There has been a cosmic mistake. You are in the junction between universes. And I am the Recap Brain! The Guardian who can recap all the multiple multiverses! — Recap Brain

Invader Zim Issue
Issue 40 (Tales of Stuff What Did Not Happen!)
Chronology
Previous:	Issue 39
Next:	Issue 41
Information
Publisher:	Oni Press
Publication date:	February 27, 2019
Creative
Story by:	Eric Trueheart
Art by:	Warren Wucinich
Color by:	Fred C. Stresing

Official Summary

Think you've seen it all? HIGHLY UNLIKELY. For you haven't read this extraspecial issue of Invader ZIM, featuring TALES OF STUFF THAT DID NOT HAPPEN! Maybe you'll see him go underwater to fight the dirty denizens of Atlantis! (Probably not.) MAYBE GIR IS A CAT?! Maybe YOU'RE a cat! You'd better go check to make sure you aren't before buying this issue.^[1]

Release

Issue 40 was released on February 27, 2019.

Variations

Issue #40 has a total of 2 cover variations. 

1. Warren Wucinich standard retail cover
2. Stephan Park variant cover

Characters in Issue #40 (In Order of Appearance)

Synopsis

Recap Kid is giving a recap of the previous issue, when they're suddenly sucked through a portal into the space between universes, where they're greeted by the Recap Brain.

After explaining what's happened and showing a couple of alternate universes, Recap Brain tries to send Recap Kid back to their own universe. However, as neither of them can tell which universe that is, they begin looking through various universes to find the right one.

	Title	Writer	Illustrator	Coloring
	Warlocker Zim	Rikki Simons	Fred C. Stresing	Fred C. Stresing

• The first universe viewed is a fantasy world. Torque Smackey, a barbarian, and his travel companion Dib, enter an ancient temple where Dib believes his archenemy, Warlocker Zim, is in search of a magical armor empowered by the essence of thousands of baby poltergeists. Zim then appears, wearing a minotaur disguise which briefly fools Torque, until Dib tells him it's really Zim. When Torque then attempts to crush Zim, Zim summons his giant golem, GIR, to attack them. Dib responds by having Gaz, a rogue, attack GIR, resulting in him running off with her stuck on his head. It's then revealed that while Dib was distracted, Zim defeated Torque and took the armor, claiming its power for himself. However, it turns out the armor just compels the wearer to take care of the ghost babies. Dib runs off and leaves him to this, while Gaz and GIR relax on a beach.

	Title	Writer	Illustrator	Coloring
	SuperZIM	Eric Trueheart	Dean Rankine	Fred C. Stresing

• In the second universe, Dib is a supervillain, who is preparing to attack a city with a giant robot with his appearance. However, he is intercepted by Zim, who is a superhero here, in a giant version of GIR and is defeated in battle. Afterwards, Zim is publicly celebrated, and as his reward he's allowed to let GIR dump his waste on the mayor's front lawn.

	Title	Writer	Illustrator	Coloring
	ZIM No More	Steven Shanahan	Meg Casey	Fred C. Stresing

• The third universe, which takes the form of a musical play, is narrated by an unidentified audience member. The situation is otherwise identical to the main Invader Zim series, with Zim constantly trying to take over the world and Dib trying to expose him, only for everyone to ignore him. However, the play ends with them both being blown up by a bomb, only to return to the events of the start of the play, implying they're stuck in a time loop.

	Title	Writer	Illustrator	Coloring
	Sugar & Spice	Sam Maggs	Kate Sherron	Fred C. Stresing

• The fourth universe is a world where everyone is nice... all the time. The story focuses on how Gaz in particular is always exceptionally nice to everyone, which at first is fine. But as it turns out, she's so obsessively nice and friendly that she takes her friends prisoner and forces them to attend tea parties and sleepovers with her, whether they want to or not. Zim is even gifted with a gun by her.

As Recap Kid states that none of these universes are the right one, Recap Brain continues to show various universes, including one that takes the form of a depressing indie movie (wherein Dib and Zim find everything in life pointless) and one where Dib and Zim are sentient beans (that still hate each other).

Seeing all this, Recap Kid becomes convinced that Dib and Zim are the center of everything, even when Recap Brain points out there are "gazillions" of universes where they don't even exist. Thoroughly annoyed, Recap Brain finally settles on a random universe (unaware that it's actually the correct one) and sends Recap Kid there. The issue ends with Recap Kid wondering how they're supposed to recap all of this.

Facts of Doom 

• This is the first Invader Zim comic to have dialogue on the cover.
• Gaz's dialogue on the cover got changed in the final release. In the original cover, she points out that Zim and Dib's continuous fight is stupid, whereas in the final one, her line is shortened to simply saying "Stupid".
• The cover also contains elements from several of the stories in the issue - Zim's fantasy outfit represents the plot of "Warlocker Zim", him being a hero and Dib a villain represents "SuperZIM", and Gaz's princess dress represents the tea party she has in "Sugar & Spice".
• This is the third time that the concept of a multiverse is used, the first being in Issue 5 and the second being in Issue 32 and the fourth being the Battle Void arc from Issue 46 through Issue 49.
• This is not the first issue where Recap Kind has been present in-universe (having previously floated in space in Issue 3 and Issue 4, where they were hit by the Voot Runner and the Massive, respectfully), but this is the first time they are the star of the whole issue, rather than just being in one or two panels.
• The images of the comic universe that are shown when Recap Kid is sent back are from Issue 18.
• This is the third issue to contain multiple stories, each with its own art style, contained in a framing device, the first having been Issue 15, and the second having been Issue 17. Quarterly 3 would likewise contain multiple stories, but lack a framing device.
• Gaz's role as the damsel in distress and Zim's role as her knight in armor that is going to rescue her is the first implication of ZAGR since Issue 16.
• The alternate Zim called SuperZIM is a blatant reference to Superman.

References