Jhonen Vasquez got his start in the entertainment world with some of the most disturbing comic books ever printed, with the likes of Johnny The Homicidal Maniac creating stories that were fit to bursting with buckets of blood. This made Nickelodeon’s decision to bring him on as an animator all the more surprising, as Vasquez would create the eternally beloved franchise, Invader Zim. Following the series finale in 2002, Zim would return thanks to Netflix, creating an original movie, Invader Zim: Enter the Florpus, in 2019. Earlier this year, a new comic series was announced from Boom, and Vasquez isn’t thrilled with its upcoming debut.
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In a new social media post, Jhonen Vasquez confirmed that Paramount had never informed him that new Invader Zim comics were being created, meaning he had no input into these new tales. While Vasquez did confirm that he knew Boom Studios was aiming to reprint the original Zim Oni comics, he did not realize that fresh stories were being made by writer Jim Zub and artist Dax Gordine. Holding nothing back, the Invader Zim creator confirmed that this news “stings” while calling those at Nickelodeon and Paramount responsible for this decision “lizards.” You can read the entirety of Vasquez’s statement below.
The Zim Backlash
The writer of the upcoming Invader Zim comic book, Jim Zub, was also shocked to learn that Vasquez was not informed of the upcoming comic book revival. Taking to his website, Zub confirmed that “I was told the ‘Invader Zim team’ would be approving our material, but found out after the fact that it wasn’t Jhonen, Eric Truehart, or anyone originally involved in the show’s production.” While there are still some major questions surrounding the upcoming revival, a synopsis for the first issue teases that Zim will emerge from an “Irken Chrysalis,” a fact that even Vasquez was stunned to learn, as this fact might be rewriting the character’s origin.
As for the world of animation, Invader Zim has not confirmed that a new project is in the works to coincide with the upcoming comic. With Vasquez not being too happy with this upcoming comic series, it might have fans wondering if the animator will ever return to the series in the future. Even decades following the original series finale, Zim’s popularity seemingly hasn’t waned in the slightest, as fans can still regularly find merchandise that features the likes of Zim, Gir, Dib, and the other disturbing animated characters.
Last year, we here at ComicBook.com had the opportunity to chat with Vasquez about the legacy of Zim, with the cartoonist still amazed to see fans fall in love with the world, “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.”
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