The cartoonist who drew the image of the Prophet Muhammad that appeared on the comeback issue of Charlie Hebdo is leaving the satirical magazine, citing stress and a lack of inspiration. The cartoonist, Luz, was one of the few artists who survived January’s attack on the magazine’s office in Paris.
“I will no longer be Charlie Hebdo, but I will always be Charlie,” said Luz.
The cartoonist, whose name is Renald Luzier and who joined the weekly magazine in 1992, says he’ll leave in September. He made his departure official in an interview with the newspaper Liberation.
“It’s a very personal choice,” Luz tells Liberation. He later added, “It became one of my obsessions after all this craziness to rebuild myself, to retake control of myself.”
Luz also said he has spent sleepless nights wondering about the work that his dead colleagues would have produced. Five cartoonists were among the 12 people who died in the Jan. 7 attack on Charlie Hebdo.