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Weekly turns front page into comic strip in tribute to boy, 8

A weekly newspaper paid a unique front page tribute to an eight-year-old superhero fan who died suddenly.

The Croydon Advertiser covered the funeral of Dhilan Singh in the style of a comic strip on today’s front, after his family contacted the newspaper about the hero-themed send-off.

Dhilan passed away unexpectedly on 5 January after being found unconscious in his bathroom, but a post-mortem was unable to find an explanation for his death.

The funeral, held on Tuesday after Dhilan’s body was released by the coroner, saw mourners asked to attend dressed as comic book characters.

Croydon superhero

Advertiser editor Andy Worden told HTFP: “Dhilan’s mum asked us to cover the funeral which she was determined to make a celebration of his life.

“It was an incredible funeral, with Batman and Robin leading the procession and school friends and relatives dressed in superhero costumes. Given Dhilan’s love of Marvel comics we thought it would be a fitting tribute to him to give our front page the look of a comic.

“We checked beforehand with Dhilan’s mum that she would be happy with this and she is very pleased with how the finished front page looks.

“Our reporter Thomas Mackintosh did a terrific job covering the funeral itself and gaining the family’s trust. Photographer Lawrence Homewood took some lovely photos on the day and our graphics whiz Luke Martin brought the idea to life wonderfully on the front page.”

The Advertiser has used comic characters to inspire its front page in the past.

In 2015, the paper ran a splash with a Spider-Man theme after a fun-loving dad who dressed up as the web-slinging crime fighter in public became the talk of its patch.

Croydon Spiderman

3 comments

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  • March 13, 2017 at 11:48 am
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    Nice to see a bit of creativity used for once rather than the same old templates because it is easy.

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  • March 13, 2017 at 12:32 pm
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    Nice touch in honour of this little boy
    Well done all concerned

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  • March 13, 2017 at 6:53 pm
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    The Spider-Man pic was one my better photos, nice bloke too ! Thanks Spidey Lee.

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