Golgo 13

Golgo 13 (Japanese: ゴルゴ13, Hepburn: Gorugo Sātīn) is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Takao Saito, published in Shogakukan’s Big Comic magazine since October 1968. The manga won the 1975 Shogakukan Manga Award for general manga and the Grand Prize at the 2002 Japan Cartoonists Association Awards. The series follows the title character, a professional assassin for hire.

Golgo 13 is the oldest manga still in publication, and its tankōbon edition has the highest number of volumes (for a single-title series). With a cumulative total of 300 million copies in circulation in various formats, including compilation books, it is the second-best-selling manga series and the top selling Seinen manga series in history.[2] It has been adapted into two live-action feature films, an anime film, an original video animation, an anime television series and six video games.

Golgo 13, also known by the pseudonym Duke Togo (デューク・東郷, Dyūku Tōgō), is a professional assassin. His age and birthplace are unknown and there is no consensus in the worldwide intelligence community as to his true identity.[3] Most of his jobs are completed through the use of a customized, scoped M16 rifle. Besides Duke Togo, Golgo 13’s other aliases include Tadashi Togo (東郷 隆, Tōgō Tadashi) and Togo Rodriguez (トーゴ・ロドリゲス, Tōgo Rodorigesu).

Duke Togo has a very quiet personality and will only talk when he needs to, he shows very little to no emotion when carrying out an assassination and is willing to kill anyone who will threaten to expose him. He accepts many different assassination jobs, from anyone who can afford his services. From simply shooting a violin string to taking out powerful organized crime bosses and political figures, these killings have often attracted retaliations against Golgo 13, even at one stage having both the FBI, CIA, and even the United States military out to kill him, causing Togo to always have to watch his own back and pay attention to his surroundings in order to stop other assassins and contract killers employed to kill him in often creative ways. Golgo 13 also employs many different people himself to assist him in his assassination jobs, such as in providing extra information on his targets to modifying his weapons, vehicles, and gadgets.

The name “Golgo 13” is a reference to the death of Jesus Christ. Golgo is short for Golgotha, the place of Jesus’ crucifixion, while the number 13 is considered an unlucky number.[4] Also, Golgo 13’s logo is a skeleton wearing a crown of thorns.

Duke Togo’s past is a mystery. Although his Asian appearance suggests that he may be of Japanese origin, many of Golgo 13’s stories have presented different speculations about his true identity while presenting contradictory information, leaving the audience uncertain which information is true. It is known that he may be the biological father of many different children all over the world from the many sexual encounters he has had with women throughout the series, such as a four-year-old son named Joey from ex–Provisional Irish Republican Army freedom fighter Catherine McCall.[5][6]

With respect to the character’s age, a large number of stories are dated as they are centered around current events of the time. However, Golgo 13’s age has not increased significantly to account for these events. He has also suffered multiple injuries throughout the series, leaving many different scars on his body.[7]