I first experienced Jhonen Vasquez‘s work in the form of Johnny the Homicidal Maniac: a darkly comic feature of my high-school days. Johnny is insane and believes he needs to keep a wall in his house painted with fresh blood so that demons do not push through from the other side. On the basis of that, you might wonder why Nickelodeon decided to produce a children’s television show created by the same man. Invader Zim is not nearly as dark as Johnny – though it definitely has its moments – and I think it is funnier overall. In one episode, the megalomaniacal alien Zim is concerned that a human nurse will uncover his secret identity as an alien because he lacks human organs. His solution is to start stealing them from his classmates in a macabre and hilarious episode called “Dark Harvest.”
The series is worth watching just so that you can exchange the most hillarious lines with other devotees.
For those already enamoured with Zim it is worth noting that you can buy every episode on DVD for $29.59. At that price, it may soften the rueful chastisement embodied in the angry fist you wave at those $70 seasons of The Sopranos. They even had the gall to split series six in two parts, so they could rob people twice…
i enjoy “there’s a pigeon on your head. You have head-pigeons.” and the nurse’s final “you’re the healthiest boy I’ve ever seen.”
I realise these are probably more paraphrases that accurate quotes. I should get me those episodes….
From the Halloween episode, in which Dib keeps getting transported to a hideous alternative dimension.
*Dib walks into classroom, clutches desk*
Dib: Sorry I’m late… HORRIBLE… NIGHTMARE… visions.
Teacher: It’s called life, Dib.
On the matter of expensive DVD sets… I hear some enterprising individuals have found ways to download television shows from the internet.
Better than shaking one’s fist in “rueful chastisement.”