by: Chris Eaton
Nick executives shocked by turn out for popular show they shit canned!
This weekend was the first ever InvaderCon. A convention dedicated to everything Invader Zim. What’s Invader Zim? Well, it WAS one of the best things on TV from 2001 to 2002 before Nickelodeon took an ax to the show before it was finished. Created by comic book artist Jhonen Vasquez, it told the story of an alien by the name of Zim who was part of a race of invaders known as the Irkins. Zim was assigned to take over a planet in his first operation, dubbed Operation Impeding Doom. Unfortunately, Zim is an idiot, and started destroying his home planet with the weapons he was given. Banished, the Irkin leaders implemented Operation Impending Doom 2. Zim crashed the assigning, and to ditch him, his leaders gave him a bogus conquering mission on Earth. Thinking his orders are real, he heads to earth with this robot servant G.I.R. who was put together out of broken parts. On Earth, takes on a poor human disguise, and the only one to see through it is a local kid named Dib.
This was the premise to one of the greatest short lived shows to ever grace TV. Nickelodeon however, dicked around with the time slot, then promptly canceled it. Reason, low ratings. Invader Zim was the Ren and Stimpy of a new generation. A show that was classic right out the door. It was pretty much not given much of a chance. A few years later, the show was put on DVD, to much fan fare. Unlike Family Guy or Futurama, it didn’t prove to Nick that there was still an audience to the show.
Cut to this weekend. InvaderCon in Atlanta, GA. The show is a tremendous success. So much to the point that, according to Toonzone, some Nick executives were heard to be saying the following:
“overwhelmed at the fan following” and attendance for the event.
Well no fucking shit!
Invader Zim has had a huge following since it fist aired. If anything it’s fan base has grown in the ten years since it first aired. There have been nemours drives to get the show back. It hasn’t helped that the DVD’s went out of print for a while. Recently, Nick started airing re runs of the show again, and guess what? It’s pretty fucking popular! The re runs were the SECOND, second! highest on the network. Fucking re runs. Amazing.
So dose this mean we’re getting new Invader Zim’s? Who knows. What I am glad about is that corporate douche bags can get some sense smacked into them every once in a while. Profits are great and all, but when it’s obvious that something has a following, if you don’t dick with it, people will give you money for it. I hope that one Jhonen Vasquez feels vindicated by the hardcore fans he knew he had all these years.
Now, if only he gets off his ass and gives us more comics!