In October Hermes Press will release By This Axe I Rule, an all-new book that details the pictorial, publishing and legal history of Robert E. Howard’s most popular creation Conan the Barbarian through all of the character’s various iterations from pulp magazines to paperback covers to comic books and the movies.  It also details the twisted legal history of Howard's muscular hero including the all the law suits and court battles fought among the author's many heirs, the careless editing of his work, and the battle to get Howard's classic fantasy fiction back in print.

Writer, actor, playwright, and comics journalist Tom Stewart has compiled this full color hardcover collection of classic Conan art, which sports a striking new cover design from artist Joe Jusko, and which tells, for the first time, the whole behind-the-scenes story of the struggle to rescue Robert E. Howard's legacy.  By This Axe I Rule includes more than 250 illustrations from the character’s inception in the pages of Weird Tales in the 1930s to the latest comic book version of the chunky Cimmerian published by Dark Horse, but it is much more than just a collection of great art, it's the all too familiar American story of the struggle for the vindication of a neglected and legally-abused portion of our precious pop culture heritage.