Keeping Up with the Joneses

Pop Momand's *Keeping Up with the Joneses* ran as a daily and Sunday strip from 1913 to 1938, establishing a formula that became foundational to newspaper comics. The strip follows the aspirations and misadventures of the McGill family as they attempt to match the lifestyle of their wealthy neighbors. Momand's use of sequential panels, expressive line work, and recurring domestic situations influenced the visual language that comics would inherit. The strip's broad physical comedy and situational humor—here depicting failed schemes and social embarrassment—proved durable enough to sustain a twenty-five-year run across American newspapers.