Awesome / Invader Zim (Oni)

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Monthly series

• Issues 1–2 show that Zim can be frighteningly clever when he needs, if only for petty needs. He turns Dib's Chronic Hero Syndrome against him, by going into hiding and counting on Dib doing nothing but obsessively waiting for him to come back. This leads to Dib being practically immobilized by obesity. Zim then tracks down the Gargantis Array and broadcasts footage both of Dib's disgusting form and his subsequent comeback workout, humiliating him across the universe. Bonus points for his Breaking Speech once his plan unfolds:
  Zim: Do you hear that, Dib? That...is the sound of all sentient life in the universe laughing. Laughing at you! Muahahahahahahah! You may have followed me into space, human, but you won't find respect here, not now that everyone and everything has seen this.
  • Despite the above, Dib gets his moments during their confrontation as well. First, there's his epic comeback workout montage, burning off his obesity in a matter of days.
  • Following that, there's the dogfight between Tak's ship (which Dib's piloting) and Zim's Voot. Dib utterly owns Zim, blowing the Invader out of the stars and forcing him to crash-land the now-wrecked Voot Cruiser on the array.
  • Finally, Dib gets a point in the end by simply denying Zim a ride back to Earth. After the humiliation he inflicted on Dib, the sadistic Irken had that coming - he might have embarrassed Dib, but he ended up being trapped of the array for who knows how long.
• Issue 3 has Zim pull off another plan surprisingly easily, taking over the art world and using it to enact his plan to summon the Star Donkey.
• Issue 4: If nothing else, you have to admire everything Zim goes through for the sake of (he thinks) powering up a super weapon the Tallest have given him.
• In Issue 7, Zim needs to recover the Voot from the mutant lady bug monsters that have stolen it, and this is how he does it.
• In Issue 8, Dib scores a victory and nothing bad happens to him. Which may not sound like much, but given how things usually are for him and what has already happened to him in the comic...
  • The climatic fight between Dib (in the Overtrouser) and Zim (in a pair of mecha pants) just looks ridiculously awesome.
    • The fight apparently lasted 14 hours!
  • Likewise, the Imagine Spot Groyna has of a comic based on her and Dib having adventures as "pants hunters" looks amazing.
• Issue 9 continues Dib's winning streak, as he goes through a huge Humiliation Conga while undercover as Zim's intern in order to get close enough to get video proof for the internet, and succeeds. Sure, no one who watches the video believes it, but Dib still pulls this plan off, and successfully sabotages Zim's latest plan in the process, citing it as payback for the events of Issue 2.
  • Speaking of Zim's newest plan, the Core Muncher looks amazing.
  • Can also count as Nightmare Fuel and What the Hell, Hero?, but Dib uses the situation to get revenge on a particularly nasty and hypocritical blogger by getting Zim to abduct him.
• Issue 10 is a big one for the Voot Cruiser as it's revealed that it is in fact a Transforming Mecha complete with giant fists and laser cannons. It and Zim even manage to squeeze out a genuine joint win against the Sylvestran Snarl Beast, an incredibly rare and deadly alien monster that no one has been able to capture for 1000 years and has killed all those that have ever tried.
  • Some points also have to go to Dib seeing that not only did he thwart Zim's plan yet again (or at least it didn't go the way Zim wanted) but he also managed to not just avoid being killed by the legendary beast but for it to actually treat him quite positively...or at least until they got back to Earth (and even then that was more so towards the other kids).
• Issue 11, Zim discover's Dib is allergic to cats (and most furry animals) and proceeds to build a machine that launches such animals at Dib. He spends most of the issue just torturing his nemesis, proving he is superior....
  • Or so it seems. Dib then manages to get himself some allergy meds and renders himself immune to Zim's attacks, proclaiming victory. Making this the fourth issue in a row where Dib comes out ontop. Literally in this case since the last we see of him in this issue is him triumphantly standing on a mountain of animals.
• Issue 12 is one big moment for all the people in the Draco in Leather Pants and Rooting for the Empire camps of the fandom, as Zim is shown to conquer Earth in the future, creating an Egopolis of himself and enslaving everyone, all in preparation for turning the whole planet into a ship and flying it to the Tallest as a present (whom, it should be noted, are genuinely impressed by his actions). Oh, and he turned GIR into the Battle Butler GIRT.
  • Present Zim and Dib teaming up to escape and defeat Emperor Zim. Which includes the two Zims fighting and present Zim giving Emperor Zim a Disney Villain Death.
• Issue 13 climaxes with Dib being mutated into a giant monster, and going on a Roaring Rampage of Revenge (starting with a splash page) against the aliens who kidnapped him, and Zim, who just sat back and let him be tortured.
• Crosses over with heartwarming, the end of Issue 14 sees Gaz threatening Agent Batflaps into giving Dib's latest video a positive review in order to keep Dib happy so he won't explode.
• Issue 16 has Dib implanting himself with a "fear siphon" that keeps him from feeling fear, thus driving Zim crazy as he goes all out trying to scare him. Speaking of which, one also has to admire the sheer lengths Zim goes to just to win one over on Dib.
  • While all the above is going on, Gaz is on planet Arkadilon, and by issue's end has not only beaten all its games, but seems to have actually taken over the planet.
• In Issue 17, there's the stories Dib tells Dolores to try and win his freedom. While unlikely to have happened (at least the way he presents them), they do make Dib look pretty impressive — first, going on an epic quest for pizza, along the way sliding along cables between buildings, helping birth a baby, and winning it a toy. In the second, he's a badass action hero, who beats the toxic stink out of Zim in order to save the world.
• Issue 18 has Burrito Royale, as the "last beanbender", returning to reclaim his restaurant from Zim. He has his followers destroy Zim's robot suit, the Mecha-Rito, with a boobytrap he had lying around, and then sends Zim and GIR flying away on a sea of beans.
  • For a villainous example, the Mecha-Rito looks pretty awesome, as does the full spread panel where we first see Zim in his "Burrito King" outfit.
• Issue 19 has another Dib victory, as he successfully exposes Zim Zoo as a fraud. Downplayed, somewhat, as to his disappointment, this just leads to the Robo-Parents being arrested.
• Issue 20 has Zim unleash the Conquer-Blob to take over Earth... and it works. While it's all offscreen, the blob destroys human civilization, and prepares the planet for Zim to take control of. Unfortunately for him, he's too engrossed with Floopsy Bloops Shmoopsy to notice. This gives the blob time to think things over, and it has a Heel–Face Turn, singlehandedly restoring human civilization to what it was, before flying off into space to fight evil.
• In Issue 21, a "Freaky Friday" Flip leaves Gaz in Zim's body. Within three days of having access to all his resources, she's set herself up as a Villain with Good Publicity whom the world invites to take over.
• In Issue 22, a virus causes GIR to try and kill Zim. Zim ultimately stops his rampage by using GIR as a shield against one of his own thrown projectiles, which was bouncing off several walls.
• In Issue 23, Zim's exploits inside GIR's mind have a few highlights, such as his arena fight with the other programs. Despite being at an initial disadvantage due to not understanding how the weapon of choice works, once he figures it out he easily wins.
  • There's also him destroying the Virooz virus, freeing GIR from its control.
• At the end of Issue 24, Zim manages — entirely by accident and while trying to BS his way out of being shot by gangsters — to deduce Virooz's true identity.
• Issue 25 has Zim's showdown with Virooz. Which is made even more impressive by the fact that Virooz had just pulled a Grand Theft Me on Zim, leaving Zim's mind stuck in Virooz's hover chair. To repeat, Zim wins their fight as a chair.
• Issue 31 has Dib fighting the mutant Super Bear in the carnival. He doesn't do much damage, but keeps going until the grackle shoots him out of a cannon at the bear, knocking it out.
• In Issue 32, Dib and Zim's sit-up competition gets so intense, with neither willing to back down, that they transcend out of The Multiverse. Somehow.
• In Issue 35, as part of the escape from Moo-Ping 10, Zim kicks Zorphic across the length of the station, and upon realizing his aim was off, adjusts it to kick himself across.
• In Issue 38, Gaz very easily acts as a Spanner in the Works for Zim's latest plan — when GIR starts impersonating Dib, causing the real one to be mistaken for a clone and driven into the woods by an angry mob, Gaz decides to indirectly help him by telling GIR that if he really wants to play the part, he has to try and expose Zim as an alien. This sends GIR on a rampage against Zim, ultimately ruining his plan.
  • And to GIR's credit, he ends up doing a better job of convincing people that Zim's an alien than Dib ever has.
• In Issue 42, Dib manages to pull an Engineered Public Confession on Zim, getting him to admit that he doesn't care about the Plim and is just using them. Sadly, their short attention spans mean that Zim immediately gets their support back.
• In Issue 43, Dib briefly retakes the lead among the Plim by determining all the things they like and incorporating them into his campaign. Then, he realizes he's acting no differently from Zim and stops lying to the Plim; this costs him his lead, but at least shows he's of good character.
  • Later, Dib actually manages to beat Zim by determining how to shut down the anti-technology and does so... and then the Irkens invade, the field no longer keeping them away. And then in a twisted, ironic way, he gets another moment as thanks to his Paper-Thin Disguise he ends up going down in history as one of the greatest Irken Invaders ever for finding the planet for them.
• Issue 44, Dib shows that he's truly his father's son (something he hardly ever showcases) by using REAL SCIENCE!!! Making up for his lack of skiing skills by building himself a super suit that allows him to pass the various obstacle courses of Meat Mountain.
  • Then at the end, with rather odd Be Yourself moment, Dib sheds his super suit and leans into his Butt-Monkey status to completely sabotage Zim's device - saving everyone and still having time to enjoy his family vacation (albeit, he'll likely be spending that time waiting in line due to saving the entire crowd).
• In Issue 45, one has to give Zim credit for his sheer determination to protect Li'l Meat Man and everything he goes through for it, including a high-speed police chase.
  • At one point, Zim is accosted by some chicken-based meat racists, who attack and damage Li'l Meat Man. In response, Zim vaporizes them.
• The climax of Issue 49 has a rather epic sequence of Zib (the so-called "Zim Number 1" who is in actuality, a Dib/Zim Hybrid) using a Humongous Mecha shaped like himself to fight off all the Zims who are attacking him with their upgraded Voot Runners.
  • After being disregarded as the worst Zim, our Zim proves his critics wrong by taking control of Zib's weapon and using it to manipulate the timelines to eliminate the other Zims and seal the portals, sending him and Dib back to their own timeline and trapping Zib in an empty void forever.
• After spending all of Issue 50 being bugged by Chammy's persistent efforts to make them be friends, Zim and Dib finally team up to get rid of her, tossing her through a portal to another planet and then destroying it, trapping her.

Quarterly series

• Issue 1 shows how, over the course of a single day, GIR foils an attempted Alien Invasion, defeats an Ancient Evil Eldritch Abomination, and stops a Mad Scientist's efforts to Take Over the World (averting a Bad Future in the process). All while being his usual self.
• In Issue 2, Professor Membrane gets to display some of his combat skills from the movie, very easily taking down Maxwell Beesworth's security systems, and then destroying the junior executive Mini-Mecha suit that Zim stole from him.
  Membrane: You... have not earned the right to call yourself a jr. executive!
• In Quarterly 3, Zim completely refuses to play along with the abductors' "Fistmas" simulation, repeatedly calling them out on how stupid and poorly-researched they are. And his reaction to them trying to break him with a vision of his future lonely grave is to rant about his superiority before punching his way out of the simulation.
  Zim: Taste my Fistmas!
• Say what you will about how stupid and pointless Zim's plan in Quarterly 4 ultimately turned out to be, Zim did manage to pull off a win. And sure, he just destroyed all the world's balloons, but the final panels do show that people have been devastated by that, so it's still a case of The Bad Guy Wins.
• Even though he ended up failing, Dib continuously trying to end the time loop for at least a year's worth of time is pretty commendable.

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