Fight Club 2 is a graphic novel sequel to the novel Fight Club. The comic is being written by original author Chuck Palahniuk and illustrated by Cameron Stewart (Batman and Robin, Seaguy). The book was published by Darkhorse Comics as as a 10 issue maxiseries, with the first issue debuting on April 8, 2015.
The story takes place ten years after the events of the novel and starts off from the submerged perspective of Tyler Durden as he observes the day-to-day tedium of life of the previously unnamed narrator (here called Sebastian). Oblivious, and now in a run-aground marriage with a bored Marla Singer (with whom he has a young son); Tyler manages to stage a comeback and kidnaps Sebastian's son, dragging him back into the world of Mayhem.
A third comic book, Fight Club 3, was released in 2019.
Tropes:
- Arc Words: "I want you to hit me as hard as you can."
- Babies Make Everything Better: Averted. Sebastian and Marla have had a child together and their marriage is still on the rocks.
- The Bad Guy Wins: Upon learning that Chuck is planning on having Marla abort his child, Tyler shoots him in the head before he can write that part.
- Bed Trick: Tyler tries to have sex with Marla when she assumes it's Sebastian. She is not at all pleased by it.
- Book Ends: Played with, but mid-way through the first issue, and a page before the end of Issue #10, we are shown the image of a man's head exploding in visceral, bloody detail.
- Butterfly of Doom: At the end of Issue #10, Chuck finds himself alone on the beach with Tyler, discussing what comes next. As it happens, at the same time, Marla is at a health center, and she has learned she is pregnant. Chuck explains he intents to follow through on a line cut from the movie, and have Marla get the child aborted (as it's "not [her] husband's"). And then Tyler pulls out a gun behind Chuck's back.Tyler: (as he's aiming the gun) You written the clinic part yet?Chuck: (unaware) No, not yet.
- Dark Messiah: Tyler Durden, who is literally Satan. His more humble motivations in the novel and film prequels are now to explicitly purge the Earth of "snowflakes" (read: anyone who isn't a macho hypocrite).
- Death of the Author: Invoked. The entire last chapter is an ode to the concept itself - after suffering writer's block, writing himself into a corner, and getting mocked by his fellow writers for his pretentiousness, Chuck gives up, just as a horde of angry fans show up, displeased with the cop-out ending and how Tyler has been depicted. Chuck throws in the towel and writes an ending where everyone is happy - the fans who didn't want Jack/Sebastian and his family dead rescue Jack's family and cancel the apocalypse, movie-only fans and fans who think Tyler is a straight hero ALSO save Tyler, movie-favorite Bitch-Tit Bob is revived, Chuck's friends find the meta twist decent, and Chuck gets to impart his anti-populist wisdom on a crowd, and Tyler gets Chuck to write him a Deus ex Machina from a throwaway line to continue his rampage... followed by Tyler literally killing Chuck.
- Death Faked for You: After Sebastian and Marla's house explodes, the fire fighters examining the rubble discover a charred body, which they conclude is their son. Shortly thereafter, however, they get in contact with the fire marshal. As it happens, the actual identity of the corpse is one Raul Kensington Seymournote , and their son was in fact kidnapped.
- Do Wrong, Right: Even though he's intentionally egging her on to rough him up, Sebastian gets pissed off when Marla strikes him in the ear.
- Exact Words: After Marla admits she's been having an affair behind Sebastian's back, he comes to realize she's having it with Tyler, causing her to then point out that technically, that means it's not adultery.
- Foreshadowing: When Sebastian arrives at his old house to reintegrate into Project Mayhem, one of the men in charge gets a phone call that we will later learn is in reality a literal Line to God:Talk to me. The dog, Mr. Palahniuk? You can assue Ms. Cain that the dog is unharmed.
- Happily Married: Averted. Sebastian is doped up to his eyeballs in pharmaceuticals to keep Tyler buried in his subconscious, and Marla is bored and yearns for the wild man her husband used to be to the point that she deliberately tampers with his medication to bring back Tyler.
- Henpecked Husband: What Sebastian has now become.
- Hired to Hunt Yourself: Of sorts: In order to get Marla riled up enough to really beat the shit out of him so he can go undercover to find their son, Sebastian says he knows who kidnapped him. All he has to do is point to a nearby mirror.
- Interface Screw: Across the comic, there are several instances of panels and speech bubbles being partially obscured by outside objects, such as pills, bugs, rose pedals, even a diamond ring.
- In the Blood: Sebastian's son develops a talent for homebrew chemistry similar to Tyler's abilities at making homemade explosives. It's actually a clue that Tyler is possessing him.
- Mama Bear: Upon learning that Tyler orchestrated their son's kidnapping, Marla all but bashes Sebastian's face in with the tank lid of a toilet.
- Mind Screw: Becomes like this halfway through the comic when characters start contacting Fight Club author Palahniuk on what to do next in the story. Reality and fiction appears to co-exist.
- Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: Due to being sick with "Sebastian", and wanting Tyler back, Maria secretly replaces his pills with ones filled with confectioner's sugar. Even in light of a later reveal that the Tyler personality is a congenital archetype that has been passed through Sebastian's bloodline, and is now possessing his son, this one act is a primary reason why this mini-series even comes to pass.
- No Name Given: Averted to an extent. The protagonist now goes by the name of Sebastian, though it's implied to be him changing his name.
- Rage Against the Author: Tyler belittles Chuck the entire way through culminating in killing him.
- Self-Made Orphan: As it turns out, when he was a kid, Sebastian lost both of his parents in a house fire. As it also turns out, Tyler orchestrated this.
- Sequel Hook: "I'm going to be a daddy!"
