Magic Tricks
 | This chapter is exclusively available to members of Bittersweet Club International. |
| Magic Tricks | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Published | January 1, 2011 |
| Page count | 21 |
| Major characters | David, Daisy, Abbey, Lucy, Paulo, Tess |
| Minor characters | Mike |
| Chapter navigation | |
| ← Another Path | Disaster Dominoes → |
| Read in the BCI Members’ Library | |
Magic Tricks is a non-canon Bittersweet Club International-exclusive comic in which David puts on a magic show with tricks that genuinely work, right up until his grand finale scrambles Lucy, Mike, Paulo, Daisy, Abbey and Tess into the wrong bodies.[1]
Partial synopsis
David has gathered Lucy, Mike, Paulo, Daisy and Abbey together. Tess arrives late, and Paulo greets her with “Heeeeeeeeeey babe”.[2] Wearing a star-covered cape and blue top hat, David welcomes everyone to his magic show.[3]
David’s tricks actually work. The bird he pulls from his hat is real, and soon six birds are roosting on Lucy. Without moving a muscle, she calls it the “Oldest trick in the book”.[3] David also pulls Abbey’s head out of the hat, startling the others.[3] With a wave of his wand, he turns everything green in the comic brown.[4] For his finale, he offers to make somebody disappear, and Paulo volunteers Mike and Abbey.[4]
Paulo nevertheless ends up on the table for the finale. David drapes his cape over him and casts the spell.[5] When the cape comes off, Paulo’s body is standing upright with a blank stare, and David panics that he “didn’t mean to disappear his soul”.[6] Tess shields Paulo while David hits him with the wand and shouts at him to wake up.[6]
A second incantation wakes Paulo’s body, but not with Paulo inside it.[7] From there, every wave of the wand only digs the hole deeper, and a summoned camera means some of the results end up on film. David remains confident that one more try will put everybody right.
Trivia & observations
- Veronica has grouped Magic Tricks among the BCI stories that are “definitely over the top”, as opposed to “just plain canonical” ones like Dinner Time, so nothing that happens here should be read as main-comic events.[1]
- A caption on the first page places the story in ninth grade and identifies it as a voting-incentive comic.[2]
- David’s revival spell mashes two references into one breath: “Return to your powers combined.. CLOW CARD!!” borrows from both Captain Planet and Cardcaptor Sakura.[7]
- The “BAM!! Green is gone!!” trick is a fourth-wall gag. Everything green in the comic really is recolored brown from that panel onward.[4]
Related chapters
- Onwards to Adventure: David and Justin genuinely teleport onto a rooftop in that chapter with a cry of “SUPERRR PANELLL TELEPORT!!”.[8] Magic Tricks likewise gives David working magic rather than stage illusions.[3]
- Feline Festivities: At Tess’s Christmas party, she kisses Paulo, leaving him to declare “I think I’m in love..”[9] That earlier scene gives context to Paulo’s flirtatious greeting when Tess arrives at David’s show.[2]
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 “Are the characterizations in the BCI comics canon?”. 2017-01-01.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 Magic Tricks, page 1 🔒 (members only)
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 Magic Tricks, page 2 🔒 (members only)
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 Magic Tricks, page 3 🔒 (members only)
- ↑ Magic Tricks, page 4 🔒 (members only)
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 Magic Tricks, page 5 🔒 (members only)
- ↑ 7.0 7.1 Magic Tricks, page 6 🔒 (members only)
- ↑ Chapter 33: Onwards to Adventure, page 6
- ↑ Chapter 28: Feline Festivities, page 14