2026 is the year of Spider-Man team-ups. Not only is the web-slinger joining forces with Superman for this year’s Marvel/DC crossover, but Image Comics and Skybound are reprinting the long-lost Marvel Team-Up (2006) #14, which features Spidey and Invincible crossing paths! This is a big deal for a number of reasons: it’s the first time that the issue has been reprinted outside of its original run and the first wave of Invincible Universe: Battle Beast blind bags; it reunited Invincible creators Robert Kirkman and Cory Walker; and it’s one of the rare instances that a Marvel hero has met an Image hero.
The setup for Marvel Team-Up #14: Facsimile Edition is pure comic book goodness. Following his first encounter with Angstrom Levy, Invincible is sent hurtling into the Marvel Universe and smack-dab into the middle of a battle between Spider-Man and Doctor Octopus! The web-head decides to try and help Invincible get back to his home universe, and in the process, they get to know each other better. What made Marvel Team-Up #14 such a fun read is that it carries Kirkman’s signature style of turning certain story tropes on their head. Rather than the typical “hero fights hero” setup, it’s more “hero helps hero,” which is genuinely refreshing and what the genre needs more of.
Kirkman also writes some great back-and-forth between Spider-Man and Invincible. Whether it’s ribbing each other’s names, learning about their origins, or the way they just work like a well oiled machine, the duo share so much in common. I always felt that Invincible took the best parts of Spider-Man and the best parts of Superman, mixed them together, and went in a whole new direction, and this comic proves it. Some of the dialogue is legitimately funny too: upon meeting the Avengers, Invincible tries to guess their names to hilarious effect, and Spidey doesn’t want to be “armpitted” while carried in flight.
Walker’s art carries the animated, expressive elements that translated into early issues of Invincible and its animated series, especially in the faces. Peter Parker’s grimace at Invincible’s indirect insult to the Avengers is hilarious, seconded only by Mary Jane Watson’s disappointment when Spidey puts their movie date on hold to help Invincible. The action in the book is also intense, though not as bloody as the mainstream Invincible title. In a single page, Invincible not only defeats Doc Ock but shears off all of his tentacles — it’s the perfect way to show how frustrated he is with Levy dragging him through different universes, and a reminder of why you don’t want to be on his bad side.
The major change that Marvel Team-Up #14: Facsimile Edition makes (other than an out-of-place sentence about Prime Video and Reacher) is in the colorist. Dave McCaig steps in for Bill Crabtree, and the difference is significant. McCaig’s color work is more vibrant, highlighting Invincible’s blue, black and yellow uniform as well as Spidey’s signature red and blues. It also highlights how relatively light the Marvel Universe is compared to the Invincible Universe, especially since this comes at a turning point in Mark Grayson’s life.
20 years later, Marvel Team-Up #14: Facsimile Edition still remains an entertaining and unexpected crossover. Whether you’re a Spider-Man fan, an Invincible fan, or just want a slice of comic book history, you should pick this one up.
