Los Angeles has a special relationship with comic-book superheroes. It's where many of them came to life on the big screen. And, for a while, they also thrived on Hollywood Boulevard, where costume-donning entertainers would take photos with Walk of Fame tourists for tip money.

But things got out of hand — some tourists felt strong-armed, and some of the superheroes duked it out over turf — and the Los Angeles Police Department swept the masked men and women from the boulevard for good in June.

Our commenter du jour, Woody McBreairty, says they should be allowed to come back.

Commenting on a piece about Thursday's debut of the second season of Craigslist TV and its YouTube series on the boulevard characters (Hollywood Superheroes Unite!), McBreairty makes a good point:

The superheroes bring value to the street and attract tourists. Kids want to take photos with the characters, and they seem at home in the Tinseltown milieu there.

McBreairty:

I miss seeing the comic book and cartoon characters on Hollywood Blvd. They added alot of flavor & appeal to tourists, they definitely added more excitement to the environment and I think were a special treat for children and even made adult's visits to Hollywood more memorable. And a buck for a picture with Zorro or The Phantom or Mickey Mouse was an inexpensive but valuable souvenir.

Are they good for business? Perhaps more so than $10 t-shirt shops and cheap lingerie stores (or even the overpriced bottle-service traps clubs that open at night).

Maybe the city should reconsider its stance on these characters. Maybe L.A. tourism really does need a superhero right about now.

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