"The Cursed Earth" is the second extended storyline of the British science fictional comics character Judge Dredd. It appeared in 2000 AD, and was the first Dredd storyline to exceed twenty episodes. Written mostly by Pat Mills, this story arc added many core setting and backstory elements to Dredd's world, particularly to locations outside Mega-City One. Publication history The storyline ran from 2000 AD #61 to 85 (May to October 1978), and according to Kevin O'Neill was inspired by Roger Zelazny's novel Damnation Alley. Plot In the year 2100, Mega-City Two, on the West Coast of North America, becomes infected with the virus 2T(fru)T (a play on tutti frutti), which drives people violently insane before a painful death. Scientists in Mega-City One manage to develop a vaccine, but authorities find it impossible to safely land at Mega-City Two's airports. The only option is to send a land expedition of Judges across the "Cursed Earth"–the remnant of Middle America that multiple nuclear (and conventional) wars have reduced to a barren wasteland. As one of Mega-City One's most active and celebrated lawmen, Judge Dredd is assigned to lead the mission, equipped with a heavily-armed "Kill-Dozer" battle-tank and two state-of-the-art "Quasar" motorbikes. Accompanying him are three other Judges, a convoy of androids, and–at Dredd's own insistence–Spikes Harvey Rotten, a violent and unrepentant outlaw who is nevertheless the best motorcyclist in the nation. Though despising Dredd and all he stands for, Spikes accepts the mission from a combination of physical "persuasion" and the promise of a full pardon for his criminal record. The bulk of the story is episodic, detailing the many savage–and bizarre–perils Dredd's party encounters along the Cursed Earth, among them: The "Death Belt"–an unpredictable air current that periodically flings swarms of huge, mutated rats at human settlements. A clan of mutants in the Appalachians (which now also contain Mount Rushmore), who have sworn violent revenge on all "normies". A trio of "vampires"–ultimately revealed to be medical robots preserving the suspended body of President Robert L. Booth, the last president of the United States (and instigator of the wars that created the Cursed Earth). A set of Mississippi plantations using enslaved extraterrestrials, which Dredd's party ultimately liberate–in the process gaining an aardvark-like alien named Tweak as a new companion. A region of Kansas where the local McDonald's and Burger King franchises have mutated into fiefdoms, routinely waging gang wars over new "customers".