Charlie Hebdo Attack: 28 Cartoonists' Tributes and What They Mean

On 7 January 2015, two armed brothers, Saïd and Chérif Kouachi, forced their way into the Paris offices of the satirical weekly Charlie Hebdo and killed 12 people, including some of France's best-known cartoonists. Within hours, cartoonists around the world were answering the only way they knew: with drawings. Pencils, pens and brushes became symbols of defiance, and the phrase "Je suis Charlie" spread across social media.

This gallery collects 28 of those responses, drawn in the first days after the attack by professionals and amateurs from France, the Netherlands, Australia, the United States, Spain, Argentina, India and elsewhere. They range from grief to fury to dark humour, and a few are critical in their own way. Each one is credited to its creator where known, with a short note on what it shows and why it struck a nerve.

The cartoons are shown as they were published, including some that depict violence. They are artworks responding to a real crime, and reading them together says a great deal about how artists understood the attack.

What happened at Charlie Hebdo

The attack began late in the morning at 10 Rue Nicolas-Appert, during the paper's weekly editorial meeting. The gunmen, who said they acted for al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, killed 12 people and injured 11. The dead were:

Cartoonists Cabu (Jean Cabut, 76), Charb (Stéphane Charbonnier, 47, the director of publication), Philippe Honoré (73), Tignous (Bernard Verlhac, 57) and Georges Wolinski (80);
Psychoanalyst and columnist Elsa Cayat, economist and columnist Bernard Maris, and copy editor Mustapha Ourrad;
Maintenance worker Frédéric Boisseau, travel writer Michel Renaud, who was visiting Cabu, and two police officers: Franck Brinsolaro, Charb's bodyguard, and Ahmed Merabet, who was shot outside.

The violence did not end there. Over the next two days, a related gunman killed a police officer and then four hostages at the Hypercacher kosher supermarket, bringing the death toll across the attacks to 17. On 11 January, up to two million people marched in Paris, alongside more than 40 world leaders, and millions more across France. The next issue of Charlie Hebdo, produced by the survivors, had a print run of 7.95 million copies, against a usual 60,000.

"He drew first": pencils against guns

1. He Drew First, by David Pope

Australian cartoonist David Pope of The Canberra Times drew a masked gunman beside a fallen body, excusing himself with "He drew first." It was dated 8 January 2015 and became one of the most shared images of the week. The pun turns a gunfighter's excuse into an indictment.

2. Yesterday, Today, Tomorrow, by Lucille Clerc

London-based French designer Lucille Clerc drew a single red pencil, then the same pencil snapped in two, then the two halves sharpened into two new pencils. Its message, that breaking a pencil only creates more of them, made it one of the defining images of the response.

3. Pens surrounding a gunman

The Pen Is Mightier: 28 Cartoonists’ Tributes After Charlie Hebdo

A lone gunman in a cartoonist's studio is encircled by dozens of fountain pens, all pointed at him. The image carries a Washington Post Writers Group distribution line; the original roundup credited it to the page Il Giornaleo. It shows the attacker as the one now outnumbered.

4. Unstoppable Charlie Hebdo, by Joep Bertrams

Dutch cartoonist Joep Bertrams shows a decapitated figure in a Charlie Hebdo shirt still sticking out its tongue at the bewildered attacker. The caption, "Onsterfelijk", is Dutch for "immortal". Mockery, the drawing says, survives its target.

5. Twin pencils, by Ruben L. Oppenheimer

Dutch artist Ruben L. Oppenheimer drew two tall green pencils against a blue sky as a plane approaches, a direct echo of the World Trade Center on 11 September 2001. It framed the Paris attack as an assault on the West's core values.

6. We Have Avenged You, by David Fitzsimmons

David Fitzsimmons of the Arizona Daily Star shows a robed figure in the clouds reading a sign held by a bloodied hand that claims revenge, and thinking that these people are insane. The point is that the killers claimed a religious mandate that the cartoon rejects.

7. A storm of pens, by Rob Tornoe

Rob Tornoe, an American cartoonist, drew a small masked gunman facing a giant wave of pens, brushes and markers sweeping towards him. One shot cannot stop a whole profession.

8. A defiant finger, by Dave Brown for The Independent

Published by The Independent and signed by its cartoonist Dave Brown, this shows a bullet-holed copy of Charlie Hebdo from which a yellow hand rises, holding a pen and raising its middle finger. It is the rudest drawing here, and arguably the closest to Charlie Hebdo's own style.

9. He Drew First, by Rafael Mantesso

Brazilian artist Rafael Mantesso, known for line drawings that interact with real objects, sketched a rifle and a speech bubble beside a real red pencil that has been snapped. The mix of photo and drawing makes the broken pencil feel physical.

Je suis Charlie: solidarity and grief

10. I Am Charlie, by Jamesuary

In four panels by Jamesuary, a gunman shoots a pencil in half, walks off, and is then chased by the two sharpened halves. The caption reads "Je suis Charlie". It is the snapped-pencil idea told as a short comic.

11. Oh No, Not Them, by Tommy Dessine

Cartoonist Tommy Dessine shows a weary Jesus on a cloud, head in hand, sighing "Oh non... pas eux" as the Charlie Hebdo cartoonists arrive in heaven with their papers. It is a reminder that the paper mocked every religion, Christianity very much included.

12. A broken pencil held high

A cartoon figure raises a broken red pencil and holds a 2011 Charlie Hebdo cover reading "L'Amour plus fort que la haine" ("Love stronger than hate"). The original roundup credited it to Ann Telnaes via a shared tweet. The chosen cover, showing a kiss, answers hatred with affection.

13. A Charlie Hebdo, by JM Nieto

Spanish cartoonist JM Nieto drew a hand dipping its finger in blood to sketch a bird in flight. The dedication, "A Charlie Hebdo", turns the loss into an image of something escaping.

14. More Powerful, by Mac Leod

Mac Leod splits the frame in two: "Powerful" over an armed attacker, and "More powerful" over a hand writing "Je suis Charlie". It is the simplest statement of the pen-versus-sword theme in the collection.

15. A heart on the drawing board

Shared by the satirical Spanish page Orgullo y Satisfacción, this shows a cartoonist slumped at his desk after drawing a heart, as a long red line runs from the board across the page. It is quiet and devastating.

16. They Died for Freedom of Expression, by Nono

Breton cartoonist Nono, of the newspaper Le Télégramme, placed four of the dead, Cabu, Wolinski, Tignous and Charb, on a monument inscribed "Morts pour la liberté d'expression". The phrase echoes the wording of French war memorials.

Anger, satire and the cost of humour

17. As If We Needed More Humorless Editors, by Nate Beeler

American cartoonist Nate Beeler drew a giant figure labelled "Islamic extremism" with a sword over a cartoonist's desk, where the newspaper headline mentions a plot against a Swedish cartoonist. The caption jokes about yet another humourless editor threatening cuts. It reflects how working cartoonists saw the threat as part of a longer pattern.

18. I Am Charlie, by Magnus Shaw

Magnus Shaw borrowed Charles Schulz's Charlie Brown, sitting alone with his head in his hands under the words "Je suis Charlie". The pun on the name made it gentle, sad and instantly readable.

19. Never!, by Korneel Jeuken

Illustrator Korneel Jeuken drew a fist holding up a pencil with a white flag tied to it, under the word "Jamais!" ("Never!"). A white flag usually means surrender, so the refusal above it turns it into a flag of defiance.

20. A warning about backlash, by Carlos Latuff

Brazilian cartoonist Carlos Latuff drew the gunmen shooting into the Charlie Hebdo office as their bullets also strike a mosque next door. His point, widely debated, was that ordinary Muslims would pay a price for the attackers' crime.

21. What We Do Best, by Dwane Powell

Dwane Powell of the News & Observer shows two gunmen in a ruined office, one shouting about infidels who insult Muslims, the other saying they should get back to their real work of killing Muslims. It points out that extremist groups kill far more Muslims than anyone else.

22. Broken pencil plus sharpener

Shared by writer Ayesha Mattu, this sum shows a snapped pencil, plus a sharpener, equalling two pencils. The artist was not identified in the original roundup. It makes the same promise as Lucille Clerc's drawing in the form of an equation.

23. Without Humor We Are All Dead, by Chappatte

This drawing was credited in the original roundup only to the New York Times, but it is signed by Swiss-Lebanese cartoonist Patrick Chappatte for the International New York Times and dedicated to Cabu, Wolinski, Charb and Tignous. A sad figure stands near flowers left outside the office, saying that without humour we are all dead.

24. I Am Charlie, by Jean Jullien

French illustrator Jean Jullien, who also designed the "Peace for Paris" symbol after the November 2015 attacks, drew a gun barrel meeting a pencil tip under "Je suis Charlie". The bold, brush-drawn style made it easy to print and carry at rallies.

25. Ducks Will Always Fly Higher Than Guns, by Boulet

Ducks (newspapers) will always fly higher than guns

French comics artist Boulet plays on French slang: "canard", duck, is also a word for a newspaper. A copy of Charlie Hebdo flies out of reach of a hunter's gun, under the line "Les canards voleront toujours plus haut que les fusils".

26. A Risky Profession, by Bernardo Erlich

The world has become so serious that humor is a risky profession

Argentine cartoonist Bernardo Erlich wrote, in Spanish, that the world has become so serious that humour is a risky profession, above a single page lying in a pool of red. It is one of the most minimal drawings in the set.

27. The Scales, by Shreyas Navare

Credited in the original roundup only as "Zero", this drawing is signed by Indian cartoonist Shreyas Navare from his "dabs & jabs" series and was shared by @dabsandjabs. The Eiffel Tower is a balance: a pile of guns and bombs on one side is outweighed by a single mug of pencils on the other.

28. What's This Little Weapon?, by Satish Acharya

Indian cartoonist Satish Acharya shows two heavily armed men puzzling over a pen, asking what this little weapon is that hurt them so much. It closes the collection with the question at the heart of all these drawings.

What the cartoons say, and what they leave out

Read together, the drawings share one conviction: violence cannot erase an idea, and every attack on a pencil creates more pencils. That is why the snapped pencil appears again and again. Several artists added a second theme, refusing to let the crime be blamed on Muslims in general; others, like Latuff and Powell, warned about backlash or about who extremism kills most often.

Not everyone in 2015 embraced "Je suis Charlie". Some writers and cartoonists argued that defending the right to publish is different from endorsing what Charlie Hebdo published, and that some of its covers about Islam were cruel. Both positions can hold at once: the right to offend is protected, and readers remain free to criticise what offends them. What none of the cartoonists here accepted is the idea that a drawing could justify a killing.

Justice and what followed

The Kouachi brothers were killed by police on 9 January 2015 after a standoff near Paris, the same day the supermarket gunman was killed. Because the attackers were dead, the long trial that opened in 2020 focused on people accused of helping them. On 16 December 2020 a French court convicted all 14 defendants, three of them in absentia, on charges ranging from terrorist conspiracy to criminal association.

Charlie Hebdo kept publishing. Its survivors' issue in January 2015 sold in record numbers, and the paper is still in print. The cartoons in this gallery remain among the best records of how artists everywhere, in a matter of hours, decided to answer guns with ink.

Sources: Each cartoon belongs to the artist credited above; collection first gathered by Reuters and Bored Panda; Wikipedia: Charlie Hebdo shooting; GPB / NPR, 16 December 2020: 14 accomplices found guilty.

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