Written by: Chuck Palahniuk
Art by: Cameron Stewart
Publisher: Dark Horse
Fight Club 2 is a meat grinder, spitting out wedding ring wearing severed fingers, birth-control pills, and gold teeth.
In other words, it’s very good.
The greatest strength Fight Club 2 has in it’s diverse arsenal is how it hits the ground running, so to speak. Even before the first page of the actual comic, Palahniuk’s smiling-through-broken teeth humor is prevalent in the form of a satirical questionnaire. The standout to this portion (and the crux of this books guerrilla marketing campaign) lies in the statement: “The greatest threat facing our government is… Me.” The meat of the actual comic (excuse all the bruised meat violence metaphors) shines with the art of Cameron Stewart. Stewart’s pencils, most commonly seen in traditional, pulpy, superhero fare, are used to a masterful effect as they serve a dual role for the book and script, respectively. One, Stewart’s work shines with an evocative and real, but cartoonish gravitas that lessens the weight of the scenes depicted (especially the group therapy scene involving those afflicted with Progeria) but never lessen the bite and grit that these scenes should and do deliver. Also, Stewart’s pencils accurately portray a descent into cartoonish, but dangerous madness as the repetitious nature of his panel layouts eventually explode into splash pages and dynamic scenes of violence.
I want to describe this comic in terms of musical dynamics, and the fact that it allows itself to this absurd train of thinking is one of the highest compliments I can bestow it. Fight Club 2 revels in the repressed pain of piantissimo (the softer side of music) and slams it’s cracked, bloody knuckles against the wall of a full-orchestra playing Beethoven at the hardest of fortissimos. Palahniuk, a novice to the world of comics, fits snugly into delivering an issue that’s reader friendly, powerful, compelling and hilarious. While the scenes that are present in the book that echo it’s predecessor may seem redundant to some, the similar chords struck resonate into a more solid and complete first issue, without leaving any gaping holes to fill in for unfamiliar or foggy readers.
I loved this book, I don’t care if you don’t. Tyler Lives, Rize or Die.
