Bronze Statue for an Unsavory Cartoon Character?

Posted Thursday, August 10, 2006 12:00 am

By: E&P Staff Will a sexist, hard-drinking comic-strip character get a statue? Stay "tooned."

Residents of North Hartlepool, England, are being asked what they think about erecting a bronze statue of Andy Capp in their town, according to HartlepoolToday.com.

If the North Hartlepool Partnership gets enough interest, it will try asking the Daily Mirror -- the newspaper where the "Andy Capp" comic got its start in 1957 -- to contribute to the cost of the statue.

The late Reg Smythe, who created "Andy Capp," was from Hartlepool. The comic continues to be distributed by Creators Syndicate.

The possible statue was mentioned on Alan Gardner's DailyCartoonist.com and Tom Spurgeon's ComicsReporter.com.

Part of Spurgeon's wry commentary on the matter: "I can't think of anything better than a bronze statue celebrating Andy Capp, the most popular violent, alcoholic adulterer ever to strike his wife in a widely-read newspaper comic strip... ."

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Bronze Statue for an Unsavory Cartoon Character?

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