frbd1-4, Exercise 2: The hero who does very little

Model answer (check the details):

Why it works:
- The comedy comes from the contrast between Gaston's ease and his colleagues' effort. They have deadlines and he has schemes.
- Each gag can follow the same pattern (a scheme, an escalation, a disaster, a calm exit), so readers know the rhythm and enjoy the variation.
- A lazy hero is safe to laugh at: he rarely suffers, and the people who suffer (the boss, the neighbours) are figures of authority or irritation.
- The regular cast and the office setting allow endless variations in a single-page form.

British comparison: Dennis the Menace or the Bash Street Kids in The Beano, or Gomer Goof as Gaston's English name (check). Like Gaston, they are agents of chaos in an ordered institution (a school, a street, an office), and the humour is the order's reaction. The difference is that Gaston is an adult at work, which gives his strips a satire of office life.

Care: comparisons between comic traditions are interpretations; check what readers in each country said.