This year's fourth issue of Shogakukan's Big Comic magazine is reporting on Tuesday that Takao Saito's long-running manga Golgo 13 is heading "towards its conclusion at last!!" The 550th installment about the legendary assassin will run in the following issue on February 25.

The series is the oldest manga still in publication. Saito launched the manga in 1968, and LEED Publishing Co., Ltd. published the 175th volume in December. Viz Media published 13 volumes of the manga in North America between 2006 and 2008. The story inspired two live-action films in 1973 and 1977, a 1983 anime film, a 1998 Golgo 13: Queen Bee original video anime, and a 2008-2009 television anime series.

Big Comic celebrated the manga's 45th anniversary in 2013 with collection of artwork from 51 different manga creators.

When asked about a hypothetical ending in 2013, Saito replied, “I always had nightmares about my manga getting cut, and I thought it would get ended right away, so I had an ending prepared.” However, when asked about when the manga will end, he said, “It's not something that can be decided on... The manga has continued so long that it is no longer the property of the author; it belongs to readers.”

The manga creator added, "The ending and even its panel layout are all inside my head. And that's fine, but I'm going to do my best until the 200th volume." He added with a laugh that the details of the ending are a "trade secret."