Warning! Not only am I a full time professional magician by day, but by night, I am an amateur comic book nerd. Watchmen, All Star Superman, Jar of Fools, The Umbrella Academy, and Buffy the Vampire Slayer are just some of the titles that are on my bookshelf. They are displayed with as much pride as my signed, Collector’s Edition of Session by Joshua Jay, and my signed, first edition copy of Sankey Panky.

I have never met Wayne Houchin, but he seems like a nice, down to earth guy to sit and have a drink with. However, I’ve never been a fan of his Quarter Thru Soda Can effect, Sinful. Not because I think it’s bad. I think it’s rather good, and I was fooled very badly the first time I saw the effect performed on video. I just tend to stay away from tricks that everybody is doing, especially ones that have been done on national television.

So I’ll admit I wasn’t jumping out of my seat when I heard it was going to be released again in the form of a graphic novel. I figured it was going to be a cheap ‘bonus’ to be added to the DVD as an excuse to charge more. Boy, was I wrong.

This is a beautiful piece of work that I am proud to own. It includes a DVD which I will get to in a moment. The graphic novel itself looks like you would find it in a comic store or at Barnes & Noble. It begins with a recreation of Wayne performing the trick in a nightclub. The artwork is gorgeous. It’s mostly in black and white with gray tones. Josh Funk isn’t your average artist buddy who drew stuff in college. He does a fantastic job. We are then treated to a conversation between Wayne and Paul Harris written by Dana Hocking. Most of this is repeated on the DVD, but we’ll get to that in a second. The explanation is done as if we are reading Wayne’s private notebook to learn the effect. The sketches help the clear instructions, and will allow anyone to learn the effect quickly. We are then given some tips for finding the right kind of can to do the effect with, as well as extra moves that Wayne cut from the main routine. There are also some tips on performing the effect in stand up situations. The text is printed close to the binding on some pages, making it difficult to read at a few points. You have to really open it up to read these sections. However, I’ve seen similar mistakes in comics and graphic novels before, so this is extremely forgivable. It happens to the best.

I was worried about the inclusion of a DVD, until I watched the whole thing. It’s about a half hour long, and includes Paul Harris interviewing Wayne, which echos what’s already in the book, but goes slightly more in depth. We also see old footage Wayne performing an earlier version of Sinful on the street, and then he talks about how it evolved into the modern version. We are shown two performances of the modern effect, so we can see how the effect is supposed to look in performance. I was relieved that the effect was not taught on the video. This, I believe, is perfect.

You get to see how the effect is supposed to look when it’s performed on the DVD, but you have to read the graphic novel to learn it. Many people say they are ‘visual learners’ and learn better from DVD. In my opinion, they just don’t want to read a book. There is no ‘visual learner’ excuse here. The illustrations are super clear, and super visual. We have the best of both worlds here, because we have the visuals to learn the effect properly, and we still have the room for growth and personalization that a book offers.

I’m going to make a prediction, and say that we are going to see more effects released as graphic novels with ‘performance only’ DVDs in the next few years. Not just by Wayne Houchin, but by other creators and performers. This format gives you every advantage that these teaching mediums offer, while also stripping away their biggest disadvantages. Wayne, I bow humbly before you for starting a new direction in the way we learn magic.

As for the actual effect, it’s impromptu, organic, and leaves your spectators with a memorable souvenir. It’s perfect for that outdoors event you work in the summer, or to just do for friends at a cookout. Keep in mind that it’s been done on TV, and that Murphy’s has sold over twenty-thousand copies of the original DVD. The odds are high that your audience may have already seen someone else do it. If you own the original DVD, and don’t own this, you should. You will not only get a new perspective on this lovely effect, you will also learn some new moves to practice and gain some insight onto creating magic.

This is also very good for the general collector. Even if you think you’ll never do the effect, this is worth owning. It looks great on your shelf, it’s fun to page through, and it will likely inspire a new genre of magic products for the magic community.

This is an original creation put out independently by the creator, and I think we should support someone doing something different and genuinely original. I really can’t think of a reason why you shouldn’t buy this. Five stars!

Now I have to figure out if I’m going to shelve this with my comics, or magic books. Perhaps I should begin a new shelf...