Interview Shminterview: Tyler Durden or Why I Shouldn't Write After Midnight

Shortly after typing the title of this post I learned that Tyler Durden was actually a figment of character played by Edward Norton's imagination. Distraught but also inspired by this shocking revelation, yet too lazy to change the title, I decided to talk to myself; see how I was doing; do an interview with me in the hot seat. The results can be found below.

Me: Hello
Stuart Popp: How's it going?

M: Hey I ask the questions here!
SP: (laughs) sorry...ask away?

M: Let's start things off with your comic The Masked Avenger. What brought about this strange and wonderful beast.
SP: Well, for the past three years I have had a roommate who liked to tip over things in my room and also steal things such as my watch. It was mildly to not very annoying but I decided to put a stop to it once he started leaving rhyming riddles which pertained to the whereabouts of the stolen items. I feared that this would be the start of a supervillainous career for him so I needed a superhero persona to end his reign of mild annoyance to society. I wrap a t-shirt around the lower half of my face, donned a blanket cape, and proceeded to confront him as The Masked Avenger because it was the most generic sounding superhero name I could think of. He repented by fashioning a ninja mask out of a t-shirt (instructions available somewhere on the interweb), calling himself the Punk Ninja, and offering to help find the stolen goods. Thus the Masked Avenger and his sidekick were born.

M: How did it make the leap from one improvised costume to full on comic mythology?
SP: Well, the idea proved humourous and became a bit of a running joke around the household. Shortly after the original appearance the first drawing of the duo came about as a result of another roommate and his drunken friends playing shitty music and thus evoking my artistic anger. The drawing washastily and poorly done and featured character design which would not be repeated. After this I began to use The Masked Avenger as my MSN screen name which prompted my friend and early co-writer Ryan Lee to act out a scenario of MA vs Random Arch Nemesis, later to become Garage-Man due to his screen name at the time "The Garage". I began drawing up character designs for the heroes and then one day a group of people in a UofC club who's club office, which had several comfortable couches, really annoyed me with their overbearing nerdiness. They had been given the nicknames "The Super-Friends" after the group of nerds from The Simpsons. I drew a picture depicting a comic book cover in which the Masked Avenger and Punk Ninja fought "The SuperFriends" which inspired my friends to suggest I should draw a comic to go with the cover. Some were even willing to pay. Blinded by money I drew 4 short issues and sold them for a dollar each. I made around 50 dollars which basically paid for my food that month. I also quickly ran out of people I hated and started basing villains on my friends. The comics have since become an underground cult sensation at UofC and SFU.

M: Is any of that true?
SP: All of it. I swear to whatever god actually exists.

M: Will issue #1 of your comic ever be released?
SP: I actually drew a 6-page origin story for MA as issue #1 about a year after issue #2 was released but destroyed it once I started to revamp the comics. The story that was held within those pages does remain canon however and sometime in the future I may redraw it as a full size comic.

M: What is in store for MA next?
SP: Well I have a new co-writer, Ian U. who will be helping me shake things up a bit and also help me to avoid the problems that came with writing a comic as I drew it which I tended to due and resulted in shorter comics because I got lazy. Rest assured however it will contain plenty of superhero satire, pop-culture references, and visual nods to Batman who is my favorite superhero.

M: Just How big of a nerd are you?
SP: a huge, HUGE nerd, but I am also a ninja nerd able to conceal my nerdiness for extended periods of time due to my boyish good looks, sideburns, and ability to talk about less nerdy things like sports and music. However, I also recognise that calling myself a "ninja nerd" doesn't make me seem like anything less than a complete loser.

M: Sports eh? How do you think the Canucks are looking this year?
SP: Fuck Hockey! Basketball is my sport? Ask me about March Madness and then we'll talk.

M:Okay tell me your thoughts on March Madness.
SP: I think it is in March and thus too early to tell anything. Chances are I will start off rooting for Gonzaga and then end up rooting for Duke once gonzaga loses early on. Also, I was only half kidding about the hockey remark. While not my favorite sport I have started to follow it since befriends some serious hockey nuts. As for the Canucks it looks like they will be able to hold on to most of their team post-negotiations so I think they have a good chance at taking the Cup this year.

M: Yawn...I thought you were going to be funny in this interview.
SP: Honestly so did I, only then I got off track and ended up conducting an almost serious interview with myself. My I should start asking more humourous questions.

M: I'll ask what I want to ask. Rumour on the internets is that you are a bit of an asshole. Is there any truth to this?
SP: well certain friends have reassured me that I am a nice guy, but they also call me pretty so I'm pretty sure they are full of shit. That said I think I am the only person I've met to outwardly claim that I am an asshole.

M: Why would these friends calling you pretty cause you to suspect they are lying? Didn't you previously state that you have boyish good looks?
SP: I prefer to consider my good looks to be ruggedly handsome-esque as opposed to pretty.

M: This interview isn't very funny is it?
SP: Not really, it is also getting boring to write so I think I am going to stop. I would also like to remind people that I am currently working night shift and thus while my drawing improves with a lack of sleep my writing does not. I might try to interview myself again at a later date...or maybe someone more interesting.

M: Okay well then, goodbye.
SP: Cheers

I apologize for the lack of funny. I got really off track after the first question then tried to reel things in and it got all convoluted like this metaphor. Also if I ruined Fight Club for you then you are an idiot. I mean seriously who doesn't know who Tyler Durden was by now. Also chances are I don't know you and thus I don't care.

Tune in next time for something better (I hope).