4 out of 5

There’s nothing new under the sun in these SpongeBob books…  which is fantastic news.  And actually, sort of a lie: it’s not a drastic shift, but we’ve almost left behind any strictly gag-style strips (i.e. filler just leading to a punchline) and the sort of choose-your-own-adventure strips which, although inventive, were also not reread-encouraging; that is, I’d skip them when going back through the book.

Filling up that space, our core team of Chabot, Drymon, Annabelle and Leighton really start to nail the goofy, smart humor that’s been fueling this book for 70+ issues, with the last couple books here additionally forming their own internal rhythm instead of, as the preceding books do, relying on an established story pattern (e.g. lead story, Kolchalka gag, sub-story, etc.) to structure the book.

Such fascinating analysis, I know!  SHUT YER GOB AND BRING ON MORE.