Chuck Palahniuk continuing ‘Fight Club’ with graphic novel sequel

Chuck Palahniuk is working on a comic book sequel to his era-defining novel Fight Club. Palahniuk confirmed the news on his official site today, saying he was in the early process of figuring out the best way to create and publish a series of graphic novels set ten years after the events of the first book. “Nowadays, Tyler is telling the story, lurking inside Jack, and ready to launch a comeback,” he wrote. “Jack is oblivious. Marla is bored. Their marriage has run aground on the rocky coastline of middle-aged suburban boredom. It’s only when their little boy disappears, kidnapped by Tyler, that Jack is dragged back into the world of Mayhem.” The news was first revealed at a panel at Comic-Con last week.

Palahniuk wasn’t specific about when we’ll see the first installment of the sequel, but he said it could be a while due to contractual obligations. However, “since the Fight Club sequel will appear serialized in graphic form, my book publisher might allow me to launch it earlier than 2015.” Artist Gabor Kiss has adapted two Chuck Palahniuk novels into online comics, but this would be the first time Palahniuk has created an original work in the medium, though he’s expressed interest in comics before. It would also follow up a largely self-contained novel that, along with its film adaptation, became a major cultural touchstone at the turn of the 21st century. Which isn’t to say there’s no precedent: Stephen King will soon publish a sequel to his early novel The Shining, and Bret Easton Ellis’ Lunar Park commented on the writing of cult classic American Psycho decades after the fact.