Mack Bolan

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Mack Bolan in action

For the singer, see Marc Bolan.

Mack Bolan, alias The Executioner, is a fictional character who has been serialized in over six hundred novels.When asked his name and rank in Colorado Kill Zone, he replied, "Bolan, Mack Samuel. Master Sergeant." He made his first appearance on the printed page in 1969's War Against The Mafia. The novel was written by author Don Pendleton, who would go on to write 37 more Bolan novels before he sold the rights of Mack Bolan to Gold Eagle. These novels are often referred to as the "Mafia Wars" novels as opposed to the Stony Man and the War Everlasting, which were to follow. At the present time Mack Bolan books are published by Harlequin Books, although that company does not advertise the Mack Bolan books.

Bolan currently works on his own at arms length distance from the US Federal Government agency Stony Man. He occasionally takes missions from Stony Man's director and personal friend Hal Brognola and the President of the United States. Frequently he returns to Stony Man to lead the agency on missions.

Mack met many of the other characters in the Executioner novels in a variety of different circumstances. His friend, Hal Brognola was assigned by the President of the United States to hunt down and kill Mack, which he tried to do. Leo Turrin was a Pittsfield, Massachusetts mafia underboss and federal undercover informant, and Bolan's best friend. Jack Grimaldi was a pilot for the Mafia when he was befriended by Mack and persuaded to join the fight against the Mafia. Carl Lyons was a young policeman working for the Los Angeles police when he was assigned to Project Hardcase, which had as its goal the hunting down of Mack.

Mack has been on trial for his extra-judicial activities in book # 91, the Trial.

In the 1970s, Marvel Comics based their anti-hero The Punisher on Don Pendleton's character. Both were Vietnam War veterans who had their families murdered by the mafia and were driven to seek revenge. Additionally, the "War Journal", battle van and weaponry were all used in The Executioner series before the Punisher was created. In one of Marvel's magazines featuring the Punisher, an interview with Don Pendleton commented on his "indirect" influence on the Punisher character.

In addition to the main Executioner series, several spin-off book series have been published expanding Pendleton's universe, including Mack Bolan, Able Team, Phoenix Force, Super Bolan and Stony Man. More than 670 Mack Bolan/Executioner/Super Bolan/Stony Man/Phoenix Force/Able Team novels have been published over the last 38 years, making it one of the most prolific series of original novels centered around one character published in the English language.

[edit] Authors

Here is a comprehensive list of authors who have at one point in time written a Mack Bolan/Executioner novel, or a spin-off novel for the series (i.e. Able Team, Phoenix Force, or Stony Man).

Don Pendleton	Dan Marlowe	Patrick F. Rogers
Tom Arnett	Charlie McDade	Ken Rose
Andy Boot	Mike McQuay	Mark Sadler
Nicholas Cain	Stephen Mertz	Kirk Sanson
E. Richard Churchill	Gerald Addison Montgomery	Dan Schmidt
Chet Cunningham	Will Murray	C.J. Shiao
Les Danforth	Patrick Neary	Wiley Slade
Kent Delaney	Judy Newton	Tim Somheil
Mark Ellis	Michael Newton	Gayle Stone
William Fieldhouse	Paul Glen Neuman	Dan Streib
G. H. Frost	David North	Rex Swenson
Carl Furst	Raymond Obstfeld	Timothy Tresslar
Jack Garside	Mel Odom	Nik Uhernik
Roland Green	L. R. Payne	Jerry VanCook
Jon Guenther	Rod Pennington	David Wade
Aaron Hill	Alan Philipson	Saul Wernick
Paul Hofrichter	Nick Pollotta	Douglas Wojtowicz
Robert Hoskins	Larry Powell
Tom Jagninski	Rick Price
Michael W. Kasner	Rich Rainey
Steven Krauzer	Thomas Ramirez
Peter Leslie	Kevin Randall
Michael Linaker	Ron Renauld
Larry Lind	David L. Robbins
James Lord	Chuck Rogers (1985-1987)
Chuck Rogers (1996-present)