Covid-19 superheroes: Creator under fire quits community artist group

In the latest twist to Singapore's Covid-19 superhero saga, the creator of the ill-fated Virus Vanguard has quit the community artist group he founded after online chatter surfaced suggesting he might have copied the work of other artists.

Artist Mas Shafreen admitted yesterday to using "existing artwork as reference", but said his character designs were preliminary ones before the real work on a comic series was to begin.

"These character design artworks were not part of the paid job. (They were) for the client to better understand the characters, before starting to work on the actual comics," he wrote in a Facebook post.

"It was never my intention to pass off their works as my own... As an artist myself, I feel horrible that I have caused this to happen."

Local artist group Band of Doodlers (BOD), founded by Mr Shafreen, had been commissioned by the Ministry of Communications and Information (MCI) to create the Virus Vanguard.

The BOD Facebook group has about 1,000 members.

The Gov.sg public campaign was taken down from its website and Facebook page on Monday, just a day after its launch, after widespread public criticism.

Netizens had lambasted the Virus Vanguard, which took a supposedly lighter approach to ongoing efforts to curb the coronavirus spread, as an ill-timed attempt at levity.

An MCI spokesman said part of Gov.sg's work is to look for new ways to reach out to different audiences, including during the Covid-19 outbreak. "This includes working on the comic series, which we wanted to explore as another genre for communications," the spokesman said.

"Nonetheless, we acknowledge the feedback from the public and are currently reviewing the series."

Mr Shafreen said he would leave BOD and take responsibility for the Virus Vanguard. "As such, I hope that BOD will not be associated with (the Virus Vanguard)," he wrote.

Local pop culture and gaming news site Geek Culture published an article on Tuesday highlighting how Internet users had found some of the Virus Vanguard character designs to be almost identical to the works of other artists.

In particular, the teenage girl pilot of the Circuit Breaker robot, drawn by Mr Shafreen, appears to have an identical pose to a drawing done by a South Korean artist.

The five-member Virus Vanguard superhero team comprises Dr Disinfector, Fake News Buster, Must Always Walk Alone (Mawa) Man, Circuit Breaker and Care-leh Dee.

Mr Shafreen attached pictures of the original artwork he made reference to in his post and added that he has messaged the original artists to inform them of the situation.