Again we get 4 stories and some pinups. Plus a nice poster. This magazine was being published every 2 months. Which kind of sucks since 2 of the stories in issue 1 ended on cliffhangers.
The first story is from Marvel Adventures Spider-Man #2. Erica David is the writer and Patrick Scherberger is doing the pencils. This time we start off with Doc Ock in jail. But he manages to escape and while doing this lets all the other prisoners out. We go ahead to the next day and Spidey is chasing a criminal. But it seems that Spidey's powers aren't working right. We cut back to an abandoned warehouse. And see that Doc Ock is teaming up with 5 other Spidey villains. So we get Doc Ock,The Vulture,Electro,Mysterio,Kraven the Hunter and The Sandman teaming up as the Sinister Six. Doc Ock sends the other 5 villains out to cause havoc and to draw Spidey out. But since his powers aren't working Peter has pretty much retired his Spidey persona. Well after a few days and no Spidey,Doc Ock goes to the Daily Bugle and kidnaps J Jonah Jameson and Aunt May. Spidey finds out about this and goes to confront Doc Ock. And that is how the story ends. Great artwork and this is a nice variation on the first appearance of the Sinister Six.
The second story is from Spider-Man and the Power Pack #2. We get the same people writing and drawing it as the last issue. It seems that Peter is staying with the Power Pack kids until he can figure out how to get back to his actual age. We get a cute scene of Julie Power designing some new costumes for Spidey. With a nice nod to the Iron Spider suit. It seems that after they defeated the Sandman in the last issue he has washed up on the local beach. So Spidey and the Power Pack go to fight him. And they work together to take out Sandman. Well during the battle Spidey gets splashed with seawater and it seems this counteracts the stuff that made him a kid. So by the end Spidey is back to his normal self. Another fun story.
The third story is from Marvel two-in-one #86. Written by Tom Defalco and art by Ron Wilson. Kinda strange this story gets reprinted cause it doesn't have Spidey in it. Instead we get a great issue teaming up the Thing and the Sandman. It seems that prior to this issue Sandman had been merged with Hydroman. Well they finally manage to separate and Sandman goes to the nearest bar to have a drink. The bartender realizes who it is and call the cops. But it is believed that Sandman is dead so the cops ignore this call. So the bartender ends up calling the Fantastic Four. And the Thing answers the phone. He heads down to the bar planning on fighting the Sandman. But Sandman doesn't want to fight. All he wants to do is have a couple of drinks. So the Thing sits down and has a few beers with him. Well Sandman tells the Thing is life story. And the Thing realizes they have a bunch on common. Then at the end instead of turning Sandman over to the police. The Thing lets him go. I am pretty sure this is from around the time that the Sandman went from being a villain to being a hero. Great story that is a total change of pace from most stories of this era.
The last story is from Spider-Man and the Fantastic Four #2. Reed and Sue are coming back from their vacation. And discover that this invading aliens have taken over the bodies of most people in North America. The FF and Spidey try a few different things to stop this but nothing works. The story ends with Reed going off to another planet to try to find something to stop the aliens. OK story but it really feels padded. Kind of like the writer was told he was gonna have to do a 4 issue story,but only had enough story for 3 issues.
Like the last issue we get 4 stories,some pinups,plus a poster. Another great issue.Spider-Man Magazine #2 gets A.