Virus Vanguard Artist Quits Artist Group After Being Accused of Plagiarism of the Superheroes

When the Singaporean government tried coming up with a superhero-themed campaign to inject some positivity into what is a pretty bleak period of humanity, it didn’t exactly have the best reception.

Titled Virus Vanguard, the Avengers of the pandemic world consisted of a five-member team dedicated to fighting the coronavirus.

According to GeekCulture, their powers ranged from easy virus detection to using empathy to “absorb all negativity”.

Though one wonders why they couldn’t just create a superhero that could have been bitten by a bat so he could absorb all coronaviruses. They could call him Bat… uh… I’m sure I’ll think of something.

However, many felt that this comic campaign made light of a pandemic that has infected over 2.6 million people and killed over 184,000 worldwide.

Others believed that healthcare workers at the frontline should be the focus instead.

While some soccer fans, presumably because they were bored at home, took exception to the creation of MAWA Man, whose name – Must Always Walk Alone – is a play on Liverpool’s motto, You’ll Never Walk Alone.

So, the government took it down on the very same day the campaign was introduced, before the superheroes even had a chance to do superhero things.

Mas Shafreen, the man who admitted to being the character artist, made an apology of his own, saying he was sorry if the characters “came across insensitive.”

“I am doing this to clarify things. Band of Doodlers is a local art group and was founded by me, hence the association. It started because a group of us, including myself, wanted to create superhero characters to show appreciation for our frontliners, including healthcare workers, and how we can battle this together.”

And he even responded to the displeased football fans, saying the aim of MAWA man was to make people realise that it “takes all of us, regardless of which team we support, to pull through this together.” The point being that we can’t fight this pandemic alone.

He ended his apology saying he’s very appreciative of the opportunity he was given considering that jobs are hard to come by at the moment.

” I am sorry for the trouble caused and I hope local artists can still be supported with creative projects.”

This fiasco should have ended there, but the comic artist forgot one thing: nothing gets past the internet.

Plagiarism

See, while Sherlock Holmes is often lauded for his deductive reasoning and attention to detail, he couldn’t hold a candle to netizens waiting to be outraged.

Two weeks ago, Shafreen posted early illustrations of his comic book heroes, and while it clearly resembled some well-known superheroes, it looked more like he was paying homage to comic creators of the past, rather than stealing their ideas.

“Safe-Distancing Girl”, for instance, is clearly just an Asian Wonder-Woman with measuring tape.

But when they were finally released into to world to save the day, they looked significantly different:

And some eagle-eyed netizens discovered that a couple of superheroes were so similar to existing comic characters that they may have been traced.

Ok, you don’t even have to be eagle-eyed to spot the striking similarities, you just have to have eyes.

A Redditor named u/dodgethis posted the image online, placing Circuit Hero beside a Peni Parker fanart from Korean artist @SteelScarlet.

The robots are different, yes, but the girl is exactly the same in both pictures, except for her clothes.

But it wasn’t just that. Netizens also realised that Care-leh Dee (pronounced Care Lady) looked suspiciously like Storm from X-men.

Now, remember, this was a gahmen campaign, and tracing characters is already seen as a taboo in the art world, because it’s basically stealing.

And then, because internet fiascos never seem to end, the artist responded.

Artist Response

In a Facebook post on Tuesday, 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). BOD has been about inclusivity and collaboration and I am so very proud of how it has grown,” he wrote.

“I am forever grateful for the many artists that have contributed to the cause and hope BOD will continue to be supported, especially during these difficult times.”

He did not comment on the allegations, however.

Whether he actually traced those characters or not, one thing’s for sure: you may fool your friends, the police, and even Sherlock Holmes, but nothing gets past people on the internet.