4 out of 5

Some new names – Israel Sanchez!  Aaron Renier! – and some new variations put us that much closer to the modern incarnation of SpongeBob.

It’s otherwise business as usual (which be a good thing with this book), with a main cover feature – generally by Drymon, or Annable, or Vince Deporter (and Joey Weiser pops up and emerges as a main contributor as well), and then a pinup and several shorts.  But: the draw-your-own strips start to edge more toward all-ages humor over activity pages, and we start seeing the pinups used for some non pin-up purposes, both good evolutions for the already above-average series.