Thousands of sci-fi and fantasy fans have gathered in the Californian city of San Diego for this year's international Comic-Con convention.
Event-goers dressed as zombies, superheroes, aliens, pirates and time travellers queued up outside the San Diego Convention Centre for a preview night ahead of the event's opening on Thursday.
The 44th annual pop culture extravaganza grants early access to the show floor to attendees with four-day passes.
Lines snaked around the outside and inside of the centre with guests queuing to collect freebies and have first crack at such limited-edition collectibles as a 2ft-tall Transformers action figure.
Some fans began camping out on the grass near the convention centre to be among the first in line for Thursday's presentations for TV shows such as Dexter and films like Divergent.
The San Diego International Comic-Con is the largest in the US and continues until Sunday.
Originally showcasing comics, graphic novels, science fiction and fantasy films, television shows and related popular arts, the convention now includes a larger range of pop culture elements.
On the agenda are also horror, animation, Japanese "anime" animations, Japanese "manga" comics, toys, collectible card games, video games, webcomics and fantasy novels.
The average attendance over the last few years has been 130,000 over the four days.
