Alphonse and Gaston in Egypt

Two French characters prepare coffee at the base of the Great Pyramid while their friend climbs its stones. The six-panel strip follows a familiar comedic pattern: Alphonse and Gaston exchange elaborate courtesies, each insisting the other take precedence—a running gag that defines the characters. The artist employs sequential panels with speech balloons to unfold the narrative, using visual repetition and compositional variation to pace the humor. Recurring characters and catchphrases like "Never, my Alphonse" anchored newspaper readers to the strip's gentle absurdism. This Sunday page exemplifies the visual vocabulary—panel borders, dialogue placement, expressive linework—that transformed the newspaper comics section into a distinct medium and eventual foundation for modern comic books.