I...WILL EAT YOU! — Ms. Bitters |
Invader Zim Issue | |
Issue 15 (Tales of Bitters) | |
Chronology | |
Previous: | Issue 14 |
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Next: | Issue 16 |
Information | |
Publisher: | Oni Press |
Publication date: | November 30, 2016 |
Creative | |
Story by: | Eric Trueheart Danielle Koenig KC Green Ian McGinty Jamie Smart |
Art by: | Warren Wucinich KC Green Ian McGinty |
Color by: | Fred C. Stresing KC Green Meg Casey |
Official Summary
What is the secret truth behind Miss Bitters? Is she an undead witch? A crone-beast as old as time itself? A dark instrument of infernal vengeance in a smelly dress? Everyone has a theory, and when Miss Bitters doesn’t show up for Skool one morning, they all come out of the woodwork.[1]
Release
Issue 15 was released on November 30, 2016.
Variations
Issue #15 has a total of 2 cover variations.
- Warren Wucinich and Fred C. Stresing standard retail cover
- Shmorky variant cover
Characters in Issue #15 (In Order of Appearance)
- Recap Kid
- Dib Membrane
- Zim
- Poonchy
- Aki
- Zita
- Sara
- Carl
- Rob
- Gretchen
- Lizard Boy
- Alex
- The Letter "M"
- Penny
- Flan
- Keef
- Melvin
- Peyoopi
- Ms. Bitters
- Fillerbunny(one panel cameo; pictured)
Synopsis
SPOILER WARNING OF DOOM: This section or article may contain spoilers!
The Skoolchildren are all surprised when they arrive for class and find that Ms. Bitters isn't there, which is something that never happens. Dib immediately suspects Zim of having done something to her, but Zim denies it, stating that the "rage-wrinkle" is of no interest to him.
Another teacher then enters the room, telling the students that Ms. Bitters is running late. And since the Skool doesn't have the budget for a substitute, the class will now be overseen by a side of ham, which is left on Ms. Bitters' desk.
The students begin trading rumors that they've heard about Miss Bitters. Ironically, Dib is the only one who doesn't think she's anything other than a normal teacher, though he does express confusion as to why someone who so clearly hates teaching ended up doing exactly that for a living.
This leads to several students telling stories on what they believe are Ms. Bitters origins:
Title | Writer | Illustrator | Coloring | |
The Evil Ms. Bitters | Danielle Koenig | Warren Wuchinich | Fred C. Stresing |
- After a lifetime of evil deeds, she earned membership in S.M.O.E.B. (Secret Masters of Evil Blargh), who assigned her to the skool to make children miserable.
Title | Writer | Illustrator | Coloring | |
Bitters and the Witch | KC Green | KC Green | KC Green |
- She's a golem created by a witch during pilgrim times, who became bound to the land where the skool now is after the witch's death, becoming a teacher after the skool was built around her.
Title | Writer | Illustrator | Coloring | |
Ms Bitters' Bugs | Ian Mcginty | Ian Mcginty | Fred C Stresing Meg Casey |
- She's the queen of a race of underground monster bugs, who sought to conquer the surface. After the government found and fought them, they burrowed into the skool to use it as a base for their plans.
Title | Writer | Illustrator | Coloring | |
Sweetheart Bitters | Jamie Smart | Warren Wucinich | Fred C Stressing |
- She's a sort of vampire that eats other vampires.
Dib becomes increasingly frustrated the more he hears these stories, as he feels none of them make sense. Zim agrees with Dib, in that all the other students are wrong. He says that the reason Ms. Bitters isn't present and that they were all told to obey the ham is that the ham is in fact Ms. Bitters in disguise. This proves to be too much for Dib, who starts smashing the ham to prove it's normal (Zim aids him in this by providing a ham-mangler).
It's at this point that Ms. Bitters appears. She explains that she was actually just in a parent-teacher meeting, and that it took longer than she expected to tell the parents that their child was doomed to failure. She then punishes Dib for failing to respect the ham, locking him up in detention, where Zim mocks him (and asks for his ham-mangler back) as the issue ends.
End of Spoilers: There are no further spoilers for this section or article. You can breathe now.
Facts of Doom
- Despite the fact that Gaz and Minimoose appear on the cover, they don't actually have a role in the story.
- Though this is not the first comic issue to take place at the Skool, it's the first issue to show the same skoolchildren in Miss Bitter's class that appeared in the animated series.
- One of the theories put forward by the skoolchildren is that Miss Bitters has always lived where the skool is, and they built it around her. This is a theory that was first put forward by Eric Trueheart.
- So far, Issue 15 has had the most people working on a single issue, with 5 writers and 5 artists.
- Issue 15 is the first issue to tell multiple stories in the main plot, which is primarily used as a framing device for the smaller stories. A similar format would later be used in Issue 17 and Issue 40.
References
Issues of Invader Zim |
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1 • 2 • 3 • 4 • 5 • 6 • 7 • 8 • 9 • 10 • 11 • 12 • 13 • 14 • 15 • 16 • 17 • 18 • 19 • 20 • 21 • 22 • 23 • 24 • 25 • 26 • 27 • 28 • 29 • 30 • 31 • 32 • 33 • 34 • 35 • 36 • 37 • 38 • 39 • 40 • 41 • 42 • 43 • 44• 45 • 46 • 47 • 48 • 49 • 50 • Q1 • Q2 • Q3 • Q4 • DLH |