5 out of 5

Oh man, welcome back, SpongeBob (you never went anywhere, but I love when you reaffirm my love for your book with issues like this).  And who tha heck is this Robb Bihun artist?  It seems like Mr. Bihun had a brief, tinny tiny run back in the early 90s and then disappeared into film / TV, but his art on this almost feature length tale – in which Plankton takes a page from the Mermaid Man comics and gets a whole bunch of villains together to accomplish the recipe-thievin’ he alone has been unable to – is fantastic, with a hecka ton of personality, and lots of little panel touches that made me laugh.  With John Kalisz’s rich coloring and Rob Leigh’s ace sense of bubble placement, all the pages of this packed tale are energetic, Bihun having a heavy Mandrake-like style with an animated-ness that reminds me of early Duncan Fegredo (which is a good thing).  This is all alongside Derek Drymon’s sharp and witty script, blending dumb Bobby humor with the clever stuff, and a short Kolchalka bit (besides his one-page gag) drawn-ed by Vanessa Davis that won me over with some winning Patrick lines, and a great (and interesting) Maris Wicks sea facts.

And and and a super awesome jam-packed Chabot cover.  AND FREE???