Cartoonists take on the terrorists
A new book of cartoons drawn in the aftermath of the Paris attacks
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Your support makes all the difference.Draw the Line Here is a collection of British cartoonists’ immediate reactions to the Charlie Hebdo attacks in Paris. The book includes 66 cartoons by Andrew Birch, Ralph Steadman, Steve Bell, Dave Brown, Martin Rowson and Peter Brook, as chosen by the Professional Cartoonists Organisation (PCO). Recurring themes include pens and pencils used as weapons and the black balaclava of the terrorist. The majority of the cartoons were drawn especially for the book, which will raise money for the victims’ families. Exceptions were recently published editorial cartoons.
“Some cartoons here are gentle, others savage; some merely encapsulate the bafflement and sadness of a world where mockery is met not with the proper response, a shrug, but with murder,” writes journalist and broadcaster Libby Purves in the foreword.
“Again and again the theme is of the fragility of the sceptical, laughing pencil: its simplicity and its splendour, the opposite of the vainglorious, meaningless squalor of the gun and the bomb.”
Nick Newman’s cartoon depicts a hand scribbled note saying: “Thank you for not killing me for drawing this cartoon” while Dave Brown’s response in The Independent showed a terrorist skewered on the top of an Eiffel Tower/pen nib. Matt drew two armed terrorists outside the Charlie Hebdo offices, with the caption: “Be careful, they might have pens” while Terry Anderson’s cartoon has two angel cartoonists floating on a cloud: “This reminds me of how I used to draw heaven in my cartoons.”
Radar’s cartoonist Birch drew a cloaked skeleton sniffing a bottle of “Eau De Jihad (Paris, London, New York)”. Bill Stott’s drawing had a cartoonist getting revenge on a terrorist from the grave, by throwing a custard tart at him. Royston Robertson shows a terrorist making demands on the cartoonist who is drawing him: “Make sure you get my funny side”. Meanwhile, Tim Sanders’ simple work shows a blank piece of paper with a caption, “Cartoonist plays it safe”.
‘Draw the Line Here’ is out now (www.englishpen.org)
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