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.
Premise
The manga explores the lives of several famous eccentrics and bizarre real people. Each chapter features a different historical figure, narrating the course of their lives and focusing on a few notable events within them. While the manga attempts to respect the true story of each character, Araki takes some liberties in order to incorporate his own narrative style. The ultimate aim of the manga is to show the fascinating and even somewhat-respectable methods in which these eccentric and unconscionable people live their lives.
Characters
- Ty Cobb (タイ・カッブ, Tai Kabbu): An American League baseball player renowned for his great skill, irritable character, and unbridled arrogance.
- Yoshio Kou (康 芳夫, Kō Yoshio): A Chinese-Japanese producer and showman who, desiring to show Japan the strangest things imaginable, attempted to air an alleged human-chimpanzee hybrid named Oliver mating 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 by working as a cook in New York City.
- 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, believing the ghosts of Civil War soldiers sought revenge on her, began continuously constructing a labyrinthine mansion in San Jose, California.
- 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, to the point of filling their own house with deadly traps to protect from burglars.
- 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, Part 1 (史上最高！強打製造機『タイ・カッブ』［前編］, Shijō Saikō! Kyōda Seizōki "Tai Kabbu" [Zenpen])
- History's Greatest Hitting Machine! Ty Cobb, Part 2 (史上最高！強打製造機『タイ・カッブ』［後編］, Shijō Saikō! Kyōda Seizōki "Tai Kabbu" [Kōhen])
- 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
