Hello, children! We are Zim's loving parents, here to tell you about our very real human jobs as keepers of the zoo! We keep all the zoo things using shorts and hats. None of the zoo things are unkept at our zoo! — Robomom

Invader Zim Issue
Issue 19
Chronology
Previous:	Issue 18
Next:	Issue 20
Information
Publisher:	Oni Press
Publication date:	May 10, 2017
Creative
Story by:	Aaron Alexovich
Art by:	Warren Wucinich
Color by:	Fred C. Stresing

Official Summary

Come one, come all, to ZIMZOO! It's definitely NOT an imitation zoo created by ZIM and the Robo-parents to fool the public into thinking they have an actual job. Nope, it's got 100% real actual animals NOT made from bio-slurry. Come see the majestic AGRILLATOR, or learn about the eating habits of the colloquial SHROMB. They're real animals, Dib, so keep your big head out of this!^[1]

Release

Issue 19 was released on May 10, 2017.

Variations

Issue #19 has a total of 2 cover variations. 

1. Warren Wucinich standard retail cover 
2. KC Green variant cover 

Characters in Issue #19 (In Order of Appearance)

Synopsis

The parents of Ms. Bitters' class come in to do presentations about their careers. Zim claims that his "parents" can't come in because they're sick, but no sooner has he said that before the Roboparents and GIR burst into the room. The Roboparents claim that they're zookeepers, complete with wearing uniforms. A flashback sequence reveals that they were inspired to do this after seeing a commercial for the Town Zoo right after Zim was complaining about the Skool's request for the children's parents to come in for the job presentations.

Dib, not believing the Roboparents' claims, demands to know what zoo they work at. Robomom refers to it as "Zim Zoo", which Zim (who doesn't know what a zoo is until she tells him) claims is in his yard. Dib tricks Zim into giving an open invitation to this zoo, and then tells all the other Skoolchildren they should head over as soon as class ends.

Zim rushes back to his base with his robots and begins artificially growing zoo animals, based on GIR's faulty memories of what they look like. By the time the skoolchildren arrive, the yard of Zim's Base is full of displays holding many bizarre and deformed creatures. Dib is excited, believing that this will finally prove that Zim is an alien. But, unfortunately, all the other kids are merely annoyed and grossed out by the animals, accusing the Roboparents of being grifters.

Dib takes photographic evidence of Zim Zoo to the police. They don't care about Dib's claims, until he mentions that the zoo is fake. This causes the Zoo Crimes Division, led by Immola Krom, to descend on Zim's base. Inspecting the animals, Krom concludes that they are indeed fake, and gives the Roboparents one day to get real animals... or else. Dib gloats that this will lead to Zim being exposed; desperate to stop this, Zim and GIR break into the Town Zoo and steal the animals there, only to throw them out of the Voot Runner because of the smell.

The following day, Zim has attempted to spruce up his animals, but they sadly fail to meet Krom's standards, and she arrests the Roboparents. But to Dib's surprise, she leaves Zim alone, seeing him as an innocent child. The ZCD then carts the Roboparents off to jail, leaving behind a shocked Dib and confused but accepting and victorious Zim.

The Roboparents were last seen six months later obliviously annoying the other inmates while also about to take part in a prison riot.

Facts of Doom 

• Warren Wucinich's standard retail preview cover parodies an iconic poster for the classic movie Jaws.
• The original official preview said that ZIM and Dib were going to go on a class camping trip.^[2]
  • Okay, let’s see… according to the script, this one’s pretty intense! Oh wait, that’s “in tents,” because Dib and ZIM go on a class camping trip. Oh wait, it’s also intense, because there’s a radioactive bear! Wait, a “radio alert” about an “active bear.” Either way, it’s gonna be intense!
• This issue seems to be partially inspired by the unmade episode "Roboparents Gone Wild", which involves a zoo animal named Dinky being stolen by the Roboparents who are ironically "zookeepers" in this issue.
  • Zim also ends up stealing zoo animals, but Dinky was not among them.
• Though he doesn't appear personally, a picture of Old Kid can be seen on the wall of Ms. Bitters' classroom in the first panel of the comic.
• Zootch is shown prominently as part of Ms. Bitters' class, despite having been shown to be part of Mr. Elliot's class in "Gaz, Taster of Pork".
• The issue makes a joke of the series' floating continuity by having Zim making a reference (complete with thought bubble image) to a previous experience with growing irken-like lifeforms, which a footnote says occurred in the nonexistent Issue 437.
  • Though it's only in a flashback of a fake issue, this is the first time the Deelishus Weenie corporation appears in the comic series.
• This is the first issue to feature skoolchildren on the cover.
• When the flier that invited parents to skool as well as the Zoo commercial were seen by the Roboparents and GIR, the last line in both was "No murderers please". This may have been a sly reference to Jhonen Vasquez's other comic Johnny The Homicidal Maniac.
• Despite it being parents day at Skool, Professor Membrane isn't seen with Dib. This is consistent with his generally absentee parenting from the show, though not with the more active role he's been playing in the comics prior to this.
• This is the third time GIR has set foot in the Skool, the first time being "A Room with a Moose', the second being "The Voting of the Doomed", the fourth being Issue 26, and the fifth being Issue 45.
• The KC Green Variant Cover includes a small error in which Zim's eyes are shown purple.
• Once more there was a six month time skip just like in “The Nightmare Begins” and “Issue 12”.
• The fact that this issue ended with Zim’s Roboparents in prison may have foreshadowed the fact that Zim himself would later be imprisoned on Moo-Ping 10 in “Issue 34” and “Issue 35”.

References