Wrath of the Gods and The Ghost World book

 

Wrath of the Gods & The Ghost World
The Deluxe hardback edition

IT'S ARRIVED! 

Wrath of the Gods and The Ghost World

For the first time Frank Bellamy's complete "Ghost World " story from Boys' World has been commercially reprinted! Full praise must go to Geoff West (the Book Palace boss!) and  Stuart Williams (design & production) and John Symonds for the scans. Book Palace does a great job reprinting comic strips and this one must have been their hardest - see below.

There are two versions available and they are incredible. I received the Super Deluxe Collectors' Edition clamshell case version - or "fantastic" version as I called it - because I contributed the introduction to "The Ghost World" section.

I have been sent the 'clamshell' very spectacular version (am I gushing too much?) which you can see me unboxing in the above video. You can also turn on the sound to hear what a quiet place I live in - with the addition of a Robin singing! Many thanks to my wife Nicola for her superb work - all in one take!

THE CONTENT

The Boys' World comic ran from 26 January 1963 - 3 October 1964 (just 89 issues) before being subsumed into Eagle- with the name still being used on the Annual until1972! It was very much a comic like Eagle and created for and aimed at the 60s generation. If you want to read more about the comic and see a full listing of the contents with a great background essay on the creators plus lots of pictures send Steve Holland your money.

The Book Palace books have reprinted "the complete Wrath of the Gods by Ron Embleton and John M Burns and the complete Frank Bellamy's The Ghost World in one huge volume."

Paul Duncan - whose book credits are a fanboy's dream - wrote the introduction to "Wrath of the Gods" and I wrote the introduction to "The Ghost World"

THE BOOKS

Wrath of the Gods & The Ghost World
The Deluxe hardback edition

The first is the Deluxe Collectors' Limited Edition of 450 copies. "All the Embleton and Burns double-page spreads are printed as deluxe fold-outs (see my video above) in this monster full colour volume. A glorious 124 pages including 60 double fold out pages."

DETAILS

• Authors: Willie Patterson, Harry Harrison
• Artists: Frank Bellamy, Ron Embleton, John M Burns
• Publisher: Book Palace Books, May 2025
• Number of pages: 124
• Format: Hard Cover; Full Colour illustrations
• Size: 13" x 10" (324mm x 253mm)
• ISBN: 9781913548599
• Price: £75.00
• [Introductions to both strips by Paul Duncan and Norman Boyd (yours truly)]
• ORDER HERE or if in America, try Bud's Art Books

Wrath of the Gods & The Ghost World
The Super Deluxe hardback edition in 'clamshell' box

The second book is the 'clamshell' shown in the video above. It's called the Super Deluxe Collectors' Edition "Limited to just 50 copies worldwide, enclosed in a glorious hardcover clamshell case.
This Super Deluxe Edition includes:

1. The complete Wrath of the Gods and The Ghost World book
2. 16-page book reprinting the final Wrath Quests from Boys' World Annuals
3. Two prints scanned from Frank Bellamy's Ghost World original art
4. Two John M Burns prints scanned from unpublished artwork
5. Plus a print of an original pencil sketch by John M Burns.

DETAILS

• Authors: Willie Patterson, Harry Harrison
• Artists: Frank Bellamy, Ron Embleton, John M Burns
• Publisher: Book Palace Books, May 2025
• Number of pages: 124
• Format: Hard Cover; Full Colour illustrations
• Size: 13" x 10" (324mm x 253mm)
• ISBN: 9781913548605
• Price: £130.00
• [Introductions to both strips by Paul Duncan and Norman Boyd (yours truly)]
• ORDER HERE

AUCTION: Heros the Spartan at Compal

 It's Frank Bellamy’s birthday. This morning I've helped friends to clear their house they've been living in for 30 years and suddenly I get a message that Compal Auctions has a piece of Frank Bellamy original art, which I thought I'd highlight today as it's Frank's anniversary.

 

"Heros The Spartan", Eagle Vol 16:28 (10 July 1965)

The auction is described as:

 Heros the Spartan original double page artwork (1965) drawn and signed by Frank Bellamy for The Eagle Vol. 16 No 28 1965. 'Heros and his band of escaped slaves fought their way out of the desert stronghold of El Raschid. Swelled by the Moorish army of Abdullah the Cruel, El Raschid's savage band streamed in hot pursuit...! Bright Pelikan inks on board. 28 x 19 ins. The 'Heros' title lettering and rectangular text boxes are laser copy additions to complete the look of the artwork

 This comes from the fourth story drawn by Bellamy "The Slave Army" and the fact that whoever added captions back in, did it so accurately they've also added the 'smudged' blue caption in the third row second panel - here's my printed version!

Compare print copy here to the original above!

 Still this looks lovely and the blues are still there. Good luck to anyone bidding. I'll add the final price here when the auction finishes

 

AUCTION SUMMARY

"Heros The Spartan Eagle Vol. 16:28 (10 July 1965)
WHERE?: Thesaleroom / Compal Lot 61
STARTING BID: £2550 (Estimate: £2,800-£3,200)
ENDING PRICE: £3300
END DATE: Sunday 1 June 2025

Frank Bellamy NEW DISCOVERY- Market Harborough Advertiser and Midland Mail

Something different for you this time. It's the anniversary of Frank Bellamy’s birth today - 21 May 1917 and I've kept this back as I was over the moon to discover this image - admittedly not so much because of Bellamy's quality but more because I live near the area mentioned! The Fens and the Wash are very familiar places so I've enjoyed researching this one for you more than I suspect anyone will want to read. But I'm a completist when it comes to listing Bellamy's output so what better day than today to introduce you to....a man-made estuary for the River Nene!

The following image comes from Market Harborough Advertiser and Midland Mail dated Friday 24 September 1948 and perhaps some of you might need a bit of background to what's being discussed. 

Market Harborough Advertiser and Midland Mail Friday 24 September 1948

The Rivers Nene, Welland, and the Great Ouse flow into the Wash. Floods were constant threats to Northampton and Wellingborough much further up the River Nene - where I recently learned the River is pronounced the "NENN" - whereas in Peterborough and the Fens, it's the "NEEN".  

A sluice was needed north of Whittlesey, just east of Peterborough to maintain water levels in the City and stopped the tidal flows on that part of the River Nene and that was placed at the Dog-in-a-Doublet - which was named after the (in this century) award winning pub that stood there but is now boarded up since 2023.  Why any pubs in England are called this is a controversy I'll leave you to investigate, but I favour the phrase being a form of ridcule - someone looking out of place dressing up beyond their position! But this link will show you the lock and also provide some background to the draining of the Fens.

 I checked as I thought all waterways were nationalised after the war, but apparently there were exceptions.  The Nene Catchment Board was not disbanded with the nationalisation of the waterways in 1947; instead it continued until about 1951 when responsibility for the Nene passed to the Welland and Nene River Authority. 

The  Northamptonshire and Evening Telegraph (dated Saturday 20 February 1939) has a front page with images of Councillor H. Turland's bungalow "by the sea" and the Wicksteed Park aviary - where "the waterfowl were in their element but the peacocks pocketed their pride and took to the rigging"! This was all due to the tributaries feeding the Nene having dumped their water and flooding the Nene Valley between Ringstead and Oundle.

Anyway the above is another example of  Bellamy making a diagram to show readers very clearly where some information - in this case the new channel was to end in the Wash. When searching the Northamptonshire and Evening Telegraph around Bellamy’s time working at the Blamire Studio, I often saw examples of such artwork but have not listed them as I can't be sure they are Bellamy.  But here, on his birthday, one paper gave him the credit he deserved.