Art team for Fight Club comic sequel at S'pore 'comic con'

The Singapore Toy, Games & Comics Convention descends on Marina Bay Sands this weekend.

It will see cosplay and artist booths displaying local and international talent. Two visiting talents are comic book artists David Mack and Cameron Stewart.

Aside from their renowned work on Marvel and DC titles such as Daredevil: End Of Days (Mack) and Batman And Robin (Stewart), the pair are the art team for next year's graphic novel sequel to Chuck Palahniuk's iconic novel, Fight Club.

US artist Mack will provide the covers, while Stewart, a Canadian, the interior art.

M spoke to them about the project.

How did you get involved in the Fight Club sequel?

MACK I had written to Chuck, maybe 2006 or 2007, and he wrote a kind letter back and gave me his number to meet him for lunch in Portland the next time I was there. Chuck and I have had several discussions over lunch and dinner over the years.

But I think it may have been (major Marvel writer) Brian Bendis who suggested that Chuck do it as a comic book.

STEWART I heard rumblings that Chuck was in talks to publish through Dark Horse Comics. I have a history with the company so I contacted them and said I'd really love to draw Fight Club.

I also did a three-page comics adaptation of one of the original novel's final chapters as a kind of audition piece. I think that went a long way in convincing Chuck.

I was a big fan, that's why I went hunting for the job.

Does David Fincher's 1999 Fight Club film affect the project?

STEWART For various legal and creative reasons, this comic will look nothing like the film. It's important to distinguish that this is a sequel to the novel, NOT the film.

It's very difficult. The actors are the iconic representations and it's hard not to think of Brad Pitt as Tyler Durden.

So I have to draw them in a way that evokes those images while not having a concrete resemblance. In Chuck's novel, Tyler had long hair, so that's how I'm drawing him. One fortunate element is that the comic is set 10 years later, so you can imagine that the characters will have changed.

Have you been guiding Chuck about how to write for comics?

MACK I don't take credit for that. I answered any questions Chuck had for me about that sort of thing. And about publishers and other things.

STEWART This is Chuck's first time writing a comic. He may be unfamiliar with the comics format but I won't presume to tell him how to write.

His scripts are very different to any other comic script I've read, because of his unfamiliarity with the form.

Most scripts are broken down page by page, but Chuck has written it in one continuous script.

It's my job to determine where page breaks should be, and how best to emphasise the beats in the story.

I like working this way. It feels collaborative rather than me just executing instructions.

Given its high profile, are you more nervous about the Fight Club sequel than other projects?

STEWART Absolutely. This is likely to be one of the most visible projects I've done, and Fight Club fans are... pretty passionate.

Also, Chuck is one of my favourite creative people so I definitely want to make sure he's happy with the result!

Go to tnp.sg for the full interviews, more on Fight Club, Stewart's new take on Batgirl, their solo work and what they are looking forward to in Singapore

jonrob@sph.com.sg

This article was first published on September 03, 2014.
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