The pandemic has been constantly reshaping our future, nonetheless. We have been swept over by a dark wave of uncertainty for the past year and the situation has not changed, since. The pain of being in solitude and some, with toxic living environments, have made us question our sanity throughout these trying times. Some of us choose to find the light in these dark times by scrolling through social media while some cope up by going on Shopee hauls!
Among all the modes of entertainment that we have found amusing over the year, the Covidball Z tops the list with comics made relatable to Malaysians — mostly covering Malaysian related topics such as our political scene and the injustices happening around us. Recently, the author and creator of this famed comic series, Ernest Ng, talked to Ming Han and Ming Yue from The Table Talk Podcast regarding his inspiration to create these comics and the motivation to continue it to date.
When asked about his inspiration to make hilarious comics as such, the 34-year-old creator of “Bro, Don’t Like That La, Bro” stated that he covered the political drama in Malaysia, namely the Sheraton Move via comics. At that time, everyone was very confused as the situation started to unfold in the Malaysian political scene.
He wanted to produce something that everyone could connect to, and noticing his friends’ interest in anime, he eventually proceeded to create comics regarding the situation via anime. After completing the comics in a Yugioh theme, he went for a shoot for RTM in Kedah for 3 weeks and when he came back, the Movement Control Order (MCO) was imposed.
“The atmosphere was strange. When I arrived back in KL, the streets were empty. There was silence. So, taking that as an inspiration, I drew a comic of Covid-19 arriving at our shores,” he said.
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The comics eventually became a great hit and this left many curious about the continuity of it, as Ernest made a mistake, in adding, “To Be Continued…” at the end of it. Admitting that the designs were similar to that of Piccolo and Miss Piizza from Dragon Ball, Ernest decided to make the Covid-19 situation in Malaysia into an anime series. While his previous comics had a theme of growing up and his early youth days, these comics were different in nature as they described the current situation of the country. Finding drawing therapeutic, he draws these comics while keeping in mind that he’s doing it for himself. It’s indeed his way of coping up with the lockdown and lack of human interaction.
On the topic of his drive towards drawing these comics almost every other day, he said, “My drive towards doing this is the thought that I might never see an end to my story. Anime lovers would always have a dreaded feeling when the artist of their favourite comics stop drawing. I don’t want people to feel that way when they read my comics. I want to see the end of it too.”
Covidball Z is indeed a humorous addition to our daily lives. We definitely can’t wait to see the end of it and the progress of Ernest as he creates more wacky comics to enlighten all of us throughout dire times like this.
In the meantime, you could watch the podcast, at 8:40 to listen to Ernest’s full response to the inspiration behind his comics.
Source: The Table Talk Podcast
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