Japanese comic Detective Conan to return after 4-month hiatus

INDUSTRI KOMIK - JAKARTA. The long-running, popular Japanese serial comic "Detective Conan" ("Meitantei Konan") that has a strong fan base in Asia will resume next week after a four-month hiatus over concerns about the health of its creator, its publisher said Sunday.

Making the announcement on April Fool's Day, Gosho Aoyama displayed his wit and humor by assuring fans that the comeback of the megahit comic is for real.

"Today is April Fool's but please rest assured there are absolutely no lies in what is written here," he said in a message posted on the website of the comic book's publisher Shogakukan Inc.

The publisher announced that the comic will return in the Weekly Shonen Sunday edition to hit the stores on April 11. The comic has been running in the weekly magazine since 1994.

Detective Conan is a story about a genius teenage detective who shrank into a young boy after being forced to take in an experimental toxin, and follows his adventures in cracking mystery cases while enrolled at a local elementary school. He takes on the alias Conan Edogawa in a nod to the writer Arthur Conan Doyle.

Aoyama said in December that the comic would be suspended so he can rest and recover from illness.

The comic series is also popular overseas with translations available in over two dozen languages, including Chinese, Vietnamese, Indonesian, French, Spanish and English, under the title "Case Closed."

It has also been adapted into an animated series since 1996, as well as feature films, video games and live action television specials.

An airport in western Japan is also named after the comic and anime, capitalizing on Conan's popularity.