Back in 2002, in the Devil May Cry 2 issue of Game Informer magazine (which you can read right here for free if you have an account on our website), we featured a piece of Invader Zim fan art in the Envelope Art section. We declared it the October winner and confusingly wrote, “Deformed goth chicks are cool!” as its caption. Recently, Bluesky user @drewchuck.bsky.social, while looking through Video Game History Foundation’s impressive archive of video game magazines, noticed the art was attributed to Rebecca Sugar. Rebecca Sugar is not a common name, but we suspected it might just be a coincidence, so we reached out to confirm if it was them.
“Yes I did draw this,” Sugar told us over e-mail. “I must have been 15.” Back in 2002, Rebecca Sugar was a talented teenage artist, but today they are known primarily as the creator of Cartoon Network’s Steven Universe. You can also find their music in Katamari Damacy creator Keita Takahashi’s latest game, To a T.
“Yes I remember!” Sugar wrote. “I was proud of it. But at the time I felt guilty winning with fan art. I felt I should have sent something original. I had plenty of original characters back then. I was also confused by the caption.”
Sugar was disappointed that one of their first technically published works was fan art, but was still proud of the achievement. “I remembered that I’d won for Zim fan art, but I forgot about all the other characters around the border,” Sugar wrote. “I was reading a lot of independent comics at that age, and drawing my own. Jhonen’s comics were my favorite. Johnny the Homicidal Maniac and Squee of course, and especially I Feel Sick. Seeing Devi drawings on there makes me nostalgic.”
Despite finding their own success with work on Adventure Time and creating Steven Universe, Sugar is still an Invader Zim fan. “Yes, I wrote the forward to the Invader Zim art book a few years ago. I didn’t mention this drawing of course. But they know I was, and am, a big fan.”
The Video Game History Foundation’s Bluesky account points out that after that first mention in the magazine in 2002, Sugar would come up again 15 years later as part of a preview for the RPG, Steven Universe: Save the Light (written by yours truly after playing it at E3).
To dive deep into Game Informer‘s archive of magazines all the way back to 1991, just make an account on the website and head here. You can also explore the Video Game History Foundation’s impressive archive of many more video game magazines (including Game Informer) by heading here.