Spider-Man 2: Doc Ock's Shock (Scholastic)

Background

Scholastic is a big name in kids books. I didn't see any books from them for the 2002 Spider-Man movie, but this time they're determined not to be left out of things. They've cooked up a series of eight coloring/activity books, each with a different gimmick. Four of them feature goodies stuck to the front of the book, and one of them is bilingual Spanish/English. Looks promising. Let's open the covers!

Story Details

This book is 32 pages like the preceding one, and again features a mix of mostly coloring pages with a few puzzles thrown in - a word-grid, a couple of mazes, etc. The "story" told by the picture subtitles focuses on the creation of Doc Ock, and his battle with Spider-Man. But it's just a shadow of a fragment of the full movie storyline.

There's nothing on the cover of this one... the gimmick is inside, a funky Spider-Man Iron-On transfer for a T-shirt. The iron on is red-and-blue, and fills most of a page. Like the first book, this issue again encourages you to mutilate the back cover of your book by cutting out a door-hanger to hook over the handle of your bedroom door.

Overall Rating

This one has a cover price of US $4, but the pages are newsprint, rather than the higher quality white paper. A transfer, a coloring book, and a door hanger - all for four bucks? Again, this seems like a fair enough swap, and earns a pleasing three and a half webs.

In any case, the moral is clear: "Never Mock a Doc Ock Shock Jock in Rock Socks".