Grave Matters; A SciFi webcomic.

Welcome to our humble abode! We're named Sci and Fi, and we are a duo of artists who are eager to come together and publish our latest Invader Zim comic; Grave Matters. We will also be sharing artwork of our other AUs on this blog. Our shared pronouns are they/them.

[scifi-ibices]

Would it be wrong to disappoint you now?

Well this certainly took forever! We wanted to explore the themes of obsession and regret with this piece. Truly, how would Dib feel if he were to achieve victory, in a simplistic bout of human rage? To lay low your enemy...not in a well earned struggle that would inspire lionized tales, but a simple unintended well-placed hit. Yet, he would have gotten the very thing he had dreamed so long for, even going so far as to attaining his penultimate fantasy of glory - recognition of the highest caliber - the first and only person to discover and study alien life, bringing such secrets to the forefront of public knowledge. But would it have been worth it? To lay your entire life's meaning to rest? Was it the destination or the journey itself that caused you to tick? To be the only one left who would have unadulterated understanding of what it all meant. To have destroyed the only being in existence that could peer into and careful unravel your soul...left, of your own making, to be the lone survivor in a world now seemingly devoid of any substance. Driven mad by the loss of his rival - his very life's meaning - Dib begins to see images of Zim's ghost haunting and mocking him. Is it the supernatural or just manifestations of his own guilty regret? Who is to say?

What if that life you yearned for was not all that you had expected it to be?

Song lyrics in the mini-comic: Mongrel Heart by Broken Bells

Other: We wanted to show Dib's slow movement towards both obsession and "transformation" based on the colors he is outlined by, shifting from his typical blue to Zim's iconic pink, showing visually that he will always carry that weight and has allowed it to fully consume and thus define his life henceforth.

[scifi-ibices]

Started on a mini comic to a song! (ZADE)

(was trying to update FireAlpaca for the project and accidently downloaded malware :( hope we can still finish this!)

[scifi-ibices]

We may be...back???😳 Long time no see, y'all

This was a gift made for @luckyrabbit1927 for their ZADF fanfic, "Rain Check"! Go check it out!!

Hope to upload more soon ;)

[scifi-ibices]

Would it be wrong...To disappoint you now...?

Hello, sorry for the silence! This is a drawing from a potential mini-comic set with a song. May or may not post. Explores Dib's character leading to defeating his rival. But his own psyche and manifestations of guilt and regret are not so easily bested.

[scifi-ibices]

"To the man I once was..."

(Notice the pink iris in the last frame~)

[scifi-ibices]

This was supposed to be finished by Halloween...oops. Wanted to highlight the strange and surreal; the vice-like grip of obsession and the weight of internal contention. The dichotomy present in such...a crazed euphoria whilst it liquifies one from the inside out.

[scifi-ibices]

Zombie Invader Zim Rambling

Anyone in the IZ fandom know if there yet exists an idea of Zim and Dib in the middle of a zombie outbreak wherein: Zim and Dib are the lone survivors that have carved out a place they keep free of the zombies. In a failed attempt to keep the zombies at bay, Dib is bitten and it's now Zim's goal to find a cure for Dib. Just Zim toting around a zombie Dib: talking openly, recollecting and venting to this corpse of a man he once knew, slowly coming to realize that he desperately misses his old foe (like in mopiness of doom). We imagine Zim's PAK makes him immune to the virus/bacteria/fungus that causes the zombification but he needs to go great lengths to prevent being torn apart by the zombies. We like to imagine Zim has put a PAK or other tech on this zombie Dib to prevent decomposition as well as to keep him docile until he is able to find a cure.

[scifi-ibices]

Oh, to be struck down by your enemy in the depths of the woods beneath the blood-moon.

HAPPY HALLOWEEN MONTH!!

[scifi-ibices]

We got to thinking of how Irkens have essentially traded their natural bodies to become fused to technology. Metal and wires and boundless knowledge. In the presence of The Control Brains, what are humans but meat, blood, and bone? Even more so...what are we but our central nervous system? All that we are is harbored in a three pound organ floating in liquid within our skulls. For such a pitiful creature of flesh, is it not impressive to fend off an Invader all alone? But would the creature ever yearn to be something more? In turn, he offers all that he is.

[scifi-ibices]

PLEASE CLICK TO SEE FULL IMAGE AAAA

We were wondering...What if there was more to Professor Membrane's story? Maybe Dib had more in common with his father than we were led to believe. Perhaps in his youth, Professor Membrane had also been a paranormal enthusist, given the name Agent Eagle-Eye for his incredible astuteness and ability to study these elusive creatures. After his pride landed him in a situation with an incredibly dangerous entity, with long lasting repurcussions, he decided instead to explore life's other wonders. Henceforth, he vowed to never look back (insert symbolism here about his Agent codename and when he covered his eyes by putting on the lab goggles)...only for his own son to take up an interest to the paranormal. Frightened, Dib's father attempted to steer Dib away from this newfound interest, going as far as to attempt to crush these dreams of becoming a paranormal investigator in some of the harshest methods possible. Unknowingly, these desperate attempts to keep his only son safe only led Dib further down the rabbit-hole. Only in the ash and the rubble did these secrets emerge in the form of tapes that the professor had forgotten to destroy.

[scifi-ibices]

PLEASE CLICK TO SEE FULL IMAGE AAAA

We were wondering...What if there was more to Professor Membrane's story? Maybe Dib had more in common with his father than we were led to believe. Perhaps in his youth, Professor Membrane had also been a paranormal enthusist, given the name Agent Eagle-Eye for his incredible astuteness and ability to study these elusive creatures. After his pride landed him in a situation with an incredibly dangerous entity, with long lasting repurcussions, he decided instead to explore life's other wonders. Henceforth, he vowed to never look back (insert symbolism here about his Agent codename and when he covered his eyes by putting on the lab goggles)...only for his own son to take up an interest to the paranormal. Frightened, Dib's father attempted to steer Dib away from this newfound interest, going as far as to attempt to crush these dreams of becoming a paranormal investigator in some of the harshest methods possible. Unknowingly, these desperate attempts to keep his only son safe only led Dib further down the rabbit-hole. Only in the ash and the rubble did these secrets emerge in the form of tapes that the professor had forgotten to destroy.

[scifi-ibices]

We wanted to do a piece drawing parallels between two of the most perilous areas: The Ocean and Space. We also wanted to emphasize the lyric " you're drowning in the sorrow of a billion opinions". In the case of Dib, he is stuck in a place that is exerting immense pressure from society and it's expectations. Any attempt for him to speak his truth is muffled and garbled to onlookers. Yet, despite Dib's yearning to escape to a new sense of reality that Zim's existance poses...the reality he has dreamed of since he was young, he is again trapped; essentially moving from a crushing force to a vacuum- void of empathy, compassion or morality.

Song lyrics from Ghosts of Utopia

(You might have to click the images to see the full picture!!)

[scifi-ibices]

Remember to “Keef” positive! (insert crowd booing at the pun here) 

Just a few doodles we wanted to create with cheerful messages.

But like...who else agrees that Keef in his mid twenties would get a major glow-up?? Like, sure the guy was an absolute flop in school (he may not have been the best people-person but gosh darn it does he mean well) but he would absolutely metamorphose into that one wholesome friend everyone needs in college. Need a Quizlet?? Yeah, this man will make one for the whole class to pass that grueling final exam. 

Also: You literally cannot tell us that this man doesn’t feed stray animals out of the kindness of his heart. 

[scifi-ibices]

Moonrise, An Invader Zim minicomic. Part 1 , Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5 (page 10) -> Part 6 [soon]

Dib, in his late 30′s to 40′s is still thwarting Zim’s apocalyptic plans to take over Earth. After a particularly nasty fight, Zim can no longer hold back his observations...and his questions. For as long as they have known each other, sometimes one’s motivations and one’s fears are cloaked in obscurity. Until something or someone breaks.

Our handwriting is a bit messy, posting the words under the cut:

Zim: You’ve barely won this fight. I’ve analyzed it. Your reflexes are slowing, your strength is fading. The durations of these fights are elongating. I can’t bear to strike you down at your weakest. For once, Zim is begging you, Dib, is that what you need to hear?!

[scifi-ibices]

This was inspired by the “irken noises” scene discovered in Dark Harvest that may have revealed how irkens speak. In that clip, Dib looks visibly shaken by the sounds. It got us thinking: image waking up one day, opening your mouth and speaking in a screeching alien dialect you cannot understand. No doubt in the case with Zib with a more Dib-leaning mindset, it would be distressing. Despite the panicked, garbled quality of the cries for help, Zim2 is able to understand them and comfort Zib. Yet sometimes, no matter how hard we try to calm another, we can never find the words...

*My art skills suck: Zib is supposed to be going in for a hug in the bottom panels

*The irken lettering spells out “help”

[scifi-ibices]

[[Log File]]: 0081 {undisclosed} //breached.data//

     -Specimen study. Nessiteras Rhombopteryx. Known as “Nessie”. 

        A creature that inhabits the depths of Lake Loch Ness. Attempts to communicate meaningfully have been unsuccessful. Latest attempts resulted in  irreparable damage to equipment. Sounds transmitted on all frequencies has yielded naught. Why would a beast confined to a water-logged cage have use for muffled words? ...Not when she could communicate with her mind. However, none would be so willing to dive into the dark of those chilly waters and into the twisted psyche of an ancient behemoth. What other reason would a solitary creature need telepathy, save for stunning prey?

[scifi-ibices]

Am I bad, Am I bad, Am I bad, Am I really that bad?

If you were in my shoes, you’d walk the same damn miles I do.

...Oops.

This is a part of a little video we spontaneously started working on because one of us refused to study for a test or sleep for that matter. We thought this made a cool first gif