''La Grosse Bertha'' (''Big Bertha'') was a French weekly satirical magazine created in 1991 in opposition to the

Gulf War The Gulf War was a 1990–1991 armed campaign waged by a Coalition of the Gulf War, 35-country military coalition in response to the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait. Spearheaded by the United States, the coalition's efforts against Ba'athist Iraq, ...

. Its editor and publisher was Jean-Cyrille Godefroy and its first

editor-in-chief An editor-in-chief (EIC), also known as lead editor or chief editor, is a publication's editorial leader who has final responsibility for its operations and policies. The highest-ranking editor of a publication may also be titled editor, managing ...

was François Forcadell. The title of the magazine was an anti-militarist jibe; " Big Bertha" is the name of a massive piece of heavy artillery. The editorial team included humorists such as

François Rollin François Rollin (born 31 May 1953) is a French actor, comedian, author and screenwriter. He is known for his role as King Loth of Orkney in ''Kaamelott'', Professor Rollin in ''Palace'', and for writing the satirical news programme ''Les Guig ...

Philippe Val Philippe Val (; born 14 September 1952) is a French journalist, singer, and comedian. He was a co-founder of the second iteration of '' Charlie Hebdo'', serving as the satirical political weekly's editor and director. After leaving ''Charlie H ...

Kafka Franz Kafka (3 July 1883 – 3 June 1924) was a German-speaking Bohemian novelist and short-story writer, widely regarded as one of the major figures of 20th-century literature. His work fuses elements of realism and the fantastic. It typi ...

, Jean-Jacques Peroni, Patrick Font, Kleude, Fredo Manon Troppo ( Frédéric Pagès), Oncle Bernard ( Bernard Maris),

Gérard Biard Gérard Biard (born 4 August 1959) is a French journalist. He is the editor‑in‑chief of the satirical French news magazine, ''Charlie Hebdo''. He has been associated with ''Charlie Hebdo'' since 1992, when it was relaunched after a 10-year ...

, Docteur H (

Hervé Le Tellier Hervé Le Tellier (born 21 April 1957) is a French writer and linguist, and a member of the international literary group Oulipo (Ouvroir de Littérature Potentielle, which translates roughly as "workshop of potential literature"). He is its fou ...

), Xavier Pasquini and also '' Charlie Hebdo'' alumni such as

Arthur Arthur is a common male given name of Brythonic origin. Its popularity derives from it being the name of the legendary hero King Arthur. The etymology is disputed. It may derive from the Celtic ''Artos'' meaning “Bear”. Another theory, more wi ...

, Cabu,

Willem Willem () is a Dutch and West FrisianRienk de Haan, ''Fryske Foarnammen'', Leeuwarden, 2002 (Friese Pers Boekerij), , p. 158. masculine given name. The name is Germanic, and can be seen as the Dutch equivalent of the name William in English, ...

(who drew the first cover),

Georges Wolinski Georges David Wolinski (; 28 June 19347 January 2015) was a French cartoonist and comics writer. He was killed on 7 January 2015 in a terrorist attack on ''Charlie Hebdo'' along with other staff. Early life Georges David Wolinski was born on 28 ...

Gébé Georges Blondeaux, known as Gébé (July 9, 1929 – April 4, 2004) was a French cartoonist. Biography He began his career as an industrial designer at the SNCF in 1947, and published his first cartoons in La Vie du Rail magazine. In the 1960s ...

and

Siné Maurice Sinet (; 31 December 1928 – 5 May 2016), known professionally as Siné (), was a French political cartoonist. His work is noted for its anti-capitalism, anti-clericalism, anti-colonialism, anti-semitism, and anarchism. Biography A ...

. Among the artists were

Honoré Honoré is a name of French origin and may refer to several people or places: Given name Sovereigns of Monaco Lords of Monaco * Honoré I of Monaco Princes of Monaco * Honoré II of Monaco * Honoré III of Monaco * Honoré IV of Monaco * Honor� ...

, Bernar,

Lefred Thouron Lefred Thouron is a cartoonist and writer born in Nancy, France in 1961. Biography His first cartoons were published in 1984 in ''Hara-Kiri''. Following, his work will be published in the weekly news magazine ''L'événement du Jeudi'', the daily ...

, Cardon, Gorce, Kerleroux, Pessin, Loup, Faujour, Jiho, Berth,

Samson Samson (; , '' he, Šīmšōn, label= none'', "man of the sun") was the last of the judges of the ancient Israelites mentioned in the Book of Judges (chapters 13 to 16) and one of the last leaders who "judged" Israel before the institution o ...

Luz Luz ( ''Lūz'') is the name of two places in the Bible. Mentioned in Genesis Luz is the ancient name of a royal Canaanite city, connected with Bethel (Genesis 28:19; 35:6). It is debated among scholarsRashi on 28:17 whether Luz and Bethel repres ...

Riss The Riss (german: Riß) is a small river in Baden-Württemberg, south-western Germany, right tributary of the Danube. Its source is in Upper Swabia, between Bad Waldsee and Bad Schussenried. It flows north, through the town of Biberach an der Ri ...

and Charb. The magazine underwent an editorial split in 1992, causing much of the editorial team to leave and revive '' Charlie Hebdo''. ''La Grosse Bertha'' ceased publication a year later.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Grosse Bertha 1991 establishments in France 1993 disestablishments in France Defunct magazines published in France French-language magazines Satirical magazines published in France Weekly magazines published in France Magazines established in 1991 Magazines disestablished in 1993

See also

References