The Executioner was created and initially written by American author Don Pendleton, who penned 37 of the original 38 Bolan novels (he did not write #16).

Written under the pen name Steven Belly, the series follows the adventures of Kira, a young woman who appeared in L'Exécuteur nº300: Le réseau Phénix,[2] where she manipulated Mack Bolan to come out of retirement to fight against cyber-criminals.

[3] Select Executioner titles were distributed on audiocassette by DH Audio through #241, although the company was dissolved in Fall 2001.

These abridged versions of the books, read by Richard Rohan performing multiple voices, ran about 3 hours.

[6] Some Pinnacle printings at the time had a strapline in a corner of the cover with "Soon to be a major motion picture from Avco-Embassy."

A later attempt to adapt The Executioner to the screen by William Friedkin was to star Sylvester Stallone and Cynthia Rothrock,[7] but the production was scrapped.

[8] It was announced in August 2014, that Shane Salerno, Hollywood producer and screenwriter, acquired the rights to turn the novel series into a film franchise.

[9] Four days later, Deadline reported that Warner Bros. had acquired the film rights from Salerno, hoping to sign Bradley Cooper to star as Bolan and Todd Phillips to direct.

The Executioner was adapted into a five-part comic book series by IDW, written by Doug Wojtowicz and illustrated by S. I. Gallant.

[11] The show's hosts, Eric Compton and Tom Simon, discuss the series' origins including its impact on popular culture.