Keeping It Up With The Joneses | Jab Comix

The comic is rendered in JAB's signature style, which is known for: keeping it up with the joneses jab comix

The series centers on the Jones family—your average, slightly neurotic suburban household. The patriarch, Mr. Jones, suffers from the perennial male anxiety of inadequacy. He is constantly emasculated by his neighbor, the hyper-masculine, chiseled Chad Thunder, who drives a nicer car, has a greener lawn, and seemingly never struggles in the romance department.

The "Jab Comix" twist, however, arrives via an absurdist McGuffin: a malfunctioning piece of super-science (often a stray ray gun from one of Jab’s superhero crossovers or a mysterious "Growth Gasser" from a garage sale). In an attempt to finally best Chad, Mr. Jones acquires a device designed to enhance his... assets. Naturally, due to his own incompetence, the device backfires spectacularly. Example B — Three-panel strip

Unlike standard parodies, "Keeping It Up" doesn't rely on immediate gratification. Instead, it revels in the escalation of errors. Mr. Jones might get the size he wanted, but only at the cost of being unable to fit through his own front door. He might gain superhuman stamina, but only while his skin turns a disturbing shade of neon green. The humor is steeped in the "Monkey’s Paw" curse: be careful what you wish for, especially when you’re trying to impress your neighbors.

The central premise is deceptively simple. Meet Dave Jones (the patriarch) and his wife, Wanda Jones. They are the perfect suburban couple—white picket fence, a pristine lawn, and a seemingly vanilla relationship. Enter the new neighbors: Chad and Tiffany. Example C — Four-panel twist

Chad is a cocky, well-endowed gym bro. Tiffany is a cunning, insatiable blonde with a "polyamorous art collection." The phrase "keeping up with the Joneses" is literalized when Dave realizes that Chad is sleeping with every woman on the block—including Wanda.

The plot kicks into high gear when Dave, tired of being a cuckold, decides he cannot let the neighbor "out-perform" him. He embarks on a ridiculous journey involving mail-order pheromones, stolen Viagra, a cursed artifact from a garage sale, and eventually, cloning technology. The tagline of the series became: "He wanted to keep up. He ended up burning down the block."