First Blood was one of the first novels to depict the effects of post-traumatic stress disorder – which did not have a name in 1972 – and remains a timely book because of this theme. Taught in high schools and colleges (Stephen King used it as a text when he was a writing instructor at the University of Maine), the book has been translated into more than 20 languages and has never been out of print – a rarity for a book which debuted 36 years ago. Signed first editions are avidly sought by book collectors.

If you think the Rambo movies are violent, you may be surprised by the novel. While First Blood was thematically groundbreaking, stylistically Morrell’s novel is punctuated by a level of intensity, action, and characterization that goes far beyond what is seen in the book’s movie translation, and is considered fast-paced and powerful even by today’s standards of fiction writing. The novel depicts the character in a more complicated way, to the point that (warning – major plot spoiler), Rambo dies in his original incarnation, killed by Colonel Trautman, the man who trained him.

Decades after Morrell created the character, the global impact of Rambo continues to grow. Several years ago, when Morrell was on book tour in Poland, a journalist pointedly told him that during the Solidarity demonstrations that led to the weakening of the Eastern Bloc, protestors would watch illegal tapes of Rambo movies, dress up as the character, and go out to demonstrate. In an indirect way, he said, Rambo helped bring about the fall of the Soviet Empire. Similarly, when the Berlin Wall fell, demonstrators were filmed painting Rambo on the wall before they tore it down.

Thirty-six years after “…some nothing kid for all anybody knew, standing by the pump of a gas station …" first appeared, Morrell’s Rambo has become so much more than he ever imagined - a lasting cultural symbol. Meanwhile, the author has pursued an extensive and successful career with numerous highly regarded bestselling novels, including Brotherhood of the Rose, which became an NBC miniseries broadcast after the Super Bowl in 1989. He is a three-time recipient of the distinguished Bram Stoker Award, the latest for his novel Creepers. Prior to the publication of his graphic novel about another icon, Captain America: The Chosen, Comic-Con International gave him its prestigious Inkpot Award for his outstanding contributions to popular culture.

So what does Rambo’s creator and ITW Co-Founder and Co-President David Morrell think of the new film? “I was blown away,” he says. “This is the first time that the tone of my novel has been used in any of the movies. The action is deglamorized and shows the dismaying effect that combat can have on a person. Only in this latest film does Sylvester Stallone’s portrayal of the character come eerily close to the despair of the character as I imagined him. Rambo can’t adjust to what he’s been through and to the destruction he’s capable of inflicting. It’s an exciting action movie, but it’s also about something.”