'Twilight' fans already camped out 'New Moon' Comic-Con panel

A glimpse of Bella and Jacob from what appear to be new character banners for "The Twilight Saga: New Moon."

Credit: HitFix

Last year, eyebrows were raised as diehard "Twilight" fans were found waiting in line for the movie's first Comic-Con appearance as early as 10 PM the night before. This year, with "The Twilight Saga: New Moon" back with the entire cast, that might get you in the first 500 or so.  Maybe.

Officially, the first badge holders in line arrived at 12 midnight Wednesday morning.   A contingent of San Diego residents staked their claim having planned their escapade during a "strategy luncheon" on Sunday.   

"My nephew was here at midnight saving us a spot," one pass holder told HitFix adding she was "relieved" no one had beaten them to the prime spot.  All the members of the group are first timers and the number one reason they are waiting in line all night for a presentation that doesn't begin until 1:45 PM the following day?  No, not a chance to see rising superstar Robert Pattinson, but his co-star; Taylor Lautner.

"They all hate me for it, but I'm Team Jacob," a teenage member of the crew said.

Debbie, a very senior member of the contingent then added, "We want to see the previews of the new movie."  

And any of the other panels?  Disney's "Tron" or "Alice in Wonderland"?  

" We're curious," Debbie responded.  "Even 'Avatar' after.  We're gonna see it all."

The line has progressed steadily since the initial groups arrival with the next round of attendees arriving at 2 AM including a number of ladies from Vamp Radio traveled from Georgia to attend Comic-Con for the first time.

Gina Jasinski, in her 30s, said, "Well, we didn't really know how many people were going to be in line, but we'd heard there were 100 people in line and we were like, 'Oh my gosh, we've got to get there now.'"
"I'm most excited about seeing the newest little bits of the movie early," she said.

Sisters Cory, 14, and Nikki, 19,  drove all the way from Arizona and were in line by 1 PM.  Cory, a fervent Team Taylor supporter, wanted to make sure she didn't see her idol on just a monitor.  She wants to be as close as possible.  Her sister Nikki didn't think they'd end up getting in line as early as they did.

"I had friends who came last year and they basically said it was the best time they ever had and we're just in love with 'Twilight,'" Nikki said. "My friends got here at 8 AM in the morning last year and were kind of in the back, but we didn't expect people to be here at midnight the day before."

And while "New Moon" was the number one priority almost all the attendees HitFix talked too were looking forward to a preview of Tim Burton's "Alice in Wonderland" and a few were interested in "Avatar" too.

"We wanted to see Peter Jackson on Friday, but we couldn't get tickets," Nikki lamented.

No doubt getting their fill of Pattinson, Lautner and Kristen Stewart will make up for it.

Look for continuing reports from Comic-Con on "The Twilight Saga: New Moon," "Avatar," "Alice in Wonderland" and much, much more all this week on HitFix.

Plus: Check out some shots of Summit Entertainment's booth with new character art from "New Moon."