Je suis Charlie

In light of the tragic shooting at the Charlie Hebdo office in Paris on Wednesday, I have decided to defer this week's scheduled post and instead share a few of the responses from cartoon artists around the world:

Illustration by David Pope

Illustration by Ruben L. Oppenheimer

Illustration by JM:o

We are with you Paris. Keep your pens handy and pencils sharpened.

UPDATE

It has come to my attention that famed French cartoonist Albert Uderzo has come out of retirement to pay tribute to the victims of the Charlie Hebdo shooting:

This gesture struck a particularly sentimental chord with me as I grew up reading the Asterix comics (in English translation, of course), which Uderzo created with writer René Goscinny. He said:

Charlie [Hebdo] and Asterix have nothing to do with each other obviously. I simply want to express my affection for those designers who have paid with their lives. Young designers are on hand now and I wish them courage.

My proposed response? Like Charlie Hebdo on Facebook and follow them on Twitter. If you're a francophone, subscribe to their weekly magazine and increase their global audience. Spread the work of their fallen artists, and the myriad of talented cartoonists who have responded to this attack on freedom of speech, freedom of ideas and freedom itself.

My deepest condolences to everyone who was affected by these unspeakable acts of cruelty, both the Charlie Hebdo massacre and related kosher supermarket shooting which followed two days later. Je suis Charlie. Je suis Juif.

Illustration courtesy of Charlie Hebdo