Britain's 2000AD is known for cutting its scifi with satire, but occasionally even the Galaxy's Greatest Comic can go too far. Such was the case with four episodes of Judge Dredd in 1978, which set out to prove just how dangerous fast food could be, and ended up demonstrating that it's not a good idea to mess with copyrights of international corporations if you're looking to avoid lawyers writing nasty letters. Who knew that Ronald McDonald could be so disagreeable?
The four episodes — part of the popular "Cursed Earth" storyline, and the only chapters of that story to have never been reprinted, under threat of legal action — were two separate two-parters, each focusing on somewhat familiar characters. In the first, Dredd got caught up in a war between McDonalds and Burger King that included riots, lynch-mobs and Ronald himself slaughtering unproductive staff, whereas the second included an Island of Dr. Moreau-style mad scientist surrounded by mutant versions of the Jolly Green Giant, Mr. Peanut and other corporate icons.
As soon as the lawyers got involved, 2000AD's publishers quickly promised never to reprint the offending strips again, and even went so far as to create a special half-page strip letting the world know that, hey, the real Jolly Green Giant? A stand up kinda guy. Luckily, the event of the internet meant that some of these lost strips can still be viewed by a highly impressionable public, eager for disillusionment. Now, how long before cease and desist emails start to go out...?