Alphonse and Gaston in Siberia

This Sunday comic strip follows two French gentlemen whose obsessive politeness spirals into chaos. The narrative arc spans six panels: Alphonse and Gaston encounter a pack of bears while riding in an automobile labeled "The Red Christoffel." As each insists the other fight the animals, their courtesy escalates—steam whistles blow, the car explodes, and they flee the wreckage. The strip exemplifies early newspaper comics: sequential panels with speech balloons driving narrative momentum, recurring characters with defined personalities, and visual gags built from character conflict. Published during the golden age of the Sunday funnies, when newspaper strips established the visual and narrative grammar that would define American comics for decades.