The final chapter of Jaco the Galactic Patrolman, in its original Japanese Weekly Shōnen Jump printing back in September, announced that a collected release would be coming 04 January 2014.

As we hit mid-December, however, there are still absolutely no retailer listings online, and even Shueisha’s own January 2014 schedule is devoid of any Jaco / Dragon Ball content. While it is typical for previously unannounced/stealth releases to pop up very close to their release dates, it is rare for an actually announced product to be paid zero lip-service this close to release.

Fans in Japan have also taken notice. One such intrepid blogger, as pointed out to us on Twitter by Dragon Ball collector extraordinaire Peking Duck, went so far as to phone Shueisha to see what was up, and was apparently told that the collected release has been delayed until April 2014. No explanation was offered for the delay, although an April release date would make it a part of fiscal year 2014–15, and thus tie it neatly to the franchise’s 30th anniversary.

Viz digitally released all eleven (“10+1”) chapters of Jaco the Galactic Patrolman translated into English in their own Weekly Shonen Jump, doing so simultaneously alongside its Japanese print counterpart. There is currently no word from the company on a collected English release either in print or digital form. Currently, the oldest back-issue Viz has available for purchase is the 2013-09-16 issue, which contains Jaco’s ninth chapter.