Jhonen Vasquez might have been the creator of Invader Zim, but it takes a village to help bring an animated series to life. At this year’s Dragon Con, we here at ComicBook.com had the chance to chat with the creator, as well as series voice actors Rikki Simons and Melissa Fahn, the voices of GIR and Gaz. During our interview, a major topic we discussed was the continued influence of the Nickelodeon series and how it helped pave the way for the likes of Hazbin Hotel and Helluva Boss.
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In the past, Hellaverse creator Vivienne Medrano has stated that Zim’s universe had a big impact on her story, with even Zim’s voice actor, Richard Steven Horvitz, brought onto Helluva Boss to play Moxxie. Horvitz will be directing the upcoming SpindleHorse pilot for Homestuck and his presence in the Hellaverse has been quite influential. When chatting with Jhonen Vasquez regarding the impact Invader Zim had on the animation world, the creator is still stunned at how big the Nickelodeon series has become.
“Sometimes it doesn’t feel like Zim took off, but it crashed and burned. That’s what’s amazing about it, because if we did crash and burn, people just keep walking into the fire. Decades later and so many people are walking in that the fire doesn’t go out and it’s just fueled by bodies. A little girl walked up to us who looked like a commercial for a ‘Zim fan’, and her mom told us she had watched the entire series. It’s so hard for things to go away now, thanks to streaming.”
Zim Meets Hell
Vasquez didn’t mince words when it came to the success of the Hellaverse, “Hazbin Hotel has reached levels that Zim couldn’t even dream of. It’s crazy to think about how something you made is still influencing people because, on the flip side, I have stuff in me that I loved as a kid that influenced me. I don’t like it, it’s STEALING MY POWER!” Jhonen was, of course, joking when he delivered this hilarious statement.
Melissa asked a question to Vasquez and Simons, wondering if Invader Zim had come out today, would it hit the same levels as the Hellaverse, “Do you both think that if Zim had come out now with all these platforms and it was promoted differently, it would have gone even higher?”
Vasquez responded, “I don’t know. It’s really interesting to see stuff come out now with creators clearly fans of Invader Zim. I can think of a couple of things, and it’s still weird to me. I don’t necessarily sit around thinking of my…INFLUENCE, but it never stops being weird. It is really nice, but sometimes it can be spooky.”
Will Invader Zim Return?
While Hazbin Hotel and Helluva Boss have bright futures on Amazon Prime Video, Invader Zim is far from confirmed to make a comeback. The last time we saw the disturbing Nickelodeon character was with Netflix’s Invader Zim: Enter The Florpus, a feature-length film that released in 2019, and picked up where the original story left off. Since then, while Zim has returned via numerous comic books, the animated series isn’t planning on making a comeback on the cable network that spawned it.
Vasquez might also be known for his original comic book series that preceded his work with Nickelodeon, as the likes of Johnny the Homicidal Maniac, Squee, and I Feel Sick took a far darker approach to their subject material. During our discussion, Jhonen noted that he had briefly revisited some of these stories for the first time in years, stating that it was a bit surreal to look at the work his younger self had produced. At present, there has been no word on Johnny receiving an animated project all his own, but we would have to imagine that would easily earn a “TV-MA” and/or “R” rating.
Want to see if an official crossover between the Hellaverse and Invader Zim takes place? Follow along with Team Anime on ComicBook.com for the latest on Hazbin Hotel and hit us up in the comments.
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