Part 1 of their first Superhero Showdown! It all starts here! SpongeBob's first soggy serialized adventure 'Showdown at the Shady Shoals' pulls anchor and begins a 5-issue voyage into aquatic action! In a tale featuring the art of Jerry Ordway (World's Finest), SpongeBob must find out who's stronger: his idol, Mermaid Man, or that noble anti-hero, the proud, muscular, poofy-haired sea king Viro Reganto? It's a question that will send SpongeBob, Mermaid Man, and Viro into a quest that spans decades, from the Briny Age of comics to the pulse-pounding present! Plus: SpongeBob's strange haircut ritual, a fill-in comic, SpongeFunnies by James Kochalka, and a guide to the ancient undersea language of Esperanto?