found drama

Big, thankful shouts out to A’s long-time friend Deborah for sending us The Big Book of Weirdos. This rare gem off DC Comic’s “Factoid Books” line is a neat little 223 page B/W graphic w/ these abbreviated bios of some of history’s carbuncular freaks, black magickers, wealthy weirdos, and out-and-out wack-jobs. Everyone from Nikolai Tesla to Aleister Crowley to Caligula is jammed in here. Highlight reel includes the sheer amusement of watching Howard Hughes come unhinged over the course of five pages but at the same time, let’s face it: Clara Bow was just a drunkard and a gambler, not really that much of a true-to-form weirdo. While I say it sometimes feels like it could use a bunch more on some people (I’d like to see a whole one of these just on Rasputin, for example) they did well to pull up some pretty obscure figures from the history of weird (see also, Chung Ling Soo; see also, Cyrus R. Teed, father of the Hollow Earth Theory).

Anyone looking for last–minute gift ideas?

About Rob Friesel