Paradox Entertainment, which controls the rights to Robert E. Howard's most popular character, Conan the Barbarian, has acquired all rights to Howard's library of over 800 literary creations, which include such characters as Kull, Solomon Kane, Bran Mak Morn, and Red Sonya.  Paradox now owns the complete Robert E. Howard catalog and will license the properties to other companies. 

Paradox purchased the rights to Howard's Conan in 2002 and has managed to create a renaissance of interest in the character.  Paradox estimates that the primary Conan licensees will spend more than $200 million in development and advertising during the next few years.

Robert E. Howard, who wrote for pulp magazines such as Weird Tales during the 1930s and died when he was only 30, was the creator of the sword and sorcery genre, and Paradox thinks that Howard's oeuvre has been seriously under-exploited since only four films have been made based on his writings.  Given the resurgence of fantasy on the silver screen Paradox's contention is hard to refute, and with their fantasy roots Howard's characters have considerable potential in the world of comic books and in all types of games (RPGs, TCGs, board games, and video games).

One key point for pop culture retailers -- while Dark Horse's Conan comic book series (and any new Warner Brothers Conan movie) would be licensed from Paradox, Dynamite Entertainment's Red Sonja comic book series is not.  The Dynamite Red Sonja, who is a contemporary of Conan, was actually the creation of Roy Thomas and Barry Windsor-Smith for the Marvel Conan comic book series in the 1970s.  Paradox now owns the rights to Robert E. Howard's Red Sonya (note the slight spelling difference), a gun-toting female pirate from a much later period in history who never crossed paths with Conan.