There is controversy over who wrote the stories for "Master Keaton". Hokusei Katsushika is a pseudonym of manga story writer Hajime Kimura, who was also a co-writer of "Golgo 13". Originally, Kimura created the series' story, while Naoki Urasawa did the artwork. However, after Kimura died of cancer in December 2004, Urasawa claimed in a May 2005 interview with weekly magazine "Shuukan Bunshun" that Kimura eventually stopped work as a story writer due to a personal conflict with Urasawa, after which Urasawa alone created both story and art. Because of this, Urasawa demanded that Katsushika's name appear smaller than his on the manga's covers. Manga story writer Kariya Tetsu, who was a close friend of Kimura and an influential figure at Shogakukan, opposed this action vehemently, which resulted in the discontinuation of the further publication of the manga as of July 2005.