So last weekend, I went out and finally got Issue 75 (Finally, it only took nearly a month since it's initial release!)
I feel as if James Kochalka is worn out, and definitely needs a break. SpongeFunnies were actually funny for the first 30 or so issues, then things started to slow down a bit, and he picked things up (By making the comics connected to each other, telling a bigger story than the "one-shot" comics) until around the 50s or so, then it's just been downhill from there (With an occasional laugh every now and again). Honestly, I thought James was just striving to tell a bigger story, seeing how he doesn't even do individual comics anymore. Unfortunately, this story's main comic, Skate the Cake did not reach my expectations at all. It was a nice idea to give SpongeFunnies a larger story (Especially with all the commitment James has given to this comic, being around since Issue 1, goodness, he also did SpongeFunnies in Nick Magazine, too!), but the story was just a mess. It was clear there was no real direction, as Squidward's plan was all over the place. The story isn't the biggest problem in this comic, though, it's the jokes. A lot of this comic's jokes are terribly generic and predictable (A recent problem that's been developing in James' work on the SpongeFunnies). The only legitimately funny jokes were some of Krabs lines when SpongeBob meets up with him, during SpongeBob's day off. Other than that, the story was a big hit or miss with humor, either given me a slight smirk or making me regret my decision of reading this. I think James should take a break from doing SpongeFunnies, at least for a while, he's scraping the bottom of the barrel in terms of humor.
This issue's Flotsam & Jetsam wasn't really as informative as it was comedy. It focused on the in's-and-out's of looking cute. Personally I found this comic to be really funny, probably one of the funniest Flotsam & Jetsam comics out there. I especially liked the Shark in this comic, I felt he was a pretty funny addition to the comic. Especially the irony at the end of the strip when Stubby Squid and the Shark were discussing some nasty facts about their species, covered up with these cutesy illustrations. Definitely one of the more clever Flotsam comics I've seen.
Pirate Club was a pretty decent comic (It's also exciting to see a new name in the credits. Kit Lively is the name, and I hope to see more of her work, since this comic was mildly entertaining). The premise of the comic is simply, yet pretty silly. I liked the set-up to the conflict, I felt as though the mess from Scrapbooking, making SpongeBob look like a pirate was pretty clever if you ask me. There were some funny lines here or there (Though I didn't really care for the buried stick gag, that one felt a little too forced and convenient to occur if you ask me). The highlight of the comic was definitely the ending, the fact that the comic looped around back into the theme of Scrapbooking was hilarious, especially with the set-up of the joke with the pirate's warning about Scrapbooking. Overall, it wasn't the best, but it was pretty good. Also, it's so weird seeing Jacob Chabot's artstyle by this point. He was so on-model with how the series looked back when the comic debuted in 2011, but by now his artwork feels a little too stiff compared to the current style in the series. His artwork is stuck in the Post-Movie days, and it's really interesting to look at. It's so surreal seeing new SpongeBob artwork drawn in the same basic style as the Post-Movie era (Though not as atrociously stiff as Seasons 6-8, it feels more like Seasons 4 & 5).
Our next comic, Wishes is also written by a new person, I see (Charise Mericle Harper). Unfortunately, I can't stand this comic. It's so boring, and so dragged out, it feels like forever to get this comic done. I wouldn't mind that had it been a good comic, but it's not! I'm all for new artstyles, heck, that's why I got into SpongeBob comics, I enjoyed seeing the characters in different artstyles. But this comic's artstyle is so dull, and not even the writing could save this, there's barely any funny jokes in this comic at all. The plot is boring, the whole "Wishes" element isn't even incorporated until towards the very ending, and doesn't really have much to do with the main conflict (Patrick being unable to blow a bubble, which isn't even resolved, he never does end up blowing one!). It's a boring comic overall, and I really hope Charise will improve her writing as time goes on, because this comic was super lackluster without any interesting artwork or funny jokes the make up for the bland storyline.
Sandy's List, oh boy, was written by Jay Lender! So glad to see some new work from Jay, haven't seen much from him in a while. This comic is super fast-paced, and it's great. Michael La Pinksi's artstyle is fantastic, most of the comic is nothing more than just action-packed visuals, and Michael's art really brings the comic to life. It's a fantastic comic, and I especially like the hilarious ending.
Then we have Realistic SpongeFunnies! Finally, some kind of breath of fresh air to SpongeFunnies! And guess what? They're actually funny! Yeah, each SpongeFunnie (Written by Kochalka) are actually funny! And seeing Jerry Ordway's artwork again is great, too. I personally wouldn't mind seeing more of these, these are great! They're such a unique spin on SpongeFunnies (Especially since SpongeFunnies have a super simplistic artstyle to begin with!). Though I'm pretty sure this is the only time we're going to see them, I'm crossing my fingers and hoping we'll see Realistic SpongeFunnies return in the future, because they're awesome!
Finally, we end the issue with Bouncing Belly (Written by Kevin Scalzo, a name I don't entirely recognize, so I'm going to assume he's new). This comic was mediocre, there wasn't anything special about it, just a delightful artstyle.
Overall, Issue #75 is an issue I have mixed feelings for (Similar to the 70s in general). It definitely has some bad comics, like Wishes, Bouncing Belly, and the main comic of the issue, Skate to Cake. However, there are definitely gems in this issue. Pirate's Club, and especially Sandy's List & Realistic SpongeFunnies. I'm really happy to see more variety in this issue (Something that's been severely lacking from most issues since the 40's, in my opinion), and even better, it's interesting to see new names on the staff. I have confidence in Kit, and I really hope Charise and Kevin's writing will develop overtime to become much better than their current work. Also, it's nice seeing some old names again, I was especially shocked to see a new comic from Jay Lender.
Issue #75 is a hit-or-miss issue. It's not a great issue, but it's not a bad issue. It seems to have more good than bad, which is definitely good (Better than being nothing more than "Okay" like a lot of mid-late 60's issues).
So far, I'm not sure what to make about the 70's. There are definitely some bad issues that have come out (Like Issues 74 and 72), though there are definitely gems in the 70's, particularly 71 and 73. So far, I still don't seem to have an overall opinion on the 70's. Really, it could go either way, there have been some fantastic stories to come out of the 70's, while there have been some terrible ones. This issue really gave me no insight on what direction the 70's will go into. It's pretty much the 70's summed up into one issue, there are great parts, and then there are really weak parts.
At least the 70's is a big improvement over the 60's as a whole so far. Most of the 60's issues were really bland, and there's really only 2 issues that stick out to me as amazing issues (Issues 61 & 62, though they do follow probably the worst issue the comic has seen, Issue 60). Is it better than the 50's? Ehhh...maybe...
I just feel like if the 70's continues pouring out issues that don't contain a story-arc, it may be superior to the 50's and 60's in my book (Since the weak parts of those collection of issues were the constant story-arcs which became severely boring as time moved on, especially that last one with Pencils the Pirate, oof, that was rough). Only time will tell.