Android action bar checkable menu item does not work/show properly?

Question

so I am trying to get my menu item, that is show on the action bar to behave like a checkable menu option. The firs part works, meaning it is checkable and when I press it,

Answer 1

Or just do it yourself

@Override
public boolean onPrepareOptionsMenu(Menu menu) {
    menu.findItem(R.id.item1).setIcon(menu_checked?R.drawable.menu_ico_checked:R.drawable.menu_ico_unchecked);
    return super.onPrepareOptionsMenu(menu);
}

and in onOptionsItemSelected do:

 ....
 menu_checked=!menu_checked;
 invalidateOptionsMenu();