The real action at Comic-Con doesn’t begin till later today, but last night’s Preview Night gave everybody a little bit of something fun. TV watchers had the chance to check out a special pilot screening of The CW’s Nikita, starring Maggie Q. Toy collectors stood in long lines for TRON, He-Man and other action figures. Comic fans found deals on their favorite books before the next few days get busy with panels. And movie and TV studios put a lot of effort into their booth displays. With Salt coming out this weekend, Angelina Jolie’s face was all over Sony’s booth. A lightcycle, a big, bad Recognizer and a really neat light-up hoodie were part of Disney’s TRON display. (Check out this clip for more.) And The Walking Dead really set the stage for zombie drama — literally, the booth for the AMC show was set up as the inside of a cabin, complete with deer heads on the wall and lifeless, bloody, crusty members of the undead with whom fans could take their picture. It was a relative calm before the storm of today, where people will arrive early to get a peek at the TRON panel in the morning and also presentations for Red, The Expendables and Scott Pilgrim vs. The World, which has set up a whole party area for con-goers across the street from the San Diego Convention Center. Follow my Twitter feed for detailed reports and the USA WEEKEND feed for highlights — plus retweet our USA WEEKEND missives for a chance to win a copy of The Losers on DVD. Also, I’m going to feature videos of some of the many interesting characters I see at Comic-Con, starting with this woman who was all decked out as the Batman bad girl Harley Quinn.

[flash width="486" height="412" param name="movie" value="http://c.brightcove.com/services/viewer/federated_f9/57946741001?isVid=1&publisherID=44854211001" flashvars="@videoPlayer=207381247001&playerID=57946741001&domain=embed&"]http://c.brightcove.com/services/viewer/federated_f9/57946741001?isVid=1&publisherID=44854211001[/flash]