the world premiere trailer.<\/p>\n
Atkinson said one of his favorite moments was when he asked each panelist to tell either a funny story or behind-the-scenes blooper.<\/p>\n
Kattan received probably the most applause of the night for not only his high praise of San Diego, but for jokingly announcing he would be playing \u201cDr. Doom.\u201d The announcement parodied an event from Comic-Con 2024, in which Marvel Comics surprised audiences by revealing that Robert Downey Jr. would play Dr. Doom in the upcoming \u201cAvengers: Doomsday\u201d film.<\/p>\n
\u201cConcert Heroes\u201d is in post-production and expected to be released in November.<\/p>\n
Beyond a Comic-Con panelist, Atkinson is also a multiple award-winning filmmaker, having written and produced several projects under his company Kahuna Productions, including the 2020 Netflix show \u201cSelena: The Series.\u201d<\/p>\n
His interest in moderating panels was sparked a couple of years ago by another panelist and the encouragement of his friends.<\/p>\n
\u201cI thought it would be fun, since some of my idols are talk show hosts. I think they are some of the funniest people in the world,\u201d he said. \u201cA panel is basically a talk show with a built-in audience.\u201d<\/p>\n
With this year\u2019s Comic-Con in the books, Atkinson has already begun meeting with officials to secure panels for upcoming conventions, including some in Los Angeles and Rhode Island.<\/p>\n
\u201cAs a moderator, it\u2019s a live performance piece and you only have one shot. There is no script and the audience and panelists can say whatever they want,\u201d he said. \u201cI will continue to produce and moderate con panels until I burn out.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"After attending Comic-Con International as a fan for more than 20 years, Ocean Beach resident Mark Atkinson found…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":434705,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[7,3101,2579,2580,74,84,76,75],"class_list":["post-434704","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-san-diego","tag-california","tag-ocean-beach","tag-point-loma-ob-monthly","tag-point-loma-ob-monthly-news","tag-san-diego","tag-san-diego-county","tag-san-diego-headlines","tag-san-diego-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/434704","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=434704"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/434704\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/434705"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=434704"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=434704"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=434704"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}