Mr. Al Most

Gene Carr's *Mr. Al Most* follows a hapless hero through physical misadventures in this Sunday newspaper strip. The six-panel layout moves readers left-to-right and top-to-bottom, a structure that would become standard for comic strips. Carr employs exaggerated figures, motion lines, and sequential action to convey slapstick humor—here, Al encounters a bull and a menacing dog. Speech balloons advance the narrative while visual gags carry the comedy. The strip exemplifies early newspaper comics' reliance on broad physical humor and recurring characters, establishing conventions that shaped the visual language of comics for decades to come.