Cartoonist Luz to Quit Charlie Hebdo

The Charlie Hebdo cartoonist Luz, who drew the satirical magazine’s front cover picture of the prophet Muhammad following the murders of its editorial team in January, has said that he is leaving the publication. Renald Luzier said his departure in September was unconnected to internal tensions at the publication, but rather that the job without his slain colleagues had become “too much to bear”. Luz, who joined Charlie Hebdo in 1992, said in an interview with French newspaper Libération on Monday, "This is a very personal choice. Each issue is torture because the others are gone. Luz drew the magazine’s first cover image a week after the attacks, portraying Muhammad with a sign saying “Je suis Charlie” under the words “All is forgiven”. The issue had a print run of eight million – a record for the French press.