Graphic Novel Review: Fight Club 2 by Chuck Palahniuk

Fight Club 2 by Chuck Palahniuk
Series: Fight Club #2
Published by Dark Horse in May 2015
Genres: Graphic Novels, Thriller
Pages: 256 : Hardback edition
Source: Checked out from my local library
Add to Goodreads

Some imaginary friends never go away . . .

Ten years after starting Project Mayhem, he lives a mundane life. A kid, a wife. Pills to keep his destiny at bay. But it won’t last long, the wife has seen to that. He’s back where he started, but this go-round he’s got more at stake than his own life.The time has arrived . . .Rize or Die.

New York Tomes bestselling novelist Chuck Palahniuk and acclaimed artist Cameron Stewart have collaborated for one of the most highly anticipated comic book and literary events of 2015–the return of Tyler Durden. The first rule of Fight Club 2 might be not to talk about it, but Fight Club 2 is generating international headlines and will introduce a new generation of readers to Project Mayhem. 


David Fincher (Director of Fight Club) once said: “My daughter had a friend named Max. She told me ‘Fight Club’ is his favorite movie,” he said. “I told her never to talk to Max again.”

Palahniuk has also agreed with this sentiment. Fight Club (the novel and movie) are both toxic to young males who identify with the main character and the themes of blowing up society and having amazing sex with their dream manic pixie dream girl.

Spoiler alert: This is harmful. Girls who’s messes make them endearing are not real and boys who think they can “fix” society by blowing it up and starting it all over are on the Trump side of insane, and should be avoided at all costs.

I loved the way that Fight Club 2 really discussed this and put it directly into the novel with the author literally writing himself into the pages to sometimes spoon feed the audience what they need to hear. Sure, you read Fight Club 2 because the plot from Fight Club wasn’t enough for you and you want to know what happens next, but what you get is so much more.

You get the author directly playing a hand in the plot in a very meta ideology that not a lot of graphic novels/books have done. You also get a novel chock full of imagery, history, and the ways in which Fight Club in itself is a (sometimes literal) disease.

Fight Club is important to me. I’ve done 2 school reports on the homosexual undertones (or overtones? Seriously, that movie is GAY. I also love pointing this out to dudebros who try to vehemently deny it, but it’s there. Palahniuk is also gay, so chew on that dudebros) in the movie and the book follows suit as well, if you haven’t read it. Which, come on. You totally should. It’s a trip.

Was I disappointed that this wasn’t a novel? Yeah. I like graphic novels, and I think for the way in which Fight Club is written and the story is told it was appropriate, but I was still left wanting a bit more. Still, Palahniuk did a great job as did the artists, but I wasn’t 100% satisfied.

Are we ever, though?

One Reply to “Graphic Novel Review: Fight Club 2 by Chuck Palahniuk”

  1. I was a fan of Fight Club the novel long before it became a movie, though I think the movie stands on its own, apart from the novel.
    I am glad to hear good things about this project. Too bad it is not a novel first.
    I have read one other Pahluniak novel, ‘Choke’. It had many of the same themes.

Leave a Reply

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.