Heroes to villains and every comic book character in between will be on display at Comic Gong.
Wollongong's seventh pop culture festival will be held on May 11 from 10am to 4pm near the arts precinct, town hall and library.
People are encouraged to come dressed in their favourite comic book character or go all out and cosplay.
American-born Jason Zimmerman started cosplaying after arriving in Wollongong as a way to get to know people and as a homage to Halloween celebrations.
"There is a whole community here who cosplay," he said. "I got really into it and started doing charity work. Then I got more accurate costumes and I have done various characters more than 100 times."
Mr Zimmerman will don a Kylo Ren costume from Star Wars. He will talk at one of two panel discussions about comic creation legends and living the fandom life at Wollongong Art Gallery.
There will be will sword fighting demonstrations, Rock'n'Roll Wrestling, light saber lessons and music by The Con Artists at the arts precinct. The town hall will be abuzz with more than 70 artist, exhibitor and comic merchandise stalls.
Pinball, arcade games and children's activities will be a plenty. The library will have a games floor, face painting, Lego robots and Dance Dance Revolution. Cosplay competitions will be held in the gallery from 11am.
Emily Coleman will attend the the festival dressed as Mayor Pauline, a character from the new Super Mario Odyssey game on Nintendo Switch.
"I originally got into cosplaying because I fell in love with doing photo shoots and posing as a different character," she said. "Then I got more involved because I loved being a different person for a day.
"I'm a scientist and cosplaying is my artistic release. Now I do it professionally and do a lot of charity work."
Ms Coleman also dons a Jessica Rabbit costume and dresses up as video game characters, anime characters and comic book characters such as Poison Ivy and Supergirl.
Ms Coleman created the UOW Cosplay Society and Comic Gong was the club's best chance to show people there was a strong cosplay community in the area and not just in Sydney.
Wollongong Lord mayor Gordon Bradbery said the festival provided an opportunity for residents to live out their fantasies and dress up as characters.
"Comic Gong is a great way for people to strut their stuff and let their imagination run wild," he said. "It is a festival for all ages."
All Comic Gongers are encouraged to share their photos on the Comic Gong Facebook page, tweet @Wollongong City, or share on Instagram @wollongonglibraries using the hashtag, #comicgong.
