Starting serialization all the way back in 1968, it may surprise you to hear that Golgo 13 had never once taken a hiatus in its 52-year publication history. Yet, that all changed in May. Owing to the effects of the Coronavirus, series author Saito Takao and production company Saito Pro were forced to take an unprecedented break in issue no. 11 of Shogakukan’s Big Comic, citing risks to the production staff. Yet, things now seem to be more or less back on track, as it was announced that Golgo 13 will be making its grand return next month.
Golgo 13 follows the story of titular assassin Golgo as he travels the world carrying out missions of murder and espionage. The series has been adapted multiple times into various anime, games, TV series, and live-action films, but its length obviously puts some people off. Never fear, however, as the chapters are mostly episodic and can be enjoyed in any order – diving into the VIZ release is perhaps the best way to go.
In any case, Saito and his staff apparently continued to work during the hiatus, and as a result Golgo 13 will be returning to Big Comic next month. As it turns out, this is also a pretty special milestone – not only because this marks the end of the hiatus, but also because the series’ next chapter will be its 600th. If that sounds like a lot of chapters, then wait until you hear this: each ‘chapter’ of the series has been split into three ‘parts’ and published separately for many years, meaning that there are over 1200 installments of the series proper. To mark the occasion, Shogakukan is doing a giveaway, the prizes for which can be seen below:
Saito Takao and Golgo 13’s success in coming back from hiatus offers an interesting counterpoint to the article that we published yesterday on My Hero Academia author Kohei Horikoshi. There, we said that it was unlikely that the disruption would cease any time soon, especially as cases spike in Tokyo. Nevertheless, if Saito and his team can adapt to the circumstances, then surely anyone can – turns out that you can teach an old dog new tricks, after all.