Preview: Sonny Liew’s ‘The Science Behind Covid-19’ Is Essential Reading In The Pandemic
by Richard Bruton
With Covid-19 vaccinations beginning to happen globally now, there’s a sense that things might, just might, be getting a little bit better.
But education is EVERYTHING when it comes to Covid and when it comes to vaccines. And now cartoonist Sonny Liew is continuing the age-old tradition of using comics to inform and educate and, in this case, that education WILL save lives.
The project, The Science Behind Covid-19, comes from Malaysian-born, Singapore-based comic artist Sonny Liew, in collaboration with the National University of Singapore and NUS Saw Swee Hock School of Public Health infectious diseases expert Hsu Li Yang.
Sonny Liew is the artist on My Faith In Frankie, Flight, Wonderland, Sense And Sensibility, The Shadow Hero, Doctor Fate, Malinky Robot, and of course the NYT best-seller The Art of Charlie Chan Hock Eye.
But this comic could be the most important thing that Liew’s done in his entire professional life – it’s a simple comic doing impressive things, featuring a cast of animal characters asking the questions, all answered by Doctor Duck, explaining the science behind Covid-19, the health implications, and something that aims to address people’s concerns regarding the vaccine.
As is happening worldwide, Singapore is rolling out its vaccination program and this new piece simply and effectively gets over all the information the people need to know, outlining all the facts known to science and addressing the concerns that people may have about vaccines.
So, go read the comic, be reassured, the scientists are doing incredible things, trust in the science.
Now go and get vaccinated, get tested, be safe, wear the mask, keep the distance…
You can find the comic up on Strait Times Singapore and Liew has also put together a new version of the comic on his Facebook page as a downloadable PDF here.
The Science behind Covid-19 – Illustrations and concept by Sonny Liew, text by Sonny Liew and Hsu Li Yang, copyright 2020 NUS and Sonny Liew.
