4 out of 5

SpongeBob comics have been on point since the very first issue, and that’s absolutely thanks to the core group whove established the book’s humor and visual style: From R. Sikoryak’s hilarious pastiche inner covers, to Graham Annable’s reliably nutty strips, James Kochalka’s dumb-despite-themselves gag strips, Robert Leighton’s frequent reading experiments, and grounding members Derek Drymon and Jacob Chabot, forever pushing the laughs into bizarre and more meta territory.

Yes, I didn’t mention creator Stephen Hillenburg, though he undeniably deserves credit for creating the world and allowing his work to be interpreted into the printed medium.  But if I’m assuming that the original version – the cartoon – is how he hears and sees that world, then as I’ve commented elsewhere, it just doesn’t work for me as well as what happens on the page.  Certainly comics and cartoons both allow for creativity, unbounded by budget or realism, to drive things, but something about the melting pot of the comic (many creators, pages-packed with story, thanks to Bongo’s cover-to-cover printing) feels more exciting, and that much more liable to produce out there surprises.

Indeed, as soon as you start to see some recognizable names pop up – Chuck Dixon, Stephen DeStefano – a habit that continues throughout the comic’s years, it seems as though other creators feel the same, and we reap the laugh-out-loud benefits.

Anyhow, these first few issues are all solid, if maybe unremarkable in the sense that we’re just getting started.  So we have some fun choose-your-own-adventure strips alongside the usual hijinks and gags, and then towards the latter half of issues is when we start to see some even more experimental stuff and those guest conteibutors.  Worth a read and rereads if you like laughter; no SB fandom required.