Charlie Hebdo copies bid up on eBay

Copies of the French satirical newspaper Charlie Hebdo are drawing bids of hundreds of dollars on eBay (EBAY) for controversial issues dealing with Islam and other topics, while the publication vowed to continue putting out issues.

People across the world are showing support for the magazine with hashtags such as #jesuischarlie, and other artists are creating moving tributes to the publication's murdered cartoonists. French police are now on the hunt for two men who are suspected in the attack, which killed 12 people at the magazine, while a third suspect turned himself in.

With past issues drawing attention from supporters and collectors, the magazine is vowing to continue on despite the loss of some of its most famous cartoonists. The publication is now planning to boost its print run to 1 million copies next week, instead of its regular run of 60,000 copies, in response to the support from readers, although the edition will have only eight pages, or half of the length of its most recent issue.

"It's very hard. We are all suffering, with grief, with fear, but we will do it anyway because stupidity will not win," said Patrick Pelloux, a doctor who also writes for the weekly, in an interview with a French TV channel.

On eBay, an issue from 2012 that features an orthodox Jewish man pushing a Muslim man in a wheelchair sold for a top bid of $1,000 on Thursday, after attracting more than 60 other offers that started at $10 on Wednesday. The cover reads "Untouchables 2," a reference to a French movie called "The Untouchables," which was about a wealthy white, paralyzed man who hires a black man to be his caretaker.

Other issues were listed by sellers for prices ranging from a few dollars to thousands of dollars. Charlie Hebdo's most recent issue had sold only half of its regular run at the time of the attack; the cover price is 3 euros, which is about $3.56.

The publication, which the Toronto Star describes as cash strapped, is also winning monetary support from some big backers.

Google (GOOG) is pledging 250,000 euros, or almost $300,000, to the magazine from its press innovation fund, according to The Guardian. French newspaper publishers have pledged another 250,000 euros through a donation tax. The publication had received death threats in the past, and was firebombed in 2011, after poking fun at Islam and depicting the Prophet Mohammad, which is prohibited in Islam.

"You know there are very few good reasons to kill someone, and there are a million bad ones," said Bob Mankoff, head cartoon editor for The New Yorker. "But on the top of the list of the bad ones has to be that you're offended by their joke."