Fronting an armed deity, Charlie Hebdo declares itself alive

French magazine Charlie Hebdo has marked the one year anniversary since their Paris office was attacked by Islamic militants by publishing a cover portraying God as an armed terrorist.

One million copies of the issue will be printed and available in newsagents on Wednesday, with tens of thousands being sent to be sold overseas – including in the UK.

From being a small weekly satirical, Charlie Hebdo became one of the world’s most famous publications.

Variety reports the documentary Je suis Charlie will come to Netflix on the one year anniversary of the attack on the office of satire magazine Charlie Hebdo, which saw twelve people killed.

“In 2006, when Charlie published the Mohamed cartoons, nobody seriously thought this would end in violence”, he wrote. The cover of the issue, which hits French newsstands Wednesday, January 6, features a drawing of an angry man with a blood-stained beard carrying an AK-47-style assault rifle. Charlie Hebdo artists and staffers published the 32-page edition declaring that the satirical publication is still alive.

His piece also denounces “fanatics brutalized by the Koran” and other religions that criticized Charlie Hebdo and its contributors for “daring to laugh at the religious”.

South African cartoonist Zapiro said he hoped the attack “doesn’t have a further chilling effect on satirists, commentators and journalists; any free thinkers in society”.

A year after the attacks, Eric Portheault, Charlie Hebdo’s financial director, who escaped death by hiding behind his desk, said that they “are left alone and they feel unsupported in their struggle”.

In the second wave of attacks on November 13, Islamist militants mowed down people in Paris cafes and a concert hall and attacked a stadium in what was the nation’s worst post-war atrocity.

There will also be subdued ceremonies taking place throughout France under heavy security in memory of the lives lost in the shooting with soldiers protecting official buildings and religious sites, according to The Guardian.

This week, commemorative plaques will be unveiled at Charlie Hebdo’s former office and the kosher supermarket to honor the victims of the attacks.

The Paris mayor’s office has announced a “tree of remembrance” will be symbolically planted.

Johnny Hallyday, the 72-year-old French rock giant, will perform his song A Sunday in January about several million people who marched in protest on the streets of French cities following the attacks.