We continue to trace the various science fiction vehicles inspired by Roger Zelazny's Damnation Alley. We learn how both Zelazny's story and the Adventure 2000 toys turned up in a classic Judge Dredd tale in 2000 AD, plus look at some futuristic toys from the same ear - the Xploratrons from Corgi - who also had connections to the galaxy's greatest comic too!
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In his 2017 memoir Be Pure! Be Vigilant! Behave!, 'The Cursed Earth' scribe Pat Mills confirms the source of his inspiration for the dinosaur based chapters of his '78 storyline.
The short story 'Paleontology: an experimental science' by Robert R. Olsen, written in 1974 that Mills read in the anthology title The Year's Best Science Fiction No. 8 edited by Harry Harrison and Brian W. Aldiss, published in 1976 a couple of years before 'The Cursed Earth' came along.
The story recounts how DNA science is used to create a T-Rex that then becomes the star attraction at San Diego zoo, eventually escaping and going on a killing rampage.
According to Mills, it's actually very funny and he thoroughly recommends seeking it out!
As for the overall plot of 'The Cursed Earth', Mills has also previously gone on record to confirm that 2000 AD's incumbent Tharg the Mighty of the day, editor Kelvin Gosnell, had recently read Zelazny's novel Damnation Alley and having related its storyline to him, commissioned Mills to write his Dredd epic specifically using the exact same framework as the reason to send Dredd across an irradiated North America.
As you say, imitation and flattery and all that...!
As for that Matchbox/Dredd 'Cursed Earth crossover...
Lesney (owners of the Matchbox die-cast toy vehicle brand) had a good relationship with UK comics’ publishers in the ‘70s and often provided them with free samples of their existing products for use as competition prizes in order to raise their profile. It was a win-win situation all round: the comics running the competitions got a sales boost, and the toy company promoted their wares and generated interest in their overall output, too.
Writer Pat Mills had seen the ‘K2001 Raider Command’ toy released by Matchbox in 1977 as part of their wider Adventure 2000 (sheer coincidence) range of futuristic battle vehicles; it was advertised for sale in 2000 AD as early as Prog 35 and again in Prog 38, well before appearing in the Judge Dredd strip! Mills was so taken with the design that he persuaded 2000 AD management to negotiate an early example of a ‘product placement’ deal with Lesney so that he could use the exact likeness of the toy in his forthcoming Dredd epic, 'The Cursed Earth'. The actual toys themselves were given to artists Mike McMahon and Brian Bolland so that they could draw directly from them to ensure accuracy to the product and consistency throughout the story, and 2000 AD indeed went on to run a competition to win sixty complete sets of the Matchbox Adventure 2000 range donated by Lesney.
Word is that 2000 AD’s present publisher Rebellion once approached Matchbox with a view to negotiating a re-release of the toy in actual Dredd branded packaging as an item of official character merchandising but that the proposal failed to win the manufacturer’s support.
Brilliant info! I've long wondered what exactly went on behind the scenes! I may well ammend the episode later this week
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