The Sequel To The Sequel You Didn’t Know You Needed: Fight Club 3 #1

Marla Singer is about to deliver her second child, but the daddy isn’t her husband–it’s Tyler Durden, who’s very invested in his heir, and the world he’ll inherit.
Marla, her first son, and her husband–the unnamed narrator in the novel, who now goes by Balthazar–live in a rundown motel with sketchy neighbors. In the FIGHT CLUB 2 graphic novel, Tyler transformed Project Mayhem into Rize or Die–now, as a road to paradise presents itself, a new group has implemented a ruthless and deviant plan to fine-tune mankind, leading Balthazar to forge an unlikely alliance . . . with Tyler Durden.
Chuck Palahniuk reunites with Cameron Stewart to bring you the sequel to the sequel to Fight Club.

In Fight Club 3 #1, Marla’s pregnant again, and “Balthazar” is on the road, looking for work to support his and Tyler Durden’s progeny. The interviews don’t go quite as smoothly as anticipated, what with the active shooter/assassination at the career fair Balta’s attending, but there are definitely other gainful activities for the big fella to pursue while Marla’s holding down the home front.

Chuck Palahniuk brings his now signature mix of surreal and disturbing storytelling to this third installment of the Fight Club franchise. This chapter kicks off with a bizarre little subplot that may or may not be happening in real life somewhere, but actually is more likely part of Junior’s coping mechanism for growing up with a pair of certifiable sociopaths. That’s the kind of swerve Palahniuk seems to revel in throwing. Is this real? Is it important for later? Does it come into play again? Should I be taking notes? Did any of this actually happen?

Fight Club 3 goes back to the well with Cameron Stewart, whose pencils on Fight Club 2 were a fitting bridge between the original novel, Dave Fincher’s box office bomb, and the new graphic novel story. Stewart’s work in FC3 has a little less of a cinematic feel, but he still pulls out some crazy stops in an effort to visually portray the duality of a fractured mind. Cameron’s pencils match Palahniuk’s script blow for psychotic blow, from ridiculously mundane to absolutely bonkers.

Fight Club 3 is everything that a sequel to a sequel should be. It elevates the dark themes of the novel and the first graphic novel to the next illogical, insanely violent step.

Fight Club III #1 (of 12), Dark Horse Comics, released 29 January 2019. Written by Chuck Palahniuk, art by Cameron Stewart, color by McCaig, cover by Duncan Fegredo.