More than 2,000 comic fans lined up to be the first visitors to the 2008 fair, which opened at 11 am yesterday at the Convention and Exhibition Centre in Wan Chai.

Many of the fans had slept on the street over the past few days to wait for the opening. The first in the queue was a 18-year-old man, surnamed Chan, who lined up since Tuesday.

Chan carried HK$2,000 and was escorted by security guards to the booth to snap up three limited edition crystal figurines. But the exhibitor gave him one for free. The young man said he planed to resell all three figurines online for a total of HK$20,000.

The local animation and comic industry is estimated to have an annual turnover of about HK$1 billion.