''Fight Club 2'' (also known as ''Fight Club 2: The Tranquility Gambit'') is

Chuck Palahniuk Charles Michael "Chuck" Palahniuk (; born February 21, 1962) is an American freelance journalist and novelist who describes his work as transgressional fiction. He has published 19 novels, three nonfiction books, two graphic novels, and two adul ...

's comic book meta-sequel to his 1996 novel ''

Fight Club ''Fight Club'' is a 1999 American film directed by David Fincher and starring Brad Pitt, Edward Norton, and Helena Bonham Carter. It is based on the 1996 novel of the same name by Chuck Palahniuk. Norton plays the unnamed narrator, who is d ...

'', with art by

Cameron Stewart Cameron Stewart (born 1975) is a Canadian comic book creator. He first came to prominence when he collaborated as an illustrator with writer Grant Morrison, and he went on to illustrate ''Catwoman'' and co-write '' Batgirl''. He won Eisner and ...

and covers by David Mack.

Premise

Set ten years after the ending of ''Fight Club'', the sequel is told from the restrained perspective of Tyler Durden as he sits in the subconscious of Sebastian (the name the narrator of the original ''Fight Club'' currently uses). Sebastian continues his dysfunctional relationship with Marla and has fallen into the mundane routine of society until Tyler re-emerges to cause chaos.

Publication

Palahniuk was convinced to continue ''Fight Club'' in comics form by fellow novelist

Chelsea Cain Chelsea Snow Cain (born 1972) is an American writer of novels and columns. Biography Cain was born February 5, 1972 in Iowa City, Iowa, to Mary Cain and Larry Schmidt.''Dharma Girl'' (1996) Cain spent her early childhood on a hippie commune ou ...

and comic writers

Brian Michael Bendis Brian Michael Bendis (; born August 18, 1967) is an American comic book writer and artist. He has won five Eisner Awards for both his creator-owned work and his work on various Marvel Comics books.Bendis, Brian Michael and Oeming, Michael Avon, ' ...

Matt Fraction Matt Fritchman (born December 1, 1975), better known by the pen name Matt Fraction, is an Eisner Award-winning American comic book writer, known for his work as the writer of '' The Invincible Iron Man'', '' The Immortal Iron Fist'', ''Uncanny ...

and

Kelly Sue DeConnick Kelly Sue DeConnick (born July 15, 1970) is an award-winning American comic book writer and editor and English–language adapter of manga. Career Kelly Sue DeConnick was first introduced to the comics industry by writing copy for photos in adu ...

. A teaser was released by

Dark Horse Comics Dark Horse Comics is an American comic book, graphic novel, and manga publisher founded in Milwaukie, Oregon by Mike Richardson in 1986. The company was created using funds earned from Richardson's chain of Portland, Oregon comic book shops known ...

for

Free Comic Book Day Free Comic Book Day (FCBD) is an annual promotional effort by the North American comic book industry to attract new readers to independent comic book stores. It usually takes place on the first Saturday of May and is often cross-promoted wit ...

2015, with ''Fight Club 2'' #1 following in late May of that year. The series explores

Joseph Campbell Joseph John Campbell (March 26, 1904 – October 30, 1987) was an American writer. He was a professor of literature at Sarah Lawrence College who worked in comparative mythology and comparative religion. His work covers many aspects of the ...

's concept of the 'second father' as being vital to the hero's journey, which is something that has always fascinated Palahniuk.

Issues

Collection

Reception

Despite widespread expectation that Fight Club 2 would be able to capitalize on the success of its predecessor, the book was panned by readers upon release. Negative criticism of Fight Club 2 focused on its lack of originality (exemplified by the gratuitous recycling of plot devices from both the source book and subsequent film), confusing narrative, bizarrely

metaphysical Metaphysics is the branch of philosophy that studies the fundamental nature of reality, the first principles of being, identity and change, space and time, causality, necessity, and possibility. It includes questions about the nature of conscio ...

and ultimately unresolved sub-plots (such as the resurrection of Robert Paulson), and Chuck Palahniuk's breaking of the

fourth wall The fourth wall is a performance convention in which an invisible, imaginary wall separates actors from the audience. While the audience can see through this ''wall'', the convention assumes the actors act as if they cannot. From the 16th cen ...

Sequel

On the ''Orbital In Conversation'' podcast, Palahniuk stated that he was already working on '' Fight Club 3'', which would also be in comic form. He also confirmed that he was working on a series of original short stories for comics which would appear as one-shots before eventually being collected into a single book. ''Fight Club 3'' consisted of twelve issues. The first issue was released on January 30, 2019.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Fight Club 2 Dark Horse Comics titles 2015 comics debuts Fight Club Works by Chuck Palahniuk