Thank God for Charlie Hebdo.

It's a tragic irony that the Islamist gunmen and their backers have achieved more for free speech in one day than we of the civilised world could have hoped to do ourselves in years.

12 people did not die in vain - we of the free world must make sure of that.

France's Charlie Hebdo magazine is a weekly publication - its normal print run is about 60,000.   For this week's edition it will print 5 million copies.

Renald Luzier, known as Luz was late for work on the day of the killings, his hangover saved his life.  He drew the front cover of this week's edition - here he is explaining it at a packed press conference.

I love the way he talks about "drawing little characters, like when we were kids".  Irreverence like Luz's stops autocrats getting too big for their boots.  Against the misogyny, intolerance and constant bloodlust of the Islamists, humour is a stark and effective foil.   Luz has stripped the prophet bare.

Whether Luz meant it or not, the upside down dickhead staring from the front page is unmissable.

It's fabulously juvenile - et tres Charlie.