I first learned about Charlie Hebdo in the mid 1970s in Harvey Kurtzmans class at the School of Visual Arts. Because Harvey had created MAD magazine, cartoonists from all over the world sent him samples of their work - which he would share with his students. Even without translation, Hebdo and Hari-Kiri were far and away more unsparing than anything being done in the US - even in underground comics. Essential to the make up of the best political cartoonists is that they are compelled to expose the forbidden. The more anyone in power - or those grasping for it, proclaims that they and their symbols are not allowed to be mocked, the more your average cartoonist sees them as subjects crying out for exposure and derision. Perhaps thats why I loved doing NPR Double Take so much - no one was going to leave the daily pair without having some aspect of their beliefs challenged. If you want to send a message to those who carried out the attacks, and to all those who have tried to throttle criticism by killing and beaten cartoonists, you can make a contribution to the CARTOONISTS RIGHTS NETWORK INTERNATIONAL cartoonistsrights.org/ Below are covers from some of my issues of Charlie Hebdo. The first, is from 1972 and makes it clear that Hebdo was not a right-wing publication. I picked up the second two copies when Peg and I went to France soon after the 2008 elections. It shows that Hebdo didnt let consistency get in the way of a joke. The Cover with Obama on horseback was drawn by Cabu, 76, who was murdered today.
Posted on: Thu, 08 Jan 2015 02:06:00 +0000
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