How To Read Charlie Hebdo Attack Anniversary Issue: French Satirical Magazine's 2016 Cover Released

The cover of the latest issue of Charlie Hebdo, a French satirical weekly magazine known for its controversial cartoons, was made public Monday ahead of the one year anniversary of terror attacks on its Paris offices by Islamic extremists that left 12 people dead. For readers outside of the country, the magazine offers selections from each issue on its official website here. The full issue, which is scheduled to go on sale Wednesday, will be accessible by subscribing online through the same website.

The cartoon decorating the magazine's special anniversary issue depicts a bearded God-like figure, spattered in blood and carrying a Kalshnikov automatic weapon, accompanied by the caption: '"One Year Later, The Killer Is Still At Large," Agence-France Presse reported Monday. The magazine is printing 1 million copies of its special anniversary edition in France alone.

The provocative cover appears to blame God or religion as the true culprit behind the January 2015 attacks. The massacre at Charlie Hebdo unfolded Jan. 7, 2015 when two heavily armed gunmen stormed the office during an editorial meeting and began firing, killing a dozen people and wounding many more. The gunmen, Said and Cherif Kouachi, were self-declared Islamic terrorists who sought retribution for cartoons that the magazine had published featuring the prophet Muhammad.

Following the attacks on Charlie Hebdo, there was public outcry in France and across the world as well as an outpouring of support for free speech rights. The slogan "Je suis Charlie," or "I am Charlie," became representative of that movement.

In the year since the attacks took place at Charlie Hebdo, terrorism once again struck at the heart of Paris, when Islamic terrorists stormed the city in November, killing 130 in a series of coordinated attacks at cafes, bars and other scenes of Parisian nightlife across the city. The Islamic terror group known as ISIS has since claimed responsibility for those attacks.