‘The Hobbit’ Images: 10 New Photos Tease Comic-Con 2012

Ahead of ‘The Hobbit’s’ splashy panel at Comic-Con 2012, Warner Bros. shared 10 new images from the film for fans of the 'Lord of the Rings' trilogy.

Several familiar faces – from Cate Blanchett and Sir Ian McKellen to Gollum, himself– mingle with franchise newcomer Martin Freeman, playing heroic Hobbit Bilbo Baggins in part one of Peter Jackson’s sprawling epic in these new photos from EW.com.

Jackson and his team will take the stage in Hall H on Saturday for a lengthy panel, so I’m sure we’ll have plenty more details about ‘An Unexpected Journey’ to share with you after that point. For now, here are 10 images from ‘The Hobbit’ that you can study, looking for details as to the direction of Jackson’s return to Middle Earth. Are you getting excited to see the gang back together?