Chuck Rozanski Reprints the
Charlie Hebdo Cartoons

Howdy!

In late September of 2001, I flew to Frankfurt, Germany to man our comics booth at the immense Frankfurt Book Fair. The book fair was under intense security measures that year, as the 9/11 terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon had just occurred, and there was a great deal of fear that this intensely popular public gathering (that annually drew over 350,000 visitors...) could be the next "soft target." As a direct result, DC Comics, as well as many other American book publishers, withdrew from the fair.


WTC - September 11, 2001

Call me crazy, but I took the opposite approach. Rather than keeping a low profile as the fair management suggested of all American and Israeli exhibitors, I purchased a large American flag before leaving Denver, and hung it at the entrance of our booth. I cannot begin to tell you how many German visitors to the book fair that year thanked us just for being there, and for not being afraid.


American Flag

Fast forward 13 years, and we now have to somehow deal with the murders in Paris of nearly the entire editorial contingent of Charlie Hebdo, a satirical cartoon magazine well known for crossing the boundaries of acceptable taste. I take this attack very personally, as I have long been an advocate of free speech, even when it is sometimes objectionable to many. As a result of my activism in this regard, I was chosen to be awarded the prestigious 2003 Defender of Liberty title by the board of directors of the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund.

While I appreciated that CBLDF honor very much, it also served to make me even more committed to the idea that all forms of expression are sacred, and that a truly free society depends on that unfettered exchange of options and ideas, no matter how rancorous or iconoclastic. Clearly, however, there are those who believe that unseemly humor (if it is their particular ox which is being gored...) somehow justifies murder. It was those individuals who sent their deranged acolytes to kill, and it is those same malevolent individuals whom I wish to educate today.

As a result, you will find at this end of today's newsletter not only some of those unpleasant Charlie Hebdo cartoons, but also a selection of the original Danish cartoons (depicting Mohammad) that caused the initial rioting. Look at them if you will, or if they offend your personal or religious views, please do not. My goal in publishing these cartoons is not to offend anyone, but rather to illustrate quite clearly to those madmen who sent men to murder the staff at Charlie Hebdo that their violence simply spreads the dissemination of those very images which they find so grievously offensive. All other considerations aside, I feel in my heart that I owe this act on my part to the staff of Charlie Hebdo.

Moving on to more mundane business thoughts, we just finished an audit of the early part of our Marvel Comics Silver Age and Bronze Age comics. As a result, our Premium New-In-Stock and the much bigger New-In-Stock listings for today contain large numbers of AVENGERS back issues, among other titles. All are available to you at half of our website price if you utilize our ongoing 50% off HOLIDAY codeword. The codeword applies to most of the rest of our ten million back issue comics and magazines, excepting only books, new comics, a few variants, and our CGC-graded comics.

Happy Collecting!

Chuck Rozanski,
President - Mile High Comics, Inc.
January 10, 2015

P.S. I want to be very clear, and state for the record that publishing the cartoons shown below was a decision made by me, and me alone. I consulted with no one at Mile High Comics about publishing these cartoons. If you have a problem with what I've done, I am the only one to whom you need speak. Thank you.

These Are The Charlie Hebdo Cartoons That Terrorists Thought Were Worth Killing Over:

Charlie Hebdo gained notoriety in 2006 for its portrayal of a sobbing Muhammad, under the headline "Mahomet deborde par les integristes" ("Muhammad overwhelmed by fundamentalists"). Within its pages, the magazine published 12 cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad, bringing unprecedented condemnation from the Muslim world. The French Council for the Muslim Faith eventually sued the weekly for the cartoon. The issue has since been considered the one which positioned Charlie Hebdo as a target for terrorist attacks.


In 2006 for its portrayal of a sobbing Muhammad.


Before a French court sided with Charlie Hebdo in the lawsuit, in 2007, another cartoon was published with the text "Charlie Hebdo must be veiled!"


In 2011, headlined by a cartoon reading "100 lashes if you don't die of laughter," an issue invited Muhammad to be a "guest editor" for the weekly. The Charlie Hebdo offices were firebombed following its publication.


Charlie Hebdo's website was hacked following a 2011 cartoon depicting the Prophet Muhammad as gay.


The weekly received backlash again in 2012 after publishing a cartoon criticizing religious Muslims and Jews.


In a more recent issue, the magazine published a cartoon depicting a member of the Islamic State group beheading Muhammad.


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