The Lives of Eccentrics
Template:Manga infoboxThe Lives of Eccentrics (変人偏屈列伝, Henjin Henkutsu Retsuden) is a series of short stories written by Hirohiko Araki and illustrated by him and his assistant, Hirohisa Onikubo, released between 1989 and 2003. A hardcover volume compiling all the stories was released by Shueisha in 2004, and was converted into a paperback in 2012.
The manga explores the lives of several famous eccentrics and bizarre real-life people. Each chapter features a different historical figure.
Characters
- Ty Cobb (タイ・カッブ, Tai Kabbu): An American Major League baseball player renowned for his great skill at the sport, his irritable character, and his unbridled arrogance.
- Yoshio Kou (康 芳夫, Kō Yoshio): A Chinese-Japanese producer and showman who, desiring to show Japan the weirdest things imaginable, attempted in 1976 to air an alleged human-chimpanzee hybrid named Oliver having sex with a human woman on live television.
- Mary Mallon, a.k.a. Typhoid Mary (腸チフスのメアリー, Chō-Chifusu no Mearī): An Irish-American woman identified as the first asymptomatic carrier of the Typhoid fever pathogen, who spread the disease in New York in the early 20th century by working as a cook.
- Sarah Winchester, owner of the Winchester Mystery House (ウィンチェスター・ミステリー・ハウス, Winchesutā Misuterī Hausu): An American woman who inherited her father-in-law's vast fortune from Civil War rifle manufacturing. Believing the ghosts of the soldiers killed by these rifles sought revenge on her, she began continuously constructing a mansion in San Jose, California, filling it with confusing rooms and passageways to ward off the vengeful spirits.
- The Collyer Brothers (コリヤー兄弟, Koriyā-Kyōdai): Two American brothers who were known for their hoarding habits and obsession with privacy. As they saw their house in Harlem as a target for thieves, the brothers set up numerous traps in the house to protect their belongings.
- Nikola Tesla (ニコラ・テスラ, Nikora Tesura): An eccentric Serbian-American scientist and engineer known for his rivalry with Thomas Edison, particularly over his own invention of alternating current electricity.
Chapters
While the base composition is provided by Hirohiko Araki, he only drew the chapters Typhoid Mary and Winchester Mystery House. The other chapters were drawn by Hirohisa Onikubo, with Nobuyuki Fujii assisting him on Nikola Tesla.
The Lives of Eccentrics
変人偏屈列伝 Henjin Henkutsu Retsuden
March 19, 2004 - History's Greatest Hitting Machine! Ty Cobb (史上最高！強打製造機『タイ・カッブ』, Shijō Saikō! Kyōda Seizōki "Tai Kabbu")
- Showman of the Century Who Launched Oliver: Yoshio Kou (オリバー君を仕掛けた世紀の興行師『康 芳夫』, Oribā-kun o Shikaketa Seiki no Kōgyōshi "Kō Yoshio")
- The Ultimate Choice That Actually Existed: Typhoid Mary (実在した究極の選択『腸チフスのメアリー』, Jitsuzai-shita Kyūkyoku no Sentaku "Chō-Chifusu no Mearī")
- The Mysterious Mansion the Widow Continued to Build: Winchester Mystery House (未亡人が増築しつづけた謎の館『ウィンチェスター・ミステリー・ハウス』, Mibōjin ga Zōchiku-shitsuzuketa Nazo no Yakata "Winchesutā Misuterī Hausu")
- The Brothers Nobody Knew: Collyer Brothers (誰も知らない兄弟『コリヤー兄弟』, Dare mo Shiranai Kyōdai "Koriyā-Kyōdai")
- The Genius Who Made Edison Cower: Nikola Tesla (エジソンを震えあがらせた大天才『ニコラ・テスラ』, Ejison o Furueagaraseta Daitensai "Nikora Tesura")
- Nikola Tesla (『ニコラ・テスラ』, Nikora Tesura) (Super Jump - June 1989)
- Ty Cobb, Part 1 (『タイ・カッブ』［前編］, Tai Kabbu [Zenpen]) (Manga Allman - No. 10, 2001)
- Ty Cobb, Part 2 (『タイ・カッブ』［後編］, Tai Kabbu [Kōhen]) (Manga Allman - No. 11, 2001)
- Collyer Brothers (『コリヤー兄弟』, Koriyā-Kyōdai) (Manga Allman - No. 2, 2002)
- Yoshio Kou (『康 芳夫』, Kō Yoshio) (Ultra Jump - February 19, 2003)
- Winchester Mystery House (『ウィンチェスター・ミステリー・ハウス』, Winchesutā Misuterī Hausu) (Ultra Jump - July 19, 2003)
- Typhoid Mary (『腸チフスのメアリー』, Chō-Chifusu no Mearī) (Ultra Jump - August 19, 2003)
Gallery
Hardcover cover art
Hardcover front cover with obi
Hardcover title page
Bunko front cover
Bunko cover raw artwork
Bunko back cover
Bunko cover without dust jacket
Bunko reverse cover
Bunko reverse cover raw artwork
Italian Bunko front cover
Italian Bunko back cover
Trivia
- Each chapter is based on the story of a real person. While the true story of each character is respected, Araki takes some liberties in order to incorporate his narrative style.
