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SYFY WIRE Invader Zim

GIR rescues mutant lab animals in first look at new 'Invader Zim' comic from Oni Press

By Jeff Spry
Zim Hero

Emerging out of the weird universe of creator Jhonen Vasquez's Emmy and Annie award-winning Invader Zim cartoon show on Nickelodeon, and last year's Netflix animated feature, Invader Zim: Enter The Florpus, comes a new extra-long comic book special from Oni Press, home of the official Invader Zim ongoing series.

Written by Zim veteran Eric Trueheart and injected with vivid artwork by Aaron Alexovich, Fred C. Stresing, and Warren Wucinich, Invader Zim Quarterly: GIR's Big Day arrives in comic shops on June 17. The plotline finds Zim's robotic servant embarking on an extremely important mission as he ventures out into the world to assist his master with his most diabolical scheme ever.

However, nobody counted on GIR's notorious distractibility, time travelers, dysfunctional mad scientists, hybrid lab animals who need rescuing, a jetpack closet, and a lunar prison housing The Darkness of Th'Gol. It might seem a bit unusual, but this is simply all in an odd day's work for GIR.

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"GIR's Big Day is a story I pitched back in the days of the original TV show, but it never found any traction," Trueheart tells SYFY WIRE. "I guess after bouncing around my brain for two decades, it finally bounced onto the page. I was so happy to finally build off those random GIR moments that left you wondering just what the heck he did when he wasn't on screen. GIR is broken. GIR is crazy. GIR somehow ends up dancing at a disco with a bunch of raver girls? Or baking himself into a turkey? So what else does he do in his spare time? If there's such a thing as 'The Spirit of GIR,' I hope this story captures it: a wonky little robot wandering through the world, unaware that he's leaving both joy and chaos in his wake."

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Artist Aaron Alexovich admits that dog suit GIR has always been his favorite character to draw.

"So it was a real treat to go full dog suit GIR for a couple months of my life," Alexovich tells SYFY WIRE. "There's just something so pure about that design, just perfect stupidity. Definitely my favorite of Jhonen's designs from the show. Eric's script for this issue tapped into that specific kind of stupidity really well. The whole thing feels like living inside GIR's malfunctioning, unfocused brain for a while. Not sure I will ever truly recover. But it was all worth it just for the bit with the donuts and the van, one of the best things I've done in all my years with Zim."

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Here's our four-page preview for Oni Press' Invader Zim Quarterly: GIR's Big Day, hitting stores on June 17.

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