Statues of Comic Book and Comic Strip Characters

Public statues of comic heroes and newspaper strip favorites, from a painted bronze Superman in small-town Illinois to Mafalda on her bench in Buenos Aires. Each photo shows a statue set in a square, park, station or seafront, and the caption names the character, the creator and the reason that town claims them. The Belgian coast's comic figures were taken off Middelkerke's seafront for building works, and the town plans to regroup them in a new park, so check their current spot before a trip. The gallery leans toward places with a real tie to the strip: a creator's birthplace or home, the publisher's city, or the town the character made famous. Murals, manga figures and characters from children's books are left to other galleries, as are figures inside theme parks, hotels and museums.