Photographer comes up with truly Singaporean superheroes, including Lady Chope and Milo Marvel

Photo: Jayden Tan Photography / Facebook
Photo: Jayden Tan Photography / Facebook

Inspired by the deluge of superhero flicks of late, a creative professional embarked on a comic book project of his own, playing Nick Fury to assemble his own set of Avengers — each of ‘em fantastical figures representing the familiar facets of Singaporean life.

Jayden Tan — a photographer, art director and currently Creative Group Head at social media agency GOODSTUPH — published his latest venture called The Majulahs, an imagined issue by the “Marikita Comics Group” that features six local personalities as metahumans with ultimate powers of Singaporean-ness.

The local superheroes are a formation of a concept he that didn’t get fully materialized a decade ago, Tan informed Coconuts Singapore, and also a comical take on the ongoing controversy of the nation’s misrepresentation in Crazy Rich Asians.

Photo: Jayden Tan Photography / Facebook
Photo: Jayden Tan Photography / Facebook

There’s local singer Joanna Dong decked out in a flurry of tissue packets and lanyards as Lady Chope — the quintessential office lady who can probably reserve a whole alley of tables at Maxwell Food Centre during peak lunch time.

There’s R.Harmony, keeper of interracial peace and harmony as portrayed by comedian Preetipls.

Photographer Dan Ng is Milo Marvel, the bare-bodied God Emperor of everyone’s favorite chocolate malt beverage. If he has a sidekick, it would be Milo Dinosaur.

“They are really easy to work with, versatile enough to pretend to be superheroes, and some of them even inspired the character design!” enthused Tan about his models, who weren’t afraid to have a bit of fun in front of the camera.

The outlandishly creative outfits were actually constructed by fashion designer and stylist Josiah Chua, and each of the looks took about five to six hours to complete, Tan stated to Coconuts Singapore.

“Prior to the construction of the outfits, we sat down to conceptualize what ‘materials’ to use and how to best represent the hyperlocal superheroes,” he said.

The Sauce Girl, for example, required a whole week of eating McDonald’s and requesting for extra garlic chili sauce packets just to form the costume.

Tan encourages all to look closer at each of the portraits to spot the little nuances peppered throughout the series. Such intimate attention to detail isn’t unexpected for the art director, of course, who has done similar stunning photo series in the past, including Make Yishun Pearl Again and Char Bor Secondary School.



Reader Interactions

Leave A Reply


BECOME A COCO+ MEMBER

Support local news and join a community of like-minded
“Coconauts” across Southeast Asia and Hong Kong.

Join Now
Coconuts TV
Our latest and greatest original videos
Subscribe on