Heartwarming / Invader Zim (Oni)

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Monthly series

• Gaz helping Dib get back into shape with an awesome guitar solo in the first issue. Though, she does it mostly to make him less of a smelly, unhygienic blob.
• Professor Membrane, a man who was often very distant from his children in the show, playing video games with Gaz in the comic's first issue.
  • He also cooks dinner for his kids.
  • Indeed, Jhonen Vasquez himself found Dib's immediate family to be a little too cruel to be funny, and wanted to make them just a little bit nicer in the comics (albeit so that the cruelty would become even funnier).
• At the end of the second issue, after a long spaceship chase taking them halfway across the universe, Zim asks Dib for a ride "home". Not "back to Earth", or "back to my base", he calls the Earth his home. Though the context ultimately subverts it.
• At the end of Issue 5, Dib apologizes to Gaz for interrupting her game and he asks if she'd be willing to play video games with him and she accepts both. Unfortunately, this gets subverted since Gaz is a Sore Loser, but it's still kind of touching that before that she only required his sincere apology to stop tormenting him, even carrying him in her arms to have his butt fixed.
  • Given there's no question that Gaz went overboard in obtaining her "justice", just that fact that Dib harbors no ill will towards her after all she put him through and genuinely just wants to be a decent brother to her. That takes a high caliber of bravery/compassion to almost stupidity levels.
• Issue 8 actually ends with Dib beating Zim's plan with nothing bad happening to him in return. Which doesn't sound like much, until one remembers the kind of crap Dib normally goes through.
  • We also get a brief glimpse of Groyna and her friend Sheather being reunited after they're freed from the space pants.
• In Issue 9, after all of the ridiculous chores that Zim makes "Derb" do, he decides to reward "Derb" by bringing him to his special place: a miniature galaxy where Zim likes to spend personal time. Gets subverted in that Zim also goes there to destroy the planets and then tries to get "Derb" to do the same.
  • "Derb" does end up destroying a planet, but he chooses one where it's inhabitants were currently away so he wouldn't kill anyone.
  • More so Funny, "Derb" taking a nap next to Zim in the voot cruiser.
  • At the comic's end, Dib actually gets one positive comment out of the sea of hate. The commenter does admit they believe the video was fake, but they still said it was their favorite show and that Mothman was awesome.
• Issue 10 has a cute little space cat that quickly took a liking to Dib, although it turns out to be the snarl beast that Zim was looking for.
  • Taking a look at how the snarl beast was fighting Zim or just being intimidating, one could possibly interpret it as it really trying to protect Dib like a guard dog, or at the very least it never made any real attempt to harm Dib.
• Issue 13 has a subtle one. Some aliens kidnap Dib in an effort to obtain Zim's humungoserum, mistakenly believing that he and Zim are friends. When they tell Zim they've taken his "best friend," Zim lets out a Characteristic Big "NO!" before seeming to recall that "I don't have a best friend"— but only after a panel in which he silently looks at GIR playing with Minimoose across the room. The implication is that he either stopped short ("Wait, what?") when he realized that GIR was in the room with him and couldn't have been taken, or simply took a moment to make sure that the two most likely candidates for his "best friend" were still there.
• In Issue 14, Gaz has to keep Dib from going into a depressive state for a certain amount of time in order to prevent him from exploding due to accidentally drinking a substance created by Membrane. It was her fault to begin with since she unknowingly slipped Dib the vial because he was hogging the TV and apparently it was Dib's turn to choose where the family went for dinner night (and of course Bloaty's was selling a pair of multi-pocket shorts that Gaz really wanted), but throughout the comic it's clear her major concern was making sure that Dib didn't explode and only brought up going to Bloaty's about once if any. She pretty much goes all out for this too by having her fellow gamers participate in an elaborate scheme posing as different cryptic creatures in order to make Dib feel like he is a great paranormal investigator. And when it turns out that Dib's camera was on the wrong setting and he was afraid Batflaps would call him a fake again, Gaz goes straight to the guy's house and threatens him into giving Dib a good review. Needless to say that not only is Dib still alive by the end of the comic, he is also so grateful to Gaz that he lets her choose the restaurant.
  • While there can still be some debates on the topic of Gaz's overall character, this issue does hammer in an important note Jhonen had intended for her; she is certainly not the nicest person by a long shot (proven by the beginning and ending of the comic), but she will never go as far as to let Dib die, despite how much she is annoyed by him. Combined with the affection she shows for her father in the show, it seems her family really is important to her.
• In Issue 17, when Dib buys pizza for all the Skoolchildren to save them from being brainwashed by Zim, they start cheering for him and say he's "not uncool". It's especially nice when you consider the way they usually treat him.
  Gaz: That's my brother, everyone! The best!
  • Of course, then you remember the Unreliable Narrator in play throughout the whole issue, and you realize this is probably all just wishful thinking on Dib's part. Or at the very least, a more romanticized version of what actually played out.
• While Issue 37's ending would seem to put a rest to any potential heartwarming that could be derived from its subject (Dib waking up in a world where Zim is his brother and best friend, purely because Zim's ego is huge enough to make him believe that this is an appropriate "fantasy" to program a Lotus-Eater Machine with), if you scratch the surface there is some seriously sweet content there anyway. No, really: Zim's last crack at the Lotus-Eater Machine in "Dib's Wonderful Life of Doom" offered a far more accurate version of Dib's ideal life, in which he successfully captured Zim and kept him in a big test tube in his basement for years, then thrashed the entire Irken Armada as they attempted to invade Earth. Zim has clearly made some serious revisions to his personal concept of how Dib sees him, for whatever reason. More importantly, Zim comes from a society with no sexual reproduction or familial bonds, so his entire understanding of sibling relationships likely comes from his time on Earth. The fact that he considers a sibling something to be desired—even for himself, as he falls victim to his own machine and is delighted to find himself sharing the Membrane house with his other self—is pretty incredible given that the sibling relationship he's most familiar with is the one between Dib and Gaz, and may have something to do with that level in kindness the latter took for the comic series.
  • Mostly negated since it's all part of the simulation, the cover for this issue features Zim and Gaz playing a video game together as Dib watches in terror, all the while hanging above are many framed pictures of Zim being a part of the Membrane family. Special mention goes to the pictures where Zim and Dib are happy in each other's company and the center one where Zim has his arms around Dib and Gaz's shoulders as all three smile.
• In Issue 38, GIR impersonates Dib and convinces everyone that the real Dib is a clone, leading to him being chased into the woods. Gaz is actually visibly irritated by this and, in a move that surprises herself, decides to do Dib a favor: she convinces GIR-as-Dib to try and expose Zim as an alien, because that's what the real Dib would do, with the ensuing antics stopping Zim's plan for the week.
• It only lasts a moment, and of course it depends on whether his recollection of events is accurate, but Issue 39 has an alien robot scout greeting Dib as a friend and assuming he's an important person in human society, allowing him to briefly indulge in his fantasies of being Earth's unofficial ambassador.
  • Also, when the alien ship is exploding, Gaz actually goes out of her way to make sure Dib evacuates rather than stay behind talking to the alien observer.
• Issue 40 has a strange but peculiar one where in one of the alternative universes Dib is wallowing in an episode of (comically exaggerated) depression and Zim shows up. Instead of engaging in their usual antagonism Zim quietly walks alongside Dib with an almost pitiable expression, continuing to do so even after Dib sulkily refuses Zim's offer to go set stuff on fire.
• In Issue 44, Professor Membrane actually has a bout of active parenting and decides to take his kids on a family skiing holiday.
• Issue 45 shows Zim actually being capable of being affectionate, in this case towards Li'l Meat Man, which he treats like his own child.
• Issue 48 has GIR being overjoyed to be reunited with Zim, whom he was separated from in Issue 46, running up and giving him a hug. Somewhat undercut by Zim having not even noticed he was gone.

Quarterly series

• In Issue 2, Professor Membrane becomes a laughingstock when he tries to disprove the existence of the legendary Beeboogoat only for one to apparently show up (it's actually GIR covered in dead bees and garbage; long story), with the crowds jeering him and leaving him depressed. Near the end of the issue, Dib finally has a chance to expose Zim as an alien, but chooses instead to show that his father was right (even swallowing his own pride and calling GIR an "ordinary dog"), restoring the Professor's reputation and confidence.
  • When Gaz hears about what's happened, she quickly travels cross-country to help her dad out.
  • Dib had his own agenda for coming along on the trip (namely another plan to expose Zim), but the Professor clearly intended to treat it like a father-son vacation. A very nice diversion from the Parental Neglect he displayed in the show.
• In Issue 5, instead of being driven insane from knowing there's no stopping the time loop or being angered/depressed that he can't possibly fulfill his mission Zim is found to be in good spirits since he figured that he has all the time in the world to take up some hobbies that he genuinely enjoys such as painting, baking, reading, playing games, and working on puzzles. Not to mention it has also let him bond more with Gir and Minimoose. It's probably the most calm and relaxed Zim has ever been, and while he is doomed to stay in said time loop forever (not to mention the potential Fridge Horror that this is just a coping mechanism or defeatism) it's nice to know Zim's making the best of the circumstances and is ending the series on a positive note.
  • Heck, aside from the usual insults Zim treated Dib pretty amicably and was even willing to let go of the rivalry since he no longer saw any use for it...although this was after having gone through countless loops of defeating Dib in ways that traumatized the boy when shown the details.
  • For what it's worth, even Zim saw Gir pulling a Sweeney Todd on Dib was going too far and at least tried to stop him, not to mention he doesn't look happy at all when it happens again. Though whether or not he attempted the same the second time around or any other times is unknown.
  • Dib was actually starting to consider taking up hobbies of his own like learning old ghost dances right before Zim attempted to "fix" the time loop and even looked pretty excited with embracing the idea. While it's definitely not a guarantee and the loop will still apply, there's at least a possibility that once he recovers from discovering the loop and all it entails (as well as from the trauma of being made into a pie) Dib will eventually move on to pursue something that'll make him genuinely happy.
  • For some, seeing the cameos of past characters such as Skoodge and Tak. Especially the former since he's shown to be kicking ass as an invader.
  • For those who subscribe to it, the idea that Gaz wasn't cutting Dib's head open to stuff things into it For the Evulz but instead trying to save her brother from either the time loop's effects, Zim's countless slayings of him during the loops, or both.

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