Fight Club 2 #4

Fight Club 2 #4
Released by: Dark Horse Comics
Released on: August 25th, 2105.
Written: Chuck Palahniuk
Art by: Cameron Stewart
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For the last three days, Sebastian has been waiting on the front porch of a certain rundown house. When he falls asleep, Tyler shows up and runs things. He's got operatives everywhere and in every facet of modern society.

Cut to the office - Sebastian is at work, but really he's thinking about Rize Or Die International, a provider of fore hire military personnel. He heads home, fucks his wife, and in the middle of it all, Tyler emerges, telling Marla she wanted it. She kicks him out and then resumes looking for junior. She tries different meetings, clubs, support groups - Pint Club, Film Club, stuff like that - but she comes up empty handed until she enters Write Club where things get 'too meta.' Chuck Palahniuk is there, but he writes her out of the scene.

Things are going from weird to weirder. She leaves with a little girl who is also an old lady, gets a call from Robert Paulson and ends up at the porch of an old house where a meeting of Quilt Club is commencing. At the actual Fight Club house, three more are let in. Sebastian, bruised and fucked up beyond belief, is called out for his dandruff but it might actually be salt, while Marla ends up in the boardroom of the Magic Wand Foundation, a 'Make A Wish' type organization. Her new 'kid' offers up her bucket list which winds up getting her transport to every international hot stop/killing field around as well as the hardware needed to deal with it.

And then Sebastian makes it in, but nobody wants to fight him - he's too old, until one man emerges out of the shadows…

The search for Junior that has become the main focus of the book takes some pretty wild twists and turns here. The meta angle might throw some readers off but humor is a big part of what makes this series as interesting as it is, and as enjoyable as it is. There's a mean streak here though, and it's a pretty big one. This issue, more than those that preceded it, dishes out violence with less of a cartoonish wink and nod and more of a punch to the nuts. The last few pages hurt. That's in no small part to the way that Chuck Palahniuk writes things - the dialogue is poignant and the plot messy, convoluted and completely engrossing… that sick sense of humor coming back time and time again.

At the same time you've got to give credit to Cameron Stewart for drawing up some positively brutal panels in the last few pages. Again, the humor gets darker and darker not just in the way that the series is written but in how it is illustrated as well. Palahniuk and Stewart are proving to be a great team so far, and now that what would seem to be the core of the story is well established, they're really moving forward full steam ahead. Wrap all of this up in a gorgeous cover by David Mack and yeah, this series will win you over. Let the naysayers say nay as loudly as they want but this is positively one of the most interesting, creative and transgressive comics out there right now.