Keep it to yourself: the ZIMvoid key!
⚠️ This contains spoilers about the comics ⚠️
The Battle Void arc, better known as ZIMvoid arc (issues 46 to 49), got me going wild. I read all the analysis I found about it, and I haven't seen the same findings and theories. I'm SO EXCITED and I hope you feel the same as you take a look into what I uncovered 🔍
What if the ZIMvoid arc started way before Issue 46?
The beginning (and the end?)
Consider that issue 12, when ZIM, GIR and Dib time travel, is the first time ZIM meets (and defeats) another version of himself, so it could be the beginning of it all.
Also, when you read the extra bit at the end of the same issue, you find, as GIR would say, “some kinda ZIB man”.
Maybe there's not a direct relation, but there's a thematic connection; in the main story, with the idea of ZIM being his own worst enemy.
The little extra story at the end explores a fact I've seen a lot of fans notice: Dib and ZIM can be very similar, mostly when Dib lets his selfish motives wins (as ZIB did). Also, Dib says he'll never join ZIM, but he already has, and will again in the ZIMvoid arc.
The star and the key
Issue 17 is so funny, I loved ZIM as a girly ranger, and how it was hinted (again) that he doesn't care about gender, which is one of the good traits I find in this character; also, it is surprising how far he is willing to go to bribe GIR.
I bet you remember Dib and ZIM incarcerated, telling lies or half-truths about how they are heroes, but at the end there's an extra bit, the important one! It is called:
Keep it to yourself
This short extra comic at the end of issue 17 it's just 3 pages, so here you have it; you can open the images in a new tab and zoom if you need a bigger picture.
Wait, What? This “electromagnetic pulse bomb that destroys any nearby Irken tech”, it might look different (or does it?), but it works the same! It is the Zapper!
ZIM states later that it is “his own basic Irken disruptor design”, and ZIB also says he did it all thanks to that same electromagnetic pulse weapons.
And so we know that ZIM built this technology to damage Dib's (Tak's) ship, also, we get to see that the Irken disruptor from issue 17 and the Zapper from the ZIMvoid arc are actually not so different looking either:
Yep, it is basically the same thing.
But that's not all, so let's look deeper in this void, just beware, it might look back!
The GIRvoid
Why isn't GIR damaged by the Zapper?
I have this blog 'cause I'm analyzing comedy duos; for Invader ZIM, I chose ZIM and GIR, and so I pay special attention to their dynamic.
In the short comic Keep it to yourself, ZIM shows us how wild he is by making this disruptor that can damage his own tech, but we also see how much GIR's antics have weight in the whole deal.
GIR's bees causes ZIM to scream, activating the disruptor and damaging all close Irken technology, including GIR!
So here's my theory: after this happened, ZIM not only fixed GIR, but also made him immune to this kind of technology.
I think GIR was also extra compatible with the Zapper because it was combined with other weapon: mind controlling technology. Look at the module GIR installed on himself at the beginning of the ZIMvoid arc.
When you compare that obedience module to the base of the Zapper, it looks similar, so it could be the same technology ZIB uses for his mind controlling virus.
Fun fact: GIR is not only immune to ZIB's Zapper, but also to another similar weapon we see in issues 42 (and 43), which begins somewhat similar to the Zimvoid arc.
That's my GIR!
Without GIR, ZIM wouldn't have been able to get out of the ZIMvoid.
GIR is the key that opens the gates of the ZIMvoid at the end, literally, because ZIM access the technology through him, but also because GIR is the one to travel time and space for ages in order to secure his master's success:
But why is this GIR the only immune? The fact that there were no other SIR units in the ZIMvoid because the Zapper damage them all makes me think of 2 main possibilities:
ZIM 2170 was the only wild enough (aside from ZIB) to build an Irken tech disruptor.
OR he was the only ZIM that decided to make GIR resistant to this kind of weapon after he was damaged by it.
Sure, there might be many other reasons why GIR is safe from the Zapper, perhaps it has to do with the explosion of the time thingy on issue 28, or with ZIM killing HOK, GIR's Error correction software, on the Virooz arc (issues 22 to 25). Or it could be...
The very thing
I think that the fact that GIR is immune to the Zapper, or maybe all the ZIMvoid arc is connected to issue 33, since we can see Mr. Wiener face in ZIM's memories of “his thing”. I can not really tell what the connection is, and I'm very much interested in reading your theories about this.
My hunch could not be so out of place when you realize the ZIMvoid, the Keep it to yourself story, AND the Mr. Wiener face issue had all the same writer: Sam Logan. An awesome writer also, this investigation made me realize he wrote some of my favorite issues.
The wiener, I mean, the winner!
Remember GIR had a plan on issue 33? Since he never explains what his plan was, it could have been just to make a bunch of wiener faces or maybe, just maybe, much more.
Analyzing GIR is amazing, and I love it, after paying close attention you realize how surprisingly focused, functional and successful GIR is when he has a motivation; he can follow through complex plans, also he can make no sense. And so his actions on issue 33 could mean everything or nothing at all.
The secret mission
When they are about to enter the ZIMvoid, GIR ends up going with Dib and is close to him until almost the end of the arc.
I think this is the exact moment when Dib ignores the signal ZIB has sent to all the Dibs because of how competitive he gets, also because GIR hits the ship at that exact moment; but, was GIR supposed to attack Dib?
One thing we know about ZIM is that he studies his enemies and allies to find weaknesses or strategic value, so if I have to bet, I would say he asked GIR to stay close to Dib, maybe to keep him distracted while he found the Irken he was looking for.
Your SIR units
While GIR is with Dib, ZIM is being slaved, and he asks about their SIR units, but never seems to wonder where his own GIR is, he also doesn't call his partner in crime to bail him out, like he usually does.
ZIM probably knew where GIR was because he has a tracking device on him; in the episode TAK: the hideous new girl, he uses GIR to track Dib, so it wouldn't be a surprise if that's exactly what he was doing here.
The reaction when they meet could support this secret mission theory. Also, it is impressive how GIR recognizes and chooses his own master, even if he is surrounded by a ton of ZIMs (and loves it).
The real ZIM
Close to the end of the arc, GIR claims that he is ZIM. (It is not the first time, he does this on issue 38, that time as a question.)
He is just being silly, right? Well, maybe, but also think about it: in the GIRvoid there's no competition, there's only one and true GIR, and he doesn't even have to fight the other versions of himself to win. He won when he became the only GIR to make it into the ZIMvoid.
The void, looking back at us
To wrap this up, let's look at the end.
Look at that maniac laugh, it is actually similar to the one at the end of issue 12! And it's funny how Dib says that it is not his fault that he fails, because that's exactly what ZIM was claiming at the beginning of the arc.
The thematic connection with issue 12, but also with issues 42+43, is very clear here; at his worst, Dib is similar to ZIM, just as competitive and self-deluded. He ends up helping him, instead of defeating him.
At the end, they are both sinking as a good captain goes down with their ship, right? But who was really steering ZIM's Voot Runner? GIR, actually, and he is too the first one to drown. In a symbolic way, GIR can represent chaos or madness, and the ocean is the symbol for emotion or the subconscious mind.
In other words, madness is what drives ZIM at this moment, and it is what's gonna make him drown in himself: go insane. Remember the beginning of the ZIMvoid arc? Look at what happens to Car-nivore.
Car-nivore ejects his brain; ZIM is losing his mind. Even the expression they make is similar, but of course, that might be just a coincidence.
At the end, I found 2 keys: the short story Keep it to yourself of issue 17 is our key to understand a bit more of the ZIMvoid. GIR was the key out of the ZIMvoid!
〰 Poity
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