Fight Club 2 #3 Review

 

 
Fight Club is a tough sell for comics. The novel and movie are so distinctive, so very much unique, that to attempt to emulate the joyous lunacy of the original would normally be a feat only attempted by the crazies. Thankfully, in writer Chuck Palahniuk, we have one such crazy who is capable of steering Fight Club 2 through the choppy waters of comic book creation.
You see, our man Chuck, isn’t just any writer, he gets it. Now, what IT is, isn’t necessarily for the likes of you or I. Luckily we have people like Mr Palahniuk who come along, show us what’s what and we can then go happily back to what we were doing before. Most importantly, the first rule of Fight Club…. Yeah, I’m sure you ‘get it’.
Given the calibre of the writer, it isn’t a surprise that the book flows well. The disjointed aspect of the Fight Club identity translates really well to a sequential story. One aspect of Palahniuk’s work is dialogue. In his novels there are some exquisite turns of phrase. In terms of setting a comic book up, of guiding the story over the relatively brief page count, Chuck doesn’t disappoint.

Allied to the efforts of Chuck Palahniuk, we have the art of Cameron Stewart. From the first page until the last, the art is really striking. The feel of the book sits perfectly with the material – that broken feel, the washed out colors and bruised edges to the characters is great. Some of the panel set up is really effective, which is always a nice effect in a comic. In particular one of the first panels in the book is a delicious shot from an elevated position looking down on the dilapidated building. That kind of image really sets the scene and from there you don’t really find a lazy panel. It is always helpful to telling a sequential story that you have art that attracts the eye of the reader. In Cameron Stewart we have such an artist. One who imbues the pages with their own character, not just bringing the characters to life but making the book something to savor.