Issue 1

Summary

ZIM and his filthy evil ways have been gone for what feels like years. But Dib KNOWS the alien menace will rear his head again, and he won't leave the house, or his 900 security monitors, until it happens. And it WILL happen. Oh, it WILL.

Release

The first issue was released on July 8th, 2015. It Is available for purchase from various places such as OniPress' online store, Google Play store, Apple's iBooks app, and other specific comic book stores across the country.

Before the release month was over, it sold out from the OniPress store. A second printing was planned, with a new comic variation cover by Aaron Alexovich.

Variations

• Aaron Alexovich standard retail cover
• Jhonen Vasquez Variant
• K.C. Green Ghost Variant
• Vincent Perea Comics Dungeon Variant
• Aaron Alexovich Rebel Base Comics Variant
• Aaron Alexovich Midtown Comics Variant
• Julieta Colas Books-a-Million Variant
• J.R. Goldberg Newbury Comics Variant
• Dave Crosland Hot Topic Variant
• Ian McGinty Diamond Comics SDCC Variant
• Bryan Konietzko Oni Press SDCC Variant
• Mariel Cartwright GameStop Variant
• Tyson Hesse Hastings Variant
• Mariel Cartwright I Want More Comics Variant
• Aaron Alexovich second printing cover
• Brian Butler Third Printing Cover
• Andrew MacLean Variant Cover NYCC Exclusive

1/17

Issue #1 has a total of 17 cover variations.

1. Aaron Alexovich standard retail cover
2. Jhonen Vasquez variant
3. K.C. Green variant available through Ghost Variant Partner Stores
4. Vincent Perea variant available through Comics Dungeon
5. Aaron Alexovich variant available through Rebel Base Comics & Toys
6. Aaron Alexovich variant available through Midtown Comics
7. Julieta Colás variant available through Books-a-Million stores
8. J.R. Goldberg variant available through Newbury Comics
9. Dave Crosland variant available through Hot Topic
10. Ian McGinty variant available through Diamond Comic Distributors
11. Bryan Konietzko variant available through Oni Press at San Diego Comic-Con 2015 (Limited to 500 copies)
12. Mariel Cartwright variant available through GameStop
13. Tyson Hesse variant available through Hastings
14. Mariel Cartwright variant available through I Want More Comics
15. Aaron Alexovich second printing cover
16. Brian Butler Third printing cover
17. Andrew MacLean variant, New York Comicon Exclusive

Appearing in Issue #1

Major Characters: 

• Gaz Membrane
• Dib Membrane
• Zim
• Gir

Minor Characters:

• Recap Kid (debut)
• Professor Membrane
• Computer
• Vortian Prisoner Number 777
• Minimoose

Background Characters:

• Foodio (visual debut)
• Roboparents
• Vortian Prisoner Number 777's children (debut)
• Tak's Ship Downloaded Personality

Synopsis

SPOILER WARNING OF DOOM: This section or article may contain spoilers!

Dib confronts Zim.

Recap Kid catches the audience up to speed, if they haven't seen the show. The panels zoom into from space to the Membrane household where it is dinner time. Professor Membrane and Gaz are about to enjoy dinner, when Membrane remarks that Gaz needs to bring food to her brother. She doesn't want to because "he's more awful than usual. And his room smells like sick". Gaz does as she's told however. Inside Dib's room we see a silhouette of the paranormal investigator. He's been sitting in his room staring at the screen, looking for Zim. Zim, it seems, has been missing "for what feels like years".

Then, of course, Zim reappears suddenly, pointed out by Gaz, standing in his front yard and stretching. GIR is also there. Dib immediately rushes to Zim's house, not stopped by Gaz who wants him to shower or by the fact that his butt is fused to his computer chair. Zim at first doesn't recognize Dib because he is so gross and ugly-looking.

Dib asks his enemy where he has been this whole time? What has he been doing? It turns out that Zim has been hiding inside his house, in his toilet. He's been waiting for Dib to become "smelly and feeble" (smeeble), helpless and unable to fight back. Now, Zim just has to put the second part of his plan into action.

Zim contacts Vortian Prisoner 777.

Dib races back home (still in his computer chair). He needs to have a "comeback". Gaz sprays him with a heavy duty hose, wearing a hazmat suit. Finally, we hear vaguely about what Zim's next plan is. He orders the Computer to contact Vortian Prisoner 777. Zim needs the jump codes to the "Gargantis Array". This is apparently a very big deal. 

Meanwhile, Dib is working out. He's also singing his own montage music. Gaz interupts him saying that he can't sing his own montage music. Dib says that he HAS to get into shape otherwise there will be no one to stop Zim. And he'll go back to being super gross and smelly. Gaz takes this to heart and next thing we see, she is playing a flaming electric guitar and singing Dib's montage music for him. He's getting super buff. Like, way too buff. It's a little gross. He's so buff the computer chair pops off his butt.

Back to Zim. It turns out that no one knows if the Gargantis Array even exists. But, under the threat of having his children erased, Prisoner 777 tells ZIM about a Xliactian Historian that was obbsessed with the array. She learned something so horrible and awful about it that she went into hiding so the secrets she discovered would stay hidden.

Zim is impatient with 777's storytelling and wants to know HOW to find this historian. Before we discover the answer though...

Dib gets Tak's ship out of his shed, ready to chase Zim in space.

It's one week later and it appears that Zim and GIR have been binge-watching a TV show. Dib pounds at Zim's door, looking much more like his normal self (perhaps with some exceptions). Zim is shocked and tells the computer to ready the Voot Cruiser and for GIR to bring him his "spacepants".

Minimoose distracts Dib by complimenting his jacket. After Zim blasts off into space, Minimoose shocks Dib.

We see him running through his living room, smoking and charred, yelling to Gaz and Professor Membrane that he has to go save the human race. He uses a hand scanner to open a shed and we see Tak's ship. Dib is going after Zim.

"To be continued..." 

End of Spoilers: There are no further spoilers for this section or article. You can breathe now.

Facts of Doom

• There are some differences from the comic to the show, as revealed in issue 1, this currently includes:
  • Gaz's outfit has changed. This is a nod to her gaming obsession. 
  • Dib now has a full head of hair. 
  • Dib's eyes change color throughout the comic, from his normal brown to a blue (as well as grey and purple). Jhonen has confirmed that this is unintentional and a result of effect layering.
    • The error was poked fun at in Issue 2, with Recap Kid talking about how Dib's eye color changed in Issue 1.
  • Prisoner 777 has been moved from the prison on Vort to Moo-Ping 10. It's apparently dirtier there. 
  • Professor Membrane is acting a lot more father like, i.e. grounding Dib, making dinner in person for them, playing video games with Gaz.
• On the credits page, Richard Steven Horvitz is shown "Starring" as ZIM. Same goes for Andy Berman as Dib, Rosearik "Rikki" Simons as Gir,  Melissa Fahn as Gaz and Rodger Bumpass as Professor Membrane.
• It is revealed the reason why Vortian Prisoner 777 is giving ZIM information is because if he doesn't, ZIM will erase his children from existence. This also reveals that Vortians can reproduce.
• Recap Kid's remark about how Invader Zim "used to be a puppet show" may have been a reference to InvaderCON 2, where the cast did a live script reading of "Mopiness of Doom" with hand puppets.
• GIR "remembering" Zim calling him "Billy" may be a reference to another of Richard Horvitz's well-known characters, Billy from The Grim Adventures of Billy and Mandy.