3 out of 5

Evan Dorkin to the rescue.  The 2016 FCBD edition for Spongebob is another collection of random Bobbery by several creators.  The inside cover has a fun self-referential bit by Andrea Surumi, and then we get into one of the two main tales, the first of which is written and drawn by Israel Sanchez.  Sanchez has a flat, loose style that works well with the antics – another Krabby Patty cook-off event for S.Bob, prompted by a 1/2 cent off Senior Discount – and he gets a lot of visual humor mileage out of the main gag of ‘Bob replicating his arms to cook more burgers.  But he has no ending, so the strip ducks out with, literally, a thumbs up.  Rob Leighton is around for some of his pretty standard style, although his one page bit is pretty shocking, given that it gives us a visual closeup of Squidward’s butthole.  Seriously.  I stared at this for a while in bemusement, and maybe I should give the book five stars for this alone, but, y’know, ya’ can’t just go around giving out stars for squid buttholes, else people would start abusing that system.  Maris Wicks contributes another Ocean Facts, which are invariably good but rather harmless at the same time.  Kochalka does a one page yuk, and then our second longer story from Dorkin and the wonderfully campy Ramona Fradon, with some great classic coloring from Jim Campbell.  The Mermaid Man story is more conceptually amusing than directly eliciting of the ol’ laughs, but it’s a good yarn, and the only “complete” feeling tale in the book.

Wild props to Rob Leigh for championing all the letters for all of these creators.

Maybe not the best range / offering of stories for ol’ Spongebob, but definitely a fun FCBD read.