Tim Johnson's picture
Tim Johnson from Rockville, MD is reading Notes From a Necrophobe by T.C. Armstrong July 22, 2013 - 10:29am

...in graphic novel format.

Considering this site's ties to Chuck, I figured this bit of news was worth posting about here. His site is pretty bogged down right now, but they also posted the news on Tumblr here.

Fight Club was hugely influential to me, even though I don't think my style is indicative of it anymore. Mixed in with all the classic lit I was reading at the time for school, it showed me prose could be cool and really bend the rules. I think Fight Club's strength was always that its symbolism is rich, deep, and powerful yet also accessible. I'm interested to see if a graphic novel will actually hinder that, as I think graphic novels are a bit more marginalized than traditional novels. Or, maybe it's just a primer for a new film.

In any cased, I'm stoked.

Deets999's picture
Deets999 from Connecticut is reading Adjustment Day July 22, 2013 - 6:16pm

Never been a huge graphic novel follower, but this is one I will be buying on day-one! Too bad we have to wait so long!

Nathan Scalia's picture
Nathan Scalia from Kansas is reading so many things July 22, 2013 - 6:39pm
Tim Johnson's picture
Tim Johnson from Rockville, MD is reading Notes From a Necrophobe by T.C. Armstrong July 23, 2013 - 6:37am

Thanks, Nathan. I should have figured there would be a news story here, too.

Richard's picture
Richard from St. Louis is reading various anthologies July 23, 2013 - 7:09am

if the art is right, if they get the right illustrators, i think i'll have to check it out.

Brandon's picture
Brandon from KCMO is reading Made to Break July 23, 2013 - 7:55am

The main thing I'm wondering is if the illustrations will key off of Brad Pitt and Edward Norton.

ReneeAPickup's picture
Class Facilitator
ReneeAPickup from Southern California is reading Wanderers by Chuck Wendig July 23, 2013 - 10:59am

That's a good point, Brandon, I hadn't thought of that. What I read says that Jack and Marla are now married, so I wonder if Marla will be Helena Bonham Carter, as well. Hmm. I would guess yes, if only because they would want to get people who only saw the movie as well... ?

Dino Parenti's picture
Dino Parenti from Los Angeles is reading Everything He Gets His Hands On July 23, 2013 - 12:05pm

I almost think you'd almost have too, if for no other reason than for continuity. A visual presidence has been set. Why make the novel "graphic" otherwise? I don't menan that they have to be dead-ringers, but evoke them (Pitt, Norton, Carter) as least. I read Fight Club after I saw the movie, and I grafted their faces onto their names when I read them. 

Jack Campbell Jr.'s picture
Jack Campbell Jr. from Lawrence, KS is reading American Rust by Phillipp Meyer July 23, 2013 - 1:07pm

Would that mean having to get permission to use their likenesses or would that be covered by the original contract?

big_old_dave's picture
big_old_dave from Watford, about 20 miles outside London, Uk July 23, 2013 - 3:18pm

Also which ending is he going to carry on from? As the book and the film differ be intresting which one he goes for.

Renfield's picture
Renfield from Hell is reading 20th Century Ghosts July 23, 2013 - 4:16pm

The book is the kind of story that I would never think needs a sequel, not that the new storyline sounds bad or anything. I'll probably wait for the TPB to check it out if it's released as a serial comic.

Pete's picture
Pete from Detroit is reading Red Dragon July 23, 2013 - 4:47pm

Palahniuk's writing is just a snippets and short scenes tied together into a narrative. So his style should transfer over well into the graphic form.

So, like Richard, I'm thinking the project is really going to rely on an artist that can capture the feel that everybody has already built up in their heads from reading the first book and then seeing the movie.

And, I guess at this point, the characters will have to look at least similar to Ed Norton and Brad Pitt, wouldn't they?

Renfield's picture
Renfield from Hell is reading 20th Century Ghosts July 23, 2013 - 5:11pm

I read the novel just last year after seeing the movie back when it hit VHS and I really had no problem disconnecting the Norton/Pitt portrayals, but also I had a lot more fun with the physical descriptions of the characters in the book than the tamed down roughness of the film-universe. I'd hope Narrator's face would be an unrecognizable mass of swollen buttholes in the comic than some cartooned up jowly Ed Norton.

bryanhowie's picture
bryanhowie from FW, ID is reading East of Eden. Steinbeck is FUCKING AMAZING. July 24, 2013 - 8:57am

It's interesting to me that he calls the narrator 'Jack', since that is the narrator's (kinda) name from the movie version (it would be Joe if you went from the book).  That makes me think the art will be based off the actors from the movie.

I could be reading too much into a name, though.

ReneeAPickup's picture
Class Facilitator
ReneeAPickup from Southern California is reading Wanderers by Chuck Wendig July 24, 2013 - 10:37am

Good point, Bryan. I didn't even think about that. Then, I've read the book once, and have seen the movie probably ten times.

Tim Johnson's picture
Tim Johnson from Rockville, MD is reading Notes From a Necrophobe by T.C. Armstrong July 24, 2013 - 12:35pm

Another thing: Chuck Palahniuk has stated before that he thought the movie was better than his book.

I went looking for where he said that and found something else that was interesting.

What exactly IS the name of the main character in Fight Club, is his name Tyler, Jack, or something else? His name was never given in the book. They needed a name for the screenplay to put next to the character's lines so they just put Jack in there for the hell of it. In the book at one point he even takes out his drivers license and shows it to Marla to prove that he's not Tyler Durden, but Marla was introduced to him under a dozen different names in the support groups. So when he finally comes to save her as Tyler, that's who she knows him as. All the people who have met him have met him as Tyler, so that's who they know him as. But his name is really�. I have no idea.

Also this:

What are your feelings about the movie version of Fight Club?

The first time I saw dailies of the movie was when I went down to the film's location, and David Fincher would drag me off the set to his trailer to show me dailies. He would be watching me for my reaction, and I had little or no idea where these scenes fit together. Here were these wonderful reaction shots and things like that which seemed so random, beautifully composed, attractive and funny in their own way, but I had no idea how they went together. I felt so self-conscious with David watching me. Now that I see the movie, especially when I sat down with Jim Uhls and record a commentary track for the DVD, I was sort of embarrassed of the book, because the movie had streamlined the plot and made it so much more effective and made connections that I had never thought to make. There is a line about "fathers setting up franchises with other families," and I never thought about connecting that with the fact that Fight Club was being franchised and the movie made that connection. I was just beating myself in the head for not having made that connection myself.

Here's the interview I'm pulling from.

Dwayne's picture
Dwayne from Cincinnati, Ohio (suburbs) is reading books that rotate to often to keep this updated July 24, 2013 - 6:21pm

Neat.

Dino Parenti's picture
Dino Parenti from Los Angeles is reading Everything He Gets His Hands On July 24, 2013 - 6:44pm

Awesome, Tim. Thanks for posting.

joexxxxx's picture
joexxxxx September 13, 2013 - 1:27pm

Yeah, I can't wait for this either, as well as Doomed. I'm certainly a fan of his work.