Episodes of the Judge Dredd strip from classic British weekly comic 2000AD that poked fun at McDonald’s, Burger King and corporate mascots such as the Michelin Man and the Jolly Green Giant are due to be reprinted after almost four decades in legal limbo.
In 1978, the comic featured a long-running storyline called The Cursed Earth, in which the far-future lawman went on a road trip through an America reduced to a post-nuclear wasteland populated by grotesque mutants.
Two episodes – Burger Wars and Soul Food – saw Dredd go up against characters caricaturing icons of American consumer culture.
In Burger Wars, Dredd finds a devastated middle America in thrall to the warring Burger Lords, modelled on Ronald McDonald and Burger King’s eponymous monarch, who capture the heroes and force them to live on burgers and shakes.
In Soul Food, a Dr Moreau-style genetic engineer living in the blasted wasteland has created mutated creatures based on mascots of American retail culture including the Jolly Green Giant and Michelin’s tyre-man Bibendum.
But lawyers for 2000AD’s then publisher IPC got twitchy that the parodies could bring on legal action, and ordered that reprinted collections of the storyline would have to omit the two episodes.
Now 2000AD’s current owner, Rebellion Publishing, has announced that it will release a volume in 2016 entitled Judge Dredd: The Cursed Earth Uncensored, which will include the episodes that have been omitted for 37 years.
The decision comes after the law in the UK was changed last year to allow the use of copyrighted material “for the purposes of parody, caricature or pastiche”, without first seeking permission from the rights holder.
Ben Smith, head of books and comic books at Rebellion Publishing, said: “The most common question we have been asked at conventions over the years is ‘Will you be reprinting Burger Wars?’ It’s a delight, and frankly a relief, to be able to finally say ‘Yes!’”
The Cursed Earth volume, written by classic Dredd author Pat Mills, will be made available in both the UK and the US next July.
