Advance Preview Of Hell On (Cursed) Earth – ‘The Helltrekkers’ Collection Up For Pre-Order Now

One of the very first Dreddverse spin-offs, an apocalyptic survival story – it’s time to get trekkin’ out into the Cursed Earth with the Hellterekkers.

“Acid rain that will strip skin from bone! Killer viruses that strike without warning! Marauding bands of mutants! Herds of hungry dinosaurs! Only the bold and the foolish hate Mega-City One enough to brave the hell of the Cursed Earth – but the Helltrekkers are willing to take the chance!”

Written by Judge Dredd co-creator John Wagner and his writing partner Alan Grant, with art by José Ortiz and Horacio Lalia, The Helltrekkers is one of those lost classics of 2000 AD, a true survival epic, and one of the very first spin-off strips from the world of Judge Dredd.

When you’ve experienced life in Mega-City One for a while, the prospect of breaking free and leaving the urban hell behind would surely be tempting. But the trouble most MC-1 cits have is that they wouldn’t last five minutes outside the city gates out in the Cursed Earth.

Not the Helltrekkers though, these are the newfrontiersman, men and women willing to make that tortuous and deadly journey across the Cursed Earth for 2,000 kilometers in the faint hope of something better, somewhere better. But even though they set off in large convoys, their chances of survival out there would be slim if it were only the horrors of the Cursed Earth they had to deal with, but this latest group of Helltrekkers are about to find out that it’s the threats from their own fellow travelers that are just as likely to do them in!

It’s a nightmarish journey into places no ordinary MC-1 citizens should ever go – and the body count just keeps adding up as the Helltrekkers’ numbers go down, down, down, all the way to one of the most low key endings you’ll ever read.

The new collection – I think it’s the first time this early 2000 AD classic has been collected – comes out on 7th December 2023 with a standard edition paperback and a special 2000 AD webshop exclusive hardcover edition, whose specially designed cover evokes the famous Haynes Manuals.

THE HELLTREKKERS – written by  John Wagner and Alan Grant, art by José Ortiz and Horacio Lalia.

Originally serialised in 2000 AD Progs 387-415.