Amazing Spider-Man (Vol. 2) #12 (Story 1)
Background
MJ's being stalked, Peter's in the dogbox, Senator Ward is an unknown evil, but Arthur Stacy has gone AWOL to find Ward with a small private arsenal (every good American home has one).
Story 'Another Return of The Sinister Six'
Amazing Spider-Man (Vol. 2) #12 (Story 1)
| Editor: | Ralph Macchio |
| Writer: | Howard Mackie |
| Pencils: | John Byrne |
| Inker: | John Beatty, Rodney Ramos |
| Cover Art: | John Byrne |
| Add. Art: | Sean Phillips |
After a day at Tricorp, Peter runs into Mysterio, who keeps snuffing himself (see Daredevil (Vol. 2) #7). Peter and MJ's apartment is full of reporters and security guys. MJ and Peter are not getting on very well.
Sandman is re-uniting the Sinister Six, with two goals. One, to destroy Doctor Octopus, their former (unlamtented) leader. The second, to earn some money for the capture of Senator Ward, who seems to be working for Doctor Octopus. It has become clear that, whatever Senator Ward is up to, he is not the driving force behind it all.
Doctor Octopus and Ward are together as the Sinister Six (well, five, since Octopus isn't included any more) attack. Arthur Stacy at that time has Ward lined-up in a sniper rifle. Spider-Man drops in, and the party is complete... almost...
...because as the battle is joined, Venom decides to gate-crash! Whew, this is starting to look serious!
P.S. There's a mini-story at the back of this issue, posing the question of who the new Mysterio is, given the Quentin Blake killed himself in Daredevil #7. A nice bit of catch-up, and a bit of groundwork for future mysteries.
General Comments
To give him his due, Howard Mackie is very good at creating mysteries. Sadly where he falls down is that he either (a) forgets about the mystery and we never find out what on earth he was on about, or (b) the answer turns out to be something really lame and/or fan-boy kewl.
Overall Rating 
Nothing to object to here. Four webs.